Monday, January 7, 2019

Nancy Wilson [1937-2018]

Artist: Nancy Wilson
LP: Tender Loving Care
Song: "Close Your Eyes"
[ listen ]

The lovely song stylist Nancy Wilson passed away at the end of 2018 just a few weeks before Christmas. I first saw her perform at Jazz Alley here in Seattle back in the late '90s when I was still pretty new in town. I invited some loser I was dating at the time. We arrived early to get good seats, but he couldn't handle "crowds" so we had to sit back in the corner and I had to twist like taffy to even glimpse Ms. Wilson on the stage. She was dressed in red and was vibrant and exciting, or so I was told. 

Nancy returned to Jazz Alley in late September of 2010, and this time I invited my friend Gene, who is not a loser, to go with me, since I knew he would appreciate the show. Though Nancy had been in and out of the hospital with health problems in 2006 and 2008 and her performance was more subdued than the previous time, she was very elegant, still had all her charm (she was very chatty!) and still had that incredible, beautiful voice. Someone captured video of her performing "When October Goes" that evening and put it on YouTube here

You can read all about Nancy Wilson on her Wikipedia page here (she's won three Grammys!) and check out her obituary here in The New York Times. And if you'd like to see another neat picture of Ms. Nancy Wilson, click here.

Nancy Wilson
[ February 20, 1937 — December 13, 2018 ]
We will miss you, Nancy.

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