Nancy Wilson, the Grammy and Emmy Award winning song stylist who spent nearly six decades as one of the most revered voices in jazz music, passed away yesterday after a lengthy illness. She was 81.
Citing Jimmy Scott and Dinah Washington as critical for shaping her sound, Wilson influenced generations of singers and musicians and transcended genres with her signature method of captivating listeners by engaging equally with the lyrics and the melody. She was as much a storyteller as she was a singer – as proven with her 1960 breakthrough hit “Guess Who I Saw Today” and her biggest selling single, 1964’s “(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am.”
A prolific recording artist, Wilson released more than 70 albums over the course of her career. Her popularity as a live performer never waned, from the time she debut on the jazz club scene in the late 1950s until her retirement from the stage in 2011.
She was born on Feb. 20, 1937, in Chillicothe, Ohio, the oldest of six children born to Olden and Lillian Wilson.
Her father’s record collection – which included Scott, Billy Eckstein and Nat King Cole – provided Wilson with her introduction to jazz vocals. She grew up singing in the church choir and after winning a talent competition as a young teen, she began gigging at the local jazz clubs before heading to New York City to start her professional career in the late 1950s. She was an instant success in music and would later break ground as a television personality and made countless appearances on variety shows such as “The Carol Burnett Show” “The Tonight Show” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” She hosted her own variety program “The Nancy Wilson Show” in the early 1970s. From 1996 through 2005, Wilson was the host of NPR’s “Jazz Profiles, which produced nearly 200 episodes.
Wilson is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.
