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Ohio, USA
Jazz
Cabaret
Pop
Soul
Nancy Wilson (born February
20, 1937) is an American singer
with more than 70 albums, and
three Grammy Awards. She
has been labeled a singer of
blues, jazz, cabaret and pop;
a "consummate actress";
and "the complete entertainer." The title she prefers, however, is song
stylist.[1] She has received
many nicknames including "Sweet Nancy", "The Baby", "Fancy Miss Nancy"
and "The
Girl With the Honey-Coated Voice
Awards and honors
In 1964, Nancy 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.[19] 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.[4]
In 1986, she was dubbed the Global Entertainer of the Year by the
World
Conference of Mayors. In 1993, 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.[20] Nancy has received
a Star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in 1991, at 6541
Hollywood Blvd.[21] She received
honorary degrees from the Berklee
School of Music and Central
State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
She is also a member of Delta Sigma ThetaChillicothe,
Ohio. She co-founded the Nancy Wilson Foundation, which exposes
inner city
children to the country.[19] Sorority, Incorporated. Wilson has a street named after her in her
hometown of
Wilson was the recipient of the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA), NEA Jazz
Masters[22] The 2004 NAACP
Image Awards for Best Recording Jazz Artist. In 2005, the UNCF Trumpet
Award
celebrating African-American achievement, a Lifetime Achievement Award
from the
NAACP in Chicago, and Oprah
Winfrey’s Legends
Award. Fellowships award in 2004, the highest honors that the
United States
government bestows upon jazz musicians.
In September 2005, Nancy was inducted on the International Civil
Rights Walk
of Fame at the Martin
Luther King,
Jr. National Historic Site. Wilson was a major figure in civil
rights[23] marches of the 1960s. Nancy Wilson said, "This award means
more to me
than anything else I have ever received."
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 YearsI 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".[24] and
At the Hollywood
Bowl, August 29, 2007, Nancy 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". (Lewis and Wilson have recorded over 150 albums
together.)[25][26]
[edit] Personal life
Wilson married her first husband, drummer Kenny Dennis, in 1960. In
1963,
their son, Kenneth (Kacy) Dennis, Jr., was born, and by 1970, they
divorced. She
remarried that same year to Reverend Wiley Burton. She gave birth to
Samantha
Burton in 1975 and Sheryl Burton in 1976. As a result of her marriage,
she
abstained from performing in various venues, such as supper clubs. In
this
decade, she focused on her family, relocating to Pioneertown, California
to
raise her children in a rural setting.
For the following two decades, she successfully juggled her
personal life and
her career. In November 1998, both of her parents died; she calls this
year the
most difficult year of her life.[4] In March 2008, she was hospitalized for lung complications, recovered
and
claimed to be doing well.[27][28] In the same year, her husband, Presbyterian minister Rev.Wiley Burton,
died
after suffering from renal cancer.[29]
[edit] Grammy history
- Career Wins: 3
- Career Nominations: 20[30]
Guess Who I Saw Today is a popular jazz song written by Murray
Grand with lyrics by
Elisse
Boyd. The song was originally composed for Leonard
Sillman'sNew Faces of
1952 in which it was sung by June Carroll. Broadway musical revue
You're so late getting
home from the office, Did you miss your train?
Where you caught in
the rain?
No, don't bother to explain.
Can I fix you a quick martini?
As
a
matter of fact
I'll have one with you,
For to tell you the truth
I've had quite a day too!
Guess who I saw today, my dear!
I
went
in town to shop around
for something new,
and thought I'd stop
and have
a bite
when I was through.
I looked around for someplace near,
and
it
occurred to me
where I had parked the car,
Tehre is a most
attractive
French cafe
and bar.
It really wasn't very far.
The
waiter showed
me to a dark,
secluded corner,
And when my eyes became
accustomed
to
the gloom,
I saw two people at the bar
who were so much in love,
that even I could spot it clear
across the room.
Guess
who I saw
today, my dear!
I've never been so shocked before.
I headed
blindly for
the door.
They didn't see me passing through,
Guess who I saw
today?
Guess who I saw today?
Guess who I saw today?
I saw
you!