Michael "Mike" Wansley (born October 9, 1961), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

s Wanz and TeeWanz, is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. He performs in various genres, including rock, R&B, soul, hip hop, and pop. He was featured on fellow

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based duo

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an American hip hop duo from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2008 by Macklemore, a rapper,Trust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard'', May 8, 2013. Retrieved January ...

' international hit single "

Thrift Shop Thrift may refer to: * Frugality * A savings and loan association in the United States * Apache Thrift, a remote procedure call (RPC) framework * Thrift (plant), a plant in the genus ''Armeria'' * Syd Thrift (1929–2006), American baseball execut ...

", which received two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s for "Best Rap Performance" and "Best Rap Song".

Life and career

Wansley started performing in church, school, and on the street. He was introduced to jazz and pop music early and studied jazz at school. He has been performing since the early 1980s. At 21, he formed a band called Boys Will Be Boys. Their repertoire included covers, including

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

songs. In the early 1990s Wansley went on to become the bass player in the Seattle band

The Rangehoods The Rangehoods were an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington in 1984. The group released one extended play, EP titled ''Rough Town'' in 1985 under Big D Records, and released it on Compact Cassette, cassette in 1985 ...

, taking over for Bruce Hewes. He also was the bass player and singer for the original hard-funk band, Lifering, with David Scott Cameron on guitar, Jeff Stone on guitar, and David Nielsen on drums. He later on fronted a band called the Ghetto Monks and saw some success.Caulfield, Keith (October 17, 2012).
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Heist' Album Debuts At No. 2 On Billboard 200, Mumford Holds at No. 1
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. He sang

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

s in recordings by D. Sane and Street Level Records for a decade. He also took part in the summer of 2011 in the opera ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...

''. Wanz graduated from Lakes High School in Lakewood, Washington. Prior to the break-out performance of "Thrift Shop", Wanz was a full-time software test engineer for companies such as

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

, Adapx, and Volt. Sane called him and introduced him to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to do the hook for "Thrift Shop" in 2012. Wanz has toured with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and performed with them on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

'', ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. About pag ...

'' and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

''. He is also featured in the official music video of the song. Wanz has written a book about a series of sayings he has coined over the years, to be called ''#The Book of Wanz'' and has a Ted Talk called "You Too Can Be Your Own Unicorn". In 2015, Wansley returned to his career as a quality-assurance engineer for the software company

Tableau Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to: Arts * ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled ''Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV'' * ''Tableau viv ...

and has been working with at-risk youth and other causes as well as working on new music.

Discography

Albums

Extended play

* ''Wander (2013)''

Singles

;Featured in

Appearances

• 2003: “Pull with Me” (Dividenz feat. Wanz) (5:24) (on Dividenz album ‘Hollow Point Lyrics’) • 2004: “Take This Flight” (Crytical feat. Dividenz & Wanz) (4:16) (on Crytical’s album ‘Crytical Condition’) *2006: “Rain” (Dividenz feat. Wanz) (5:15) (on Dividenz album ‘10% Rap, 90% Hustle’) *2006: “No Way” (Dividenz feat. Wanz) (4:16) (on Dividenz album ‘10% Rap, 90% Hustle’) *2010: “I’m Gon’ Preach” (The Competitive Hustle League feat. Wanz) (3:53) (on Competitive Hustle League album ‘CHL’) *2012: "

" (

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewi ...

and

Ryan Lewis Ryan Scott Lewis (born March 25, 1988) is an American record producer, DJ, videographer, photographer, graphic designer, music video director, rapper, and songwriter. Along with producing his own album, ''Instrumentals'', Lewis produced the alb ...

feat. Wanz) (3:57) (on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis album '' The Heist'') *2014: "Family" (

Ridsa Maxence Boitez (; born 16 October 1990 in Orléans), better known by his artistic name Ridsa (stylized as RIDSA), is a French rapper and singer of Spanish people, Spanish descent. Biography After practicing soccer in his youth, he started rapp ...

feat. Wanz) (3:32) (on Ridsa's album ''Mes histoires'') *2014: "To:

Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011), known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American singer and rapper. He gained recognition for providing guest vocals for a multitude of hit rap songs between 1992 and 2007, earning the ...

" (feat.

Warren G Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper and producer known for his role in West Coast rap's 1990s ascent.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. Along with Snoop Dogg and N ...

, Grynch & Crytical) (3:37) *2015: "Still Believe" ( J-HAZE feat. Wanz) *2018: "Back to Work" (

Wizdom David Mazzeo also known as Wizdom, is a hip hop artist based in Seattle, Washington. The emcee has released three studio albums, one mixtape and one EP release. Guests on his music include Brainstorm of Dyme Def, Stef Lang and New Balance(Nate Bu ...

feat. Wanz) (3:24)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wanz 1961 births 20th-century African-American male singers Central Washington University alumni Living people Musicians from Seattle Software testing people American hip hop singers African-American male singer-songwriters American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American street performers Grammy Award winners for rap music American male pop singers Singer-songwriters from Washington (state) 21st-century African-American male singers