Willie Thrasher, born in 1948 in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada, is a Canadian Inuit musician. Raised in the traditional Inuit hunting culture, Thrasher was removed from his family at age five and placed in the residential school system, where he learned to play drums. He formed the Cordells with his brother and friends, touring northern Canada in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, Thrasher began focusing on personal songwriting and studying Inuit music. He recorded two albums with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Northern Service: Sweet Grass in 1980 and Spirit Child/Fils de la Tradition in 1981. His song "Spirit Child" were featured on the 2014 compilation album Native North America, Vol. 1, leading to extensive touring.
