 When Nancy Wilson arrived in New York City in 1959, she knew what she
wanted: to launch a national singing career with John Levy as her
manager and Capitol as her record label. She got what she wanted and
the rest, as they say, is history. To this day, John Levy remains her
manager, and while she retired from touring at the end of 2004, she
continues to play select concert engagements, to record, and National Public Radio listeners hear her hosting repeated broadcasts of her Jazz Profiles series.
 Congratulations! Nancy has been nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Jazz Vocal album. (Winners to be announced in February 2007.)
 Other recent awards: a 2004 NEA Jazz Master Fellowship award, a Grammy for her 2004 CD titled R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal) on MCG Jazz,
an NAACP Image Award, a 2005 Trumpet Award celebrating African-American
achievement, and a 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP in
Chicago. For more information, read her bio below and visit her web site.
NANCY WILSON
Profile
Nancy Wilson blurs the line between jazz singer and pop singer,
preferring to be called a "song stylist." Born in Chillicothe,
Ohio, on February 20, 1937, she is younger than Elvis, Little Richard
and Esther Phillips, and only a year older than Etta James and Tina
Turner. Yet, stylistically speaking, she is worlds away from
these rhythm rocking contemporaries. Nancy is more like an
earlier generation of vocalists such as Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan or
Billy Eckstine.
At 15, after appearing at a talent show in Columbus, Ohio, Nancy was
given her own twice-a-week television show, Skyline Melodies. She
worked at the Carolina Club on Prom Night and six months later with the
house band. Cannonball Adderley once told her, “If you ever come to New
York give me a call.” He was managed by John Levy, and soon she was
signed to Capitol Records. "What I heard that night," recalled
Capitol A&R man Dave Cavanaugh, "was the nasal quality of Dinah
[Washington] and the tear of Billie [Holiday]. I signed her
immediately."
An early single, 1961's "Guess Who I Saw Today," a marvel of
sophistication given the teen tenor of the times, became a staple on
jazz radio and in black juke box locations throughout urban
America. An album in 1962, Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley,
further raised her jazz profile and provided her with a second juke box
hit, an edited-for-45 version of Buddy Johnson's "Save Your Love For
Me." She also paid tribute to her idol, Little Jimmy Scott, with
a much-loved version of "When Did You Leave Heaven." Nancy's
highest charting Capitol singles, the GRAMMY® Award-winning "(You Don't
Know) How Glad I Am" (#11 Pop, 1964) and "You're As Right As Rain" (#10
R&B, 1974), are highlights in the total of 20 Pop and/or
R&B-charting singles for Capitol.
The two albums which made Nancy Wilson a household name were Broadway
My Way and Hollywood My Way, which are just what the titles imply,
current and old tunes from the Great White Way and Tinseltown.
Broadway's standout track was Irving Berlin's "You Can Have Him," from
Miss Liberty. Nancy the actress wrings every drop of irony out of
Berlin's heartbreakingly ironic lyric. The hit from Hollywood was
the aforementioned "When Did You Leave Heaven," the Richard
Whiting-Walter Bullock gem from the movie Sing Baby Sing. Both
albums came out in 1963 and are part of an extraordinary output of 37
original albums total in her 20 years with the label.
After countless television guest appearances, NBC gave Nancy her own
network series, The Nancy Wilson Show, for which she won an Emmy® Award
for the 1967-68 season. She also performed on shows like The Andy
Williams Show, The Carol Burnett Show, The Flip Wilson Show, and, over
the years, either as herself or in the occasional acting role, on TV
series like I Spy, Room 222, Hawaii Five-O, Police Story, The Cosby
Show, Soul Food, New York Undercover and, lately, Moesha and The
Parkers.
After years with Capitol, during many of which she was second in sales
only to the Beatles, surpassing even Sinatra, Peggy Lee, the Beach Boys
and early idol Nat King Cole, the business had changed and Nancy felt a
new label might bring about a fresh start. So she moved to
Columbia, where, despite her usual high aesthetic standards, she found
it impossible to compete, sales-wise, with increasingly teen-oriented
acts.
One of the more interesting albums from her later period came about in
1991, when singer Barry Manilow was given a sheath full of lyrics
written by the late Johnny Mercer which the great songwriter had never
put to music. Manilow added melodies and chose Nancy to sing the
resultant songs.
In 1995, when National Public Radio (NPR) was looking for an articulate
voice with both name value and jazz credibility to host their "Jazz
Profiles" series, Nancy was the obvious choice. Not only did she
know the music, but she knew the artists personally. Her first profile
for this program was the 75th birthday tribute to Charlie Parker.
In the late 1990s, Nancy teamed up with MCG Jazz, a non-profit,
independent, specialty record label, to record her only Christmas
album, A Nancy Wilson Christmas, released for the 2001 holiday season.
Nancy gave the world of music one more gift on August 25, 2004,
R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal). Her second MCG Jazz release
features compositions never before recorded in her 50 plus years in the
music business and special guests ranging from R&B star Kenny
Lattimore to jazz legends George Shearing, Toots Thielemans and Phil
Woods. R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal) won the 2005 GRAMMY®
Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Recently, Nancy has begun to talk about giving up the road and retiring
to spend more time with her family and her grandchildren. She has
already cut back on the number of performances per year, and is
performing concerts only. Her fans will miss her, but with 67 albums'
worth of material, we have plenty of listening and plenty of
memories. With all that Nancy Wilson has given to the world of
music, she's entitled.
Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild
1815 Metropolitan St., Pittsburgh, PA 15233 (t) 412-322-1773 (f) 412-322-1075
www.mcgjazz.org
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