To call Wesley Willis "unique" would be a gross understatement.  Coming from an impoverished broken home, the native Chicagoan began his artistic "career" by selling ink pen drawings on the streets.  He was actually really good at drawing city skylines - he could recreate a car, bus or building with an uncanny accuracy.  He wasn't very good at drawing people, however.

Eventually he got into music and started producing his own CDs.  He really had no musical ability in the traditional sense - basically he would do little more than rant over pre-programmed sequences from a Technics keyboard, using the "autochord" feature.  Not only that, he would reuse those sequences time and time again, with slight changes in key and tempo.  So, he ended up with an extremely vast, yet redundant catalog.  Nevertheless, he gradually developed a strong cult following.  Many were drawn to his brutal honesty, likability and total lack of pretense.  Plus, he was often very funny.

He was also a chronic schizophrenic.  He talked and ranted about his "demons" often, which made for some oddly compelling songs.  And contrary to popular belief, he was not homeless.  He may have worked on the street, but he never actually lived on it.

He once hooked up with a group of actual musicians and performed briefly as a punk band called the Wesley Willis Fiasco, and I have totally loved everything I've heard from them so far.  They made one studio album in 1996, called Spookydisharmoniusconflicthellride.  I have a used copy on order and I wish it would hurry up and get here.  One of its ass-kicking tracks is called "I Can't Drive."

Wesley Willis died of leukemia in 2003 at the age of 40.  We really need someone like him in the musical universe, now more than ever.

Watch the video for "I Can't Drive" on YouTube.

Read the Wikipedia article on Wesley Willis.