Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:
Nancy Wilson
One such elegant soul?
"Sweet Nancy"
"The Baby."
The sublime Nancy Wilson.
She came into this world singing... and never stopped.
Experimenting early with various sounds, she soon crafted her own - a lovely, subtle, warm-hued vibe mixed with taste and a more than a touch of glamour.
She earned a reputation - but not the typical one associated with divas of her caliber. Easy to work with, a booking agents dream, level-headed. Smart.
From day one, she recognized what she wanted when it came to a career in music - and more importantly - what she did not.
Through it all, she created a legacy of music unlike any other, carving out her own, very unique, place in the annals of music.
The gospel according to her?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.
The topic? Protecting Happiness
"I sang at home, I sang in front of anybody who wanted to hear something, I went to church all the the time, but I left the church I was in to go to the Methodist Church where I could sing in the choir because I was a singer in the Pentecostal Church because I have always sung secular music, that has always been my gift because I have always believed God loved me and I didn’t think I was a sinner at eight years old because I sang ‘pop’ tunes, so I sang with my Mom and her sisters, I sang some Gospel tunes a few times but I have always sung pop, always sung secular music."
"It was a wonderful old house, and I can still remember the happiness there, and music was everywhere. Two of my aunts played the organ as well as the piano, and everybody urged me to sing."
"Boy, I guess I’ve always been a ham. I didn’t need much persuasion to go into my whole little act."
"I was in a band at fifteen, I worked with bug bands all around my home town, and within a hundred mile radius and when I came out of High School I went with Rusty Bryant, who had a major hit nationally [‘All Nite Long’] I travelled the mid-West with him, I worked in Ohio — I mean I was always working, I was never without work at home, I never thought about it too much, when I went to New York and got a manager I was with Capitol Records in a matter of weeks and had to get a keyboard player — I did — that was, that was… and the next thing was a trio."
"I was just wasting my time. Really, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and the courses I was taking would not help me. If I was ever going to be a singer, I would just have to stop stalling around and get out there and try."
"Nobody seemed to bother to check my identification for my age, and I just sang and stayed out of the way, and it worked out alright."
"The people at New York Institute of Technology were wonderful. They let me take long lunch hours to make auditions, and they gave me time off whenever necessary. And they were so encouraging! I stayed with them for a long time after I went to work in a night club."
"It was a wonderful old house, and I can still remember the happiness there, and music was everywhere. Two of my aunts played the organ as well as the piano, and everybody urged me to sing."
"Boy, I guess I’ve always been a ham. I didn’t need much persuasion to go into my whole little act."
"I was in a band at fifteen, I worked with bug bands all around my home town, and within a hundred mile radius and when I came out of High School I went with Rusty Bryant, who had a major hit nationally [‘All Nite Long’] I travelled the mid-West with him, I worked in Ohio — I mean I was always working, I was never without work at home, I never thought about it too much, when I went to New York and got a manager I was with Capitol Records in a matter of weeks and had to get a keyboard player — I did — that was, that was… and the next thing was a trio."
"I was just wasting my time. Really, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and the courses I was taking would not help me. If I was ever going to be a singer, I would just have to stop stalling around and get out there and try."
"Nobody seemed to bother to check my identification for my age, and I just sang and stayed out of the way, and it worked out alright."
"The people at New York Institute of Technology were wonderful. They let me take long lunch hours to make auditions, and they gave me time off whenever necessary. And they were so encouraging! I stayed with them for a long time after I went to work in a night club."
"The first time I worked in New York I played a club called The Blue Morocco in the Broncs, I worked in the daytime, sang on the weekends, and when my first record came I was with Capitol, Capitol put the record out, I went to Australia for a few months and when I came back that was it! I mean, they were waiting for me to get back."
"Well, nobody really did that much for me ... I mean what could they do? They said nice things and introduced me when I came into the club or something, but actually, nobody took me seriously. They thought I was just kidding about being a singer, and by the time they began to believe, I was on my way."
"I didn’t want to be about anybody, I didn’t see anybody really happy, I saw Dinah [Washington] married five times, I thought ‘I don’t see women happy,’ I saw the business kick the women, so what was there about this that would make me want to do it?"
"Well, nobody really did that much for me ... I mean what could they do? They said nice things and introduced me when I came into the club or something, but actually, nobody took me seriously. They thought I was just kidding about being a singer, and by the time they began to believe, I was on my way."
"I didn’t want to be about anybody, I didn’t see anybody really happy, I saw Dinah [Washington] married five times, I thought ‘I don’t see women happy,’ I saw the business kick the women, so what was there about this that would make me want to do it?"
"They had ‘people’ around them, who guided their ships as opposed to them guiding it, yeah. I felt great sorrow when I saw things like that, but I figured you might be able, just maybe, do it right! Especially since I had great family, great background, wonderful parents who were very supportive, so I had a great background, I didn’t come from this horrid place, I came from a good place, nd I knew what happiness was, consequently if I ever lost a little bit, you just look inside and find it, because you know what it is, and don’t get too far away from that, just remember your Grandmother’s porch and the swing and picking the tomatoes in the garden — remember that — that was what was real, as well as important."
"But if you have a gift you try to learn, you try to learn how to use the gift, here’s what I am saying about knowing who you are, knowing I don’t want that! But I will do this, but I can’t do it that way. So I went and got the one manager that would understand that."
"The door was open, like I was saying I was never not working, so I just went from Ohio, to a place to be heard in New York and straight to the supper clubs, Basin Street East, the Waldorf."
"I couldn’t have kept that pace up for 30 weeks,. Chicago was really the hardest place for me to work in those days. I knew I had to do something else or it would be all over for me before I really got started."
"I have always sung the American Songbook, I loved the great tunes, Broadway, everything, but that was what I heard, i heard R&B and Broadway, I wasn’t in New York when I heard all the great material, I loved Cole Porter, George Gershwin, the American Songbook, what is a better way to go? I heard, as a girl, I heard Billy Eckstine, Jimmy Scott obviously [laughs] — I sound just like Jimmy [laughs] — And Dinah [Washington], I heard a lot of R&B, Little Esther, LaVerne Baker, Ruth Brown, and I was like kinda fifteen or so, it was a long time until I heard Sarah [Vaughan] and Ella [Fitzgerald] because my upbringing was pretty much male singers who were singing the blues or the big band stuff that my Dad listened to, so I sang more R&B, just the good songs, you know? All the stuff that would come out of Broadway I would hear, and by osmosis you grow, you do it, I never consciously sat down and said ‘Well what do I do next?’ I just did it."
"I’m really tired of hearing ‘what label,’ I’m tired of boxes, yeah! When I first started my music was the ‘pop music’ of the day, so as you grow and you get older, people keep changing who you are, to them. I haven’t changed anything, I have always sang R&B, I have always sang pop and R&B."
"I was never a jazz singer, I was never labelled a jazz singer, I never worked jazz rooms, I worked the major supper clubs in the world, as opposed to jazz rooms, so i didn’t have to go through that, I mean — if you live long enough and you’re black you’ll be called a jazz singer! I don’t care what you think you are!!"
"If you want to play the rooms, you can play the rooms, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be then, I would have stayed there, but as it was I was able to — I can sing what I want, across the board, I can play the Cocoanut Grove, the Waldorf Astoria, but I can also play the Village Vanguard and Basin Street East, but if I had only played the Village Vanguard, Basin Street East, the Jazz Workshop and stuff I wouldn’t have been able to play the major rooms in the country."
"I’ve always been of the firm opinion that if you are not out there people have a feeling that you’re not valid anymore, anytime I have a recording out I like to be out there, where people can see me, I also realise that at some point I’d rather they didn’t! [laughs] But I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’m still working, and I know there is a need, like club owners and people like that — ‘You can’t go, you gotta do it” — but that’s a heavy burden, you know."
"But if you have a gift you try to learn, you try to learn how to use the gift, here’s what I am saying about knowing who you are, knowing I don’t want that! But I will do this, but I can’t do it that way. So I went and got the one manager that would understand that."
"The door was open, like I was saying I was never not working, so I just went from Ohio, to a place to be heard in New York and straight to the supper clubs, Basin Street East, the Waldorf."
"I couldn’t have kept that pace up for 30 weeks,. Chicago was really the hardest place for me to work in those days. I knew I had to do something else or it would be all over for me before I really got started."
"I have always sung the American Songbook, I loved the great tunes, Broadway, everything, but that was what I heard, i heard R&B and Broadway, I wasn’t in New York when I heard all the great material, I loved Cole Porter, George Gershwin, the American Songbook, what is a better way to go? I heard, as a girl, I heard Billy Eckstine, Jimmy Scott obviously [laughs] — I sound just like Jimmy [laughs] — And Dinah [Washington], I heard a lot of R&B, Little Esther, LaVerne Baker, Ruth Brown, and I was like kinda fifteen or so, it was a long time until I heard Sarah [Vaughan] and Ella [Fitzgerald] because my upbringing was pretty much male singers who were singing the blues or the big band stuff that my Dad listened to, so I sang more R&B, just the good songs, you know? All the stuff that would come out of Broadway I would hear, and by osmosis you grow, you do it, I never consciously sat down and said ‘Well what do I do next?’ I just did it."
"I’m really tired of hearing ‘what label,’ I’m tired of boxes, yeah! When I first started my music was the ‘pop music’ of the day, so as you grow and you get older, people keep changing who you are, to them. I haven’t changed anything, I have always sang R&B, I have always sang pop and R&B."
"I was never a jazz singer, I was never labelled a jazz singer, I never worked jazz rooms, I worked the major supper clubs in the world, as opposed to jazz rooms, so i didn’t have to go through that, I mean — if you live long enough and you’re black you’ll be called a jazz singer! I don’t care what you think you are!!"
"If you want to play the rooms, you can play the rooms, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be then, I would have stayed there, but as it was I was able to — I can sing what I want, across the board, I can play the Cocoanut Grove, the Waldorf Astoria, but I can also play the Village Vanguard and Basin Street East, but if I had only played the Village Vanguard, Basin Street East, the Jazz Workshop and stuff I wouldn’t have been able to play the major rooms in the country."
"I’ve always been of the firm opinion that if you are not out there people have a feeling that you’re not valid anymore, anytime I have a recording out I like to be out there, where people can see me, I also realise that at some point I’d rather they didn’t! [laughs] But I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’m still working, and I know there is a need, like club owners and people like that — ‘You can’t go, you gotta do it” — but that’s a heavy burden, you know."
The Very Thought Of You - Nancy Wilson
Face It Girl, It's Over - Nancy Wilson
For Once In My Life - Nancy Wilson
And one last parting shot...
"You don’t stop to analyze it, you just do it! I always wanted to make sure the business did not run me, and that it didn’t get away from me, it was important for me to be my parents daughter, my husband’s wife — you understand what I’m sayin’? It was very important to me that I did not let it consume me, it was not enough to be happy! Happiness is not this business, and I always knew that, as a kid, you know? I was trying to have that balance, and I worked hard to get that balance."
"It’s just getting up in the morning and saying ‘Thank you God!’ and moving on. And it’s trying to enjoy every day, trying to enjoy life, trying to have a life, that’s vital, it’s not about the business, it really isn’t. My family has allowed me to do this, they have allowed me to do it, because they don’t want to take it away from me, even though it takes away from their time, their happiness."
