Biography

Injecting the upbeat pop stylings and fashion accouterments of the late 1950s and early '60s into the early '80s and beyond, Mari Wilson rose to fame with the Top Ten U.K. hit "Just What I Always Wanted" from her Top 30-charting debut album, 1983's Showpeople. Eight years later, the follow-up, The Rhythm Romance, found Wilson branching into more refined jazz standards alongside pop covers and original material. She later became known for the theme song to the 2000s British sitcom Coupling ("Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps," a Cuban song originally recorded in English by Desi Arnaz & His Orchestra). In between releases of like-minded mergers of jazz and pop, she teamed up with vocal jazz specialists Barb Jungr and Claire Martin for 2006's Girl Talk, and 2012's Cover Stories was dedicated exclusively to covers, with source material ranging from Dusty Springfield to Gillian Welch. In 2016, her sixth solo album, Pop Deluxe, paid tribute to the British '60s of singers like Springfield, Cilla Black, and Petula Clark. Born Mari Macmillan Ramsay Wilson in Neasden, northwest London in 1957, Wilson translated her love of early rock and girl groups into a retro-styled, classic Motown-inflected debut single with 1980's "Loveman," which saw her sporting a beehive hairdo with backing by the Imaginations. Following another Imaginations release, "Dance Card," she cracked the U.K. singles chart with the solo "Beat the Beat" in 1982, and inched closer to the Top 40 with that year's "Baby It's True." Wilson broke into the Top Ten at last with the original song "Just What I Always Wanted," which peaked at number eight in October of 1982. It was included on Showpeople, her February 1983 debut album, released on the Compact Organisation label and credited to Mari Wilson & the Wilsations. A mix of original tunes by songwriter Teddy Johns and covers of compositions by the likes of Bacharach and David ("Are You There with Another Girl?") and Arthur Hamilton ("Cry Me a River"), it reached number 24 on the U.K. album chart. Wilson followed her hit album with a smattering of short-form releases, including Born Lucky: Live at the Pleasure Dome, 1982 and stand-alone singles like "Let's Make This Last" (1984) and "Would You Dance with a Stranger" (1985) before flying below the radar for several years that included the preparation of her follow-up album. In the meantime, Wilson started writing her own material as well as performing standards at small clubs with her jazz quartet, which led to an appearance with Stan Getz at London’s Royal Festival Hall. After signing with Dino Entertainment, Wilson returned in 1991 with The Rhythm Romance, an album that shifted the balance toward smooth, earnest performances of jazz standards like "My Funny Valentine." Although it didn't chart, her version of "Cry Me a River" was licensed for the crime series McCallum and she was enlisted to cover "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" to serve as the theme song for the hit sitcom Coupling, which aired from 2000 to 2004. Originally recorded by Bobby Capó as "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás," the English version was introduced by Desi Arnaz & His Orchestra in 1948. Meanwhile, she also took to the theater, appearing in the musical Sweet Charity and the Dusty Springfield project Dusty, The Musical. The vocalist's third album, Dolled Up, appeared on her own Beehive label in 2005. Just a year later, she released the collaborative album Girl Talk (Linn Records), featuring the vocal-jazz trio of Wilson, Barb Jungr, and Claire Martin. Rhino issued Mari Wilson: The Platinum Collection in 2007. Her version of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" was eventually included on her fourth solo album, 2008's Emotional Glamour, her second Beehive release. A third album on Beehive, Cover Stories, appeared in 2012. A dedicated covers album, it paid tribute to recording artists from Dusty Springfield and the Pretenders to the Bee Gees and Gillian Welch. She homed in on British inspirations from the '60s for 2016's Pop Deluxe, which saw her covering Springfield, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, and others. It was released by WG Records. In September of 2018, Wilson joined Marc Almond on-stage as a special guest at Soft Cell's farewell concert at the O2 Arena, and she launched a tour with the Wilsations the following year. In 2022, in addition to headlining shows, she toured the U.K. in support of Level 42. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi