Her cover of the Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler torch song "Stormy Weather" peaked at #4 on the BillboardU.S. Hot Dance Club Play charts in 1982, the highest position the song has reached since Billboard began tracking music sales in 1947, although the original 1933 version sung by Ethel Waters at the Cotton Club in Harlem and later, the early 1940s rendition by Lena Horne, sold quite well and became much better known.
Early career
Born Viola Mae Wilkerson in the Watts district of South Los Angeles, Wills was married in her teens. She was the mother of six children before the age of 21. In 1965, she was discovered by Barry White, who signed her to Bronco Records and renamed her with the shorter stage surname of Wills, from her first marriage name of Lyons.[2] She started her career at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and, over the following years, in addition to working with White, also performed with Joe Cocker, Smokey Robinson and many other established recording artists of the era. While working in London as one of Cocker's backing vocalists (dubbed the "Sanctified Sisters"), she worked on and released her solo debut album of self-penned originals, titled Soft Centers, backed by Cocker's session players.[3]
Later career
Wills' first major break into the mainstream came in 1979 with her cover version of "Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" (the song's release date was May 14, 1979), which started a string of dancehits.[3] All three of the songs landed Wills in the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles.[3] In 1982, her cover of "Stormy Weather" peaked at number 4 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.[3] In 1983, the newly formed record label RVA (Robert Viola Ashmun) released a number of songs, including "Wall", "Space" and "If These Walls Could Speak".
A demand for 1980s music brought Wills back to Europe.[3] She appeared on Top of the Pops (October 11, 1979), Pebble Mill, Soul Train (October 30, 1971 [Season 1, Episode 5], where she performed the song "Sweetback"), Later... with Jools Holland, Ronnie Scott's, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (February 17, 2003 [Season 12, Episode 7]). Wills had a residency at Joogleberry Playhouse in Brighton,[3] backed on occasion by Brighton-based pianist Tom Phelan and jazz guitarist Shane Hill. She also appeared with the soul fusion band Gonzalez.[citation needed]
On February 21, 1982, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, she married Robert Chappell Ashmun. This was her second marriage. In 1983, the new husband and wife formed the record label RVA (Robert Viola Ashmun).
Wills died of cancer on May 6, 2009, in Phoenix, Arizona.[5] Her funeral was held at the Macedonia Abbey Baptist Church in Los Angeles on May 15, 2009.[3] Her grave remains unmarked.
Viola left behind six children: Vincent, Christopher, Regina, Ladonna, David and Rejal. She had 21 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
