Dexter Wansel

American singer, keyboardist, synthesist, songwriter, arranger, conductor, and producer, born August 22, 1950, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - died May 31, 2026. Father of [a2021820].

His musical career began in the early 1960s playing in various bands with his friend [a87519]. After serving with the US Army, he began programming synthesisers in 1970 for sessions at [l264049]. From the early to mid 1970s, he played keyboards for groups such as [a9461], [a22852], and [a3452]. He also signed with [l11910] as an in-house songwriter/producer/arranger and established a songwriting relationship with the lyricist [a427794].

In 1976, he released the first of many solo albums: [m=289728]. A track from the album, "Theme From The Planets" includes a drum beat intro that has been sampled many times and is hailed as being one of the first foundation beats of hip-hop.

In addition to his solo work, Wansel wrote, produced, arranged, and conducted for numerous artists, including co-producing the Grammy-winning album [m=116154] (1977) by [a61588].