Performance · Production

Dexter Wansel

real name Dexter Gilman Wansel

Philadelphia, United States · 1950-08-22 – 2026-05-31

Dexter Wansel is credited on 1,522 releases across 396 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1973–2026 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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1,522

Credits

396

Albums

Decades active

259

In collections

Biography

source

American singer, keyboardist, synthesist, songwriter, arranger, conductor, and producer, born August 22, 1950, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - died May 31, 2026. Father of Pop Wansel.
His musical career began in the early 1960s playing in various bands with his friend Stanley Clarke. After serving with the US Army, he began programming synthesisers in 1970 for sessions at. From the early to mid 1970s, he played keyboards for groups such as Instant Funk, Yellow Sunshine, and MFSB. He also signed with as an in-house songwriter/producer/arranger and established a songwriting relationship with the lyricist Cynthia Biggs.
In 1976, he released the first of many solo albums: Life On Mars. 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 Unmistakably Lou (1977) by Lou Rawls.

Bio from Discogs