American singer (1937?2018)
Nancy Wilson
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Wilson in 1968
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Born
| Nancy Sue Wilson
(
1937-02-20
)
February 20, 1937
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Died
| December 13, 2018
(2018-12-13)
(aged 81)
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Occupations
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Years active
| 1956?2011
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Spouses
|
(
m.
1960;
div.
1970)
Wiley Burton
(
m.
1974; died 2008)
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Children
| 3
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Musical career
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Genres
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Instrument(s)
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Labels
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Musical artist
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Nancy Sue Wilson
(February 20, 1937 ? December 13, 2018) was an American singer whose career spanned over five decades, from the mid-1950s until her retirement in the early 2010s. She was especially notable for her single "
(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am
" and her version of the standard "
Guess Who I Saw Today
". Wilson recorded more than 70 albums and won three Grammy Awards for her work. During her performing career, Wilson was labeled a singer of
blues
,
jazz
,
R&B
,
pop
, and
soul
; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer". The title she preferred, however, was "song stylist".
[1]
She received many nicknames including "Sweet Nancy", "The Baby", "Fancy Miss Nancy" and "The Girl With the Honey-Coated Voice".
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Nancy Wilson was born on February 20, 1937, in
Chillicothe, Ohio
, to Olden Wilson, an iron foundry worker, and Lillian Ryan.
Wilson attended Burnside Heights Elementary School and developed her singing skills by participating in church choirs. She attended
West High School
in Columbus, Ohio where she won a talent contest and was rewarded with a role as a host for a local television show. She then went on to attend Ohio's
Central State University
where she pursued her
B.A.
degree in education.
Career
[
edit
]
When Wilson met
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley
, he suggested she move to New York City for career opportunities. In 1959, she moved to New York to try to hire Adderley's manager and get a contract with Capitol Records.
[3]
Within four weeks of her arrival in New York she got her first big break, a call to fill in for
Irene Reid
at "The Blue Morocco". The club booked Wilson on a permanent basis; she was singing four nights a week and working as a secretary for the
New York Institute of Technology
during the day.
John Levy
sent demos of "Guess Who I Saw Today", "
Sometimes I'm Happy
", and two other songs to Capitol. Capitol Records signed her in 1960.
Wilson's debut single, "
Guess Who I Saw Today
", was so successful that between April 1960 and July 1962 Capitol Records released five Nancy Wilson albums. Her first album,
Like in Love,
displayed her talent in Rhythm and Blues. Adderley suggested that she should steer away from her original pop style and gear her music toward jazz and ballads. In 1962, they collaborated, producing the album
Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley
, which propelled her to national prominence with the hit R&B song, "
Save Your Love For Me
", and Wilson would later appear on Adderley's live album
In Person
(1968). Between March 1964 and June 1965, four of Wilson's albums hit the Top 10 on
Billboard
'
s Top LPs chart. In 1963, "Tell Me The Truth" became her first truly major hit, leading up to her performance at the
Coconut Grove
in 1964 ? the turning point of her career, garnering critical acclaim from coast to coast.
[3]
TIME
said of her, "She is, all at once, both cool and sweet, both singer and storyteller."
[4]
In 1964 Wilson released what became her most successful hit on the
Billboard
Hot 100 with "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am", which peaked at No. 11. From 1963 to 1971 Wilson logged 11 songs on the Hot 100, including two Christmas singles. However, "Face It Girl, It's Over" was the only remaining non-Christmas song to crack the Top 40 for Wilson (No. 29, in 1968).
After making numerous television guest appearances, Wilson eventually got her own series on NBC,
The Nancy Wilson Show
(1967?1968), which won an
Emmy
. Over the years she appeared on many popular television shows from
I Spy
(more or less playing herself as a Las Vegas singer in the 1966 episode "Lori", and a similar character in the 1973 episode "The Confession" of
The F.B.I.
[5]
),
Room 222
,
Hawaii Five-O
,
Police Story
,
The Jack Paar Program
, The
Sammy Davis Jr.
Show (1966),
The Danny Kaye Show
,
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
,
Kraft Music Hall
,
The Sinbad Show
,
The Cosby Show
,
The Andy Williams Show
,
The Carol Burnett Show
,
Soul Food
,
New York Undercover
,
and recently
Moesha
, and
The Parkers
.
[3]
[6]
She also appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show
,
The Merv Griffin Show
,
The Tonight Show
,
The Arsenio Hall Show
and
The Flip Wilson Show
.
She was in the 1993
Robert Townsend
's
The Meteor Man
and in the film,
The Big Score.
She also appeared on
The Lou Rawls Parade of Stars
and the
March of Dimes Telethon
.
She was signed by Capitol Records in the late 1970s and in an attempt to broaden her appeal she cut the album
Life, Love and Harmony
, an album of soulful, funky dance cuts that included the track "Sunshine", which was to become one of her most sought-after recordings (albeit among supporters of the rare soul scene with whom she would not usually register). In 1977 she recorded the theme song for
The Last Dinosaur
, a made-for-TV movie which opened in theaters in
Japan
.
In the 1980s, she recorded five albums for Japanese labels because she preferred recording live, and American labels frequently did not give her that option. She gained such wide popularity that she was selected as the winner of the annual
Tokyo
Song Festivals.
In 1982, Wilson recorded with
Hank Jones
and the
Great Jazz Trio
. In that same year she recorded with the
Griffith Park Band
whose members included
Chick Corea
and
Joe Henderson
. In 1987 she participated in a PBS show entitled
Newport Jazz '87
as the singer of a jazz trio with
John Williams
and
Roy McCurdy
.
[7]
In 1982, she also signed with CBS, her albums here including
The Two of Us
(1984), duets with
Ramsey Lewis
produced by
Stanley Clarke
;
Forbidden Lover
(1987), including the title-track duet with
Carl Anderson
; and
A Lady with a Song
, which became her 52nd album release in 1989. In 1989,
Nancy Wilson in Concert
played as a television special. In the early 1990s, Wilson recorded an album paying tribute to
Johnny Mercer
with co-producer
Barry Manilow
entitled
With My Lover Beside Me
. In this decade she also recorded two other albums,
Love, Nancy
and her sixtieth album
If I Had My Way
. In the late 1990s, she teamed up with MCG Jazz, a youth-education program of the
Manchester Craftsmen's Guild
,
[8]
nonprofit, minority-directed, arts and learning organization located in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
In 1995, Wilson performed at the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
and the
San Francisco Jazz Festival
in 1997.
[7]
In 1999, she hosted a show in honor of
Ella Fitzgerald
entitled
Forever Ella
on the A & E Network. All the proceeds from 2001's
A Nancy Wilson Christmas
went to support the work of
MCG Jazz
.
[9]
Wilson was the host on
NPR
's
Jazz Profiles
,
[10]
from 1996 to 2005. This series profiled the legends and legacy of jazz through music, interviews and commentary. Wilson and the program were the recipients of the
George Foster Peabody Award
in 2001.
[11]
Wilson's second and third album with MCG Jazz,
R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal)
(2005), and
Turned to Blue
(2007), both won the
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album
. On September 10, 2011, she performed on a public stage for the last time at
Ohio University
in
Athens, Ohio
. According to Wilson, "I'm not going to be doing it anymore, and what better place to end it than where I started ? in Ohio."
[12]
Awards
[
edit
]
In 1964, Wilson won her first
Grammy Award
for the best
rhythm and blues
recording for the album
How Glad I Am
. She was featured as a "grand diva" of jazz in a 1992 edition of
Essence
.
[13]
In the same year, she also received the
Whitney Young
Jr. Award from the Urban League. In 1998, she was a recipient of the
Playboy
Reader Poll Award for best jazz vocalist.
In 1986, she was dubbed the Global Entertainer of the Year by the World Conference of Mayors. She received an award from the
Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change
in 1993; the
NAACP Image Award ? Hall of Fame Award
in 1998, and was inducted into the
Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
in 1999. She received the Trumpet Award for Outstanding Achievement in 1994.
[13]
Wilson received a Star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
in 1990, at 6541 Hollywood Blvd.
[14]
She received honorary degrees from
Berklee College of Music
in Boston, MA and
Central State University
in
Wilberforce, Ohio
. She is also a member of
Delta Sigma Theta
sorority. Wilson has a street named after her in her hometown of
Chillicothe, Ohio
. She co-founded the Nancy Wilson Foundation, which exposes inner-city children to the country.
[13]
Wilson was the recipient of the
National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA),
NEA Jazz Masters
Fellowships award in 2004, the highest honors that the United States government bestows upon jazz musicians.
[15]
In 2005 she received the NAACP Image Awards for
Best Recording Jazz Artist
. She received the 2005
UNCF
Trumpet Award celebrating African-American achievement, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the
NAACP
in
Chicago
, and
Oprah Winfrey
's Legends Award.
[16]
In September 2005, Wilson was inducted into the
International Civil Rights Walk of Fame
at the
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site
. Wilson was a major figure in
Civil Rights Movement
. Wilson noted that the ceremony gave her "one of the best ceremonies that I've ever had in my life."
[17]
Times.com, August 20, 2006: "It's been a long career for the polished Wilson, whose first albums appeared in the 1960s, and she faces that truth head-on in such numbers as 'These Golden Years' and 'I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up'. Shorter breathed these days, she can still summon a warm, rich sound and vividly tell a song's story. With a big band behind her in '
Taking a Chance on Love
', she also shows there's plenty of fire in her autumnal mood".
[18]
At the
Hollywood Bowl
, August 29, 2007, Wilson celebrated her 70th birthday with an all-star event hosted by
Arsenio Hall
. Ramsey Lewis and his trio performed "
To Know Her Is To Love Her
".
Life and death
[
edit
]
Wilson and her first husband, drummer
Kenny Dennis
, were married in 1960. They had a son Kenneth ("Kacy") Dennis Jr., but by 1970, they had divorced.
[19]
On May 22, 1974, Wilson married Reverend Wiley Burton, a Presbyterian minister. They married within a month of their first meeting.
[20]
She gave birth to Samantha Burton in 1975, and the couple adopted Sheryl Burton in 1976.
As a result of her marriage, she abstained from performing in various venues, such as
supper clubs
. For the following two decades, she successfully juggled her personal life and her career. In November 1998, both of her parents died; she called this year the most difficult of her life.
In August 2006, Wilson was hospitalized with anemia and potassium deficiency, and was on I.V. sustenance while undergoing a complete battery of tests. She was unable to attend the UNCF Evening of Stars Tribute to
Aretha Franklin
and had to cancel the engagement. All of her other engagements were on hold pending doctors' reports.
[21]
[22]
In March 2008, she was hospitalized for lung complications, recovered, and reported to be doing well.
[21]
[22]
Later that year, her husband, Wiley Burton, died after suffering from renal cancer.
[23]
On December 13, 2018, Wilson died after a long illness at her home in
Pioneertown, California
.
[24]
[25]
She was 81 years old.
[26]
Grammy history
[
edit
]
- Career wins: 3
[27]
- Career nominations: 7 (Note: In a 2007 interview, Wilson stated that she had been nominated more than 20 times.
[28]
However, the Grammy Awards web site lists seven nominations for Wilson.)
Discography
[
edit
]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
DVD concert films
[
edit
]
- Nancy Wilson at Carnegie Hall
(2001)
[29]
- Great Women Singers of the 20th Century ? Nancy Wilson
(2005)
[30]
5. Ed Sullivan Show appearance
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Nancy Wilson, NPR Biography"
. NPR. Archived from
the original
on January 20, 2014
. Retrieved
January 29,
2012
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson (Center Stage) (Biography)"
. Ebony Magazine. March 1, 2007.
[
dead link
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Miss Nancy Wilson Biography"
. Missnancywilson.com. August 25, 2004. Archived from
the original
on February 8, 2012
. Retrieved
January 29,
2012
.
- ^
"Singers: The Greatest Pretender"
.
Time Magazine
. July 17, 1964. Archived from
the original
on October 22, 2007
. Retrieved
August 12,
2013
.
- ^
"The F.B.I., Season 9, Episode 2, The Confession"
. tv.com. September 30, 1973.
Archived
from the original on November 12, 2013
. Retrieved
March 9,
2014
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson (II)"
. IMDb.
Archived
from the original on March 23, 2014
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"Wilson, Nancy (Sue)"
. Oxford University Press
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
"Manchester Craftsmen's Guild"
. manchesterguild.org. Archived from
the original
on January 17, 2007
. Retrieved
March 9,
2014
.
- ^
"CD Title: A Nancy Wilson Christmas"
. JazzReview.com. Archived from
the original
on December 22, 2007
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
"NPR Music ? Jazz Profiles"
. NPR.
Archived
from the original on January 1, 2014
. Retrieved
January 29,
2012
.
- ^
"NPR Collects Two Peabody Awards For September 11 Coverage and Jazz Profiles"
. NPR. March 27, 2002.
Archived
from the original on May 19, 2012
. Retrieved
March 9,
2014
.
- ^
"Legendary Jazz Singer Nancy Wilson, To Perform Last Show in Athens"
. jazzcolumbus.com.
Archived
from the original on December 26, 2014
. Retrieved
December 25,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Wilson, Nancy ? 1937"
. encyclopedia.com.
Archived
from the original on April 2, 2010
. Retrieved
June 24,
2009
.
- ^
"Hollywood Walk of Fame ? Nancy Wilson"
. Hollywood Walk of Fame. October 1, 1990.
Archived
from the original on February 18, 2014
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
"2004 Jazz Master Fellowship Recipients"
. The National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from
the original
on February 12, 2008
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
"International Civil Rights Walk of Fame: Nancy Wilson"
. National Park Service, nps.gov.
Archived
from the original on February 4, 2011
. Retrieved
April 19,
2014
.
- ^
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. "11 'courageous souls' join rights walk of fame."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
, August 28, 2005: A4.
NewsBank
.
- ^
Christopher Porterfield (August 20, 2006).
"6 Jazz Singers Worth A Listen"
. Time Magazine Arts. Archived from
the original
on January 4, 2012
. Retrieved
January 29,
2012
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson."
Contemporary Black Biography
, vol. 98, Gale, 2012.
Gale In Context: Biography
,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1606005591/BIC?u=unlv_main&sid=BIC&xid=bc21857a
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson Finds Peace In Marriage"
,
JET Magazine
, June 27, 1974.
- ^
a
b
"Jazz singer Nancy Wilson treated for a collapsed lung"
.
Old School Music Lover
. April 17, 2008.
Archived
from the original on March 23, 2014
. Retrieved
June 23,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Nancy Wilson 'doing fine' recovering from lung collapse"
.
JET at highbeam.com
. May 5, 2008. Archived from
the original
on June 11, 2014
. Retrieved
March 9,
2014
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson's husband dies"
.
JET at highbeam.com
. August 25, 2008. Archived from
the original
on June 11, 2014
. Retrieved
March 9,
2014
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson, Legendary Vocalist, Dies At 81"
.
Grammy.com
. December 14, 2018
. Retrieved
January 2,
2019
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson, Grammy-winning jazz singer, dies at 81"
.
USA Today
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson, Grammy-winning jazz singer, dies at 81"
.
Fox News
. December 13, 2018
. Retrieved
December 18,
2018
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson, Artist"
.
Recording Academy Grammy Awards
. Retrieved
April 25,
2018
.
- ^
"
'Music Preview: Another side of Nancy Wilson"
. post-gazette.com. March 1, 2007.
Archived
from the original on March 16, 2014
. Retrieved
August 19,
2007
.
- ^
"Nancy Wilson at Carnegie Hall ? video"
. view.com.
Archived
from the original on March 28, 2013
. Retrieved
January 29,
2012
.
- ^
"Great Women Singers of the 20th Century: Nancy Wilson ? video"
. IMDb.
Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
External links
[
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]
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Studio albums
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Live albums
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Compilation albums
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Songs
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Related articles
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Awards for Nancy Wilson
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| 1980?1989
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1980
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1981
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1982
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1983
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1984
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1985
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1986
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1988
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1989
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1990
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1991
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1992
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1993
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1994
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1995
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1996
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1997
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1998
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1999
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2000
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2001
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2002
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2003
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2007
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2008
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2009
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