Viola Wills

Disco artist Viola Wills worked as a backup vocalist for Barry White, Joe Cocker, and Smokey Robinson before releasing multiple dance hits during the late-'70s and early-'80s. Born in Los Angeles on December 30, 1939, she recorded her solo debut album, Soft Centers, while working with Cocker in 1974. Her disco cover of Patience and Prudence's "Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" became an international hint 1979, cracking the Top 10 in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK. It also helped jumpstart her popularity on the U.S. dance chart, where her follow-up single — a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "If I Could Read Your Mind" — peaked at Number 2 in 1980. Wills' version of "Stormy Weather" became a Number 4 hit two years later, and she launched her own label, RVA, in 1983. A gay icon and longtime staple of America's dance club playlists, she passed away at 69 years old on May 6, 2009.