Rockapaedia Obituaries
Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson died aged eighty-one on 13th December 2018 from renal cancer
at her home in
Pioneertown, California, U.S.A. She was survived by her first husband, drummer Kenny Dennis, their son Kenneth ("Kacy") Dennis Jr. , her second husband; Presbyterian minister, Reverend Wiley Burton, and their daughter, Samantha Burton, and their adopted daughter, Sheryl Burton.Nancy Wilson was born on 20th February 1937 in Chillicothe, Ohio,U.S.A., At an early age Nancy heard recordings from Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, and Jimmy Scott with Lionel Hampton's Big Band. She became aware of her talent while singing in church choirs, imitating singers as a young child, and performing in her grandmother's house during summer visits. By the age of four, Nancy believed she would eventually become a professional singer.
At the age of fifteen whilst attending Columbus, Ohio's West High School, Nancy won a talent contest sponsored by the local ABC television station WTVN. The prize was an appearance on a twice-a-week television show, Skyline Melodies, which she later hosted. She also worked clubs on the east side and north side of Columbus, Ohio, from the age of fifteen until she graduated from West High School at age seventeen. Unsure of her future as an entertainer, she entered college to pursue teaching. She spent one year at Ohio's Central State College (now Central State University) before dropping out and following her original ambitions. She auditioned and won a spot with Rusty Bryant's Carolyn Club Big Band in nineteen-fifty-six. She toured with them throughout Canada and the Midwest in nineteen-fifty-six to 1958. While in this group, Nancy Wilson made her first recording under Dot Records.
When Nancy Wilson met Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, he suggested that she should move to New York City, believing that the big city would be the venue in which her career could bloom. In nineteen fifty-nine, she relocated to New York with a goal of obtaining Cannonball’s manager John Levy as her manager and Capitol Records as her label. 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 Nancy 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 nineteen sixty.
Nancy Wilson’s debut single, "Guess Who I Saw Today", was so successful that between April nineteen sixty and July nineteen sixty-two Capitol Records released five Nancy 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 nineteen sixty-two, they collaborated, producing the album 'Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley', which propelled her to national prominence with the hit Rythm&Blues song, "Save Your Love For Me", and Nancy Wilson would later appear on Adderley's live album In Person . Between March nineteen sixty-four and June nineteen sixty-five, four of Nancy Wilson's albums hit the Top 10 on Billboard's Top LPs chart. In nineteen sixty-three "Tell Me The Truth" became her first truly major hit, leading up to her performance at the Coconut Grove in nineteen sixty-four – the turning point of her career, garnering critical acclaim from coast to coast. TIME said of her, "She is, all at once, both cool and sweet, both singer and storyteller." In nineteen sixty-four Nancy 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 number 11. From nineteen sixty-three to 1971 Nancy Wilson logged eleven 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 Nancy Wilson (number29, in nineteen sixty-eight).
After making numerous television guest appearances, Nancy Wilson eventually got her own series on NBC, The Nancy Nancy Wilson Show (nineteen sixty-seven–nineteen sixty-eight), 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 nineteen sixty-six episode "Lori", and a similar character in the 1973 episode "The Confession" of The F.B.I.), Room 222, Hawaii Five-O, Police Story, The Jack Paar Program, The Sammy Davis Jr. Show , 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. She also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show, The Arsenio Hall Show and The Flip Nancy 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 nineteen seventies 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 nineteen-eighty-two, Nancy 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 nineteen-eighty-seven she participated in a PBS show entitled Newport Jazz ‘87 as the singer of a jazz trio with John Williams and Roy McCurdy. In nineteen-eighty-two, she also signed with CBS, her albums here including The Two of Us , duets with Ramsey Lewis produced by Stanley Clarke; Forbidden Lover), including the title-track duet with Carl Anderson; and A Lady with a Song, which became her 52nd album release in nineteen-eighty-nine. Also in nineteen-eighty-nine, Nancy Wilson in Concert played as a television special. In the early 1990s, Nancy 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 it My Way'. In the late 1990s, she teamed up with MCG Jazz, a youth-education program of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, nonprofit, minority-directed, arts and learning organization located in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, U.S.A..
In nineteen-ninety-five, Nancy Wilson performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival in nineteen-ninety-seven. In nineteen-ninety-nine, 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 Nancy Wilson Christmas went to support the work of MCG Jazz. Nancy Wilson was the host on NPR's Jazz Profiles, from nineteen-ninety-six to 2005. This series profiled the legends and legacy of jazz through music, interviews and commentary. Nancy Wilson and the program were the recipients of the George Foster Peabody Award in 2001. Nancy 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 10th September 2011, she performed on a public stage for the last time at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Nancy Wilson said that she was not going to be doing it anymore, and what better place to end it than where she started – in O
hio. In 1964, Nancy 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. In the same year, she also received the Whitney Young Jr. Award from the Urban League. In nineteen-ninety-eight, 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 nineteen-ninety-three; the NAACP Image Award – Hall of Fame Award in nineteen-ninety-eight, and was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in nineteen-ninety-nine. She received the Trumpet Award for Outstanding Achievement in nineteen-ninety-four. Nancy Wilson received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in nineteen-ninety, at 6541 Hollywood Blvd. 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. Nancy Wilson has a street named after her in her hometown of Chillicothe, Ohio, U.S.A. She co-founded the Nancy Wilson Foundation, which exposes inner-city children to the country. Nancy 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. 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.
In September 2005, Nancy Wilson was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. Nancy Wilson was a major figure in Civil Rights Movement. Nancy Wilson said that this award meant more to her than anything else she had ever received.