Del.icio.usNancy Wilson
Fact Sheet
| Birthday | 20 February 1937 (71) |
| Sign | Pisces |
| Birthplace | USA |
Wilson was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. At age 15, she won a local talent contest, the prize for which was her own television series, "Skyline Melodies," on a local station.
In 1956, she joined Rusty Bryant's Carolyn Club Band and made her first recording for Dot Records.
While performing in Columbus, Wilson had an opportunity to sit in with Cannonball Adderley, who sensed her potential and helped her to get her a manager, John Levy. This lead to the recording contract at Capitol Records.
At Capitol, Wilson' s first recording was "Like In Love". She scored her first big hit in 1962 with Cannonball Adderley and "Save Your Love For Me."
By the mid-1960s, Wilson had become one of the label's best-selling artists, second only to the Beatles. In 1964, she won a Grammy for "How Glad I Am" and an Emmy for her 1967-68 NBC series, "The Nancy Wilson Show."
In 1983, she won the Tokyo Song Festival and went on to cut five successful albums for Japanese labels.
Back in the US, she began her association with her current label, Columbia Records, in 1984, collaborating with such artists as Ramsey Lewis and working on an album of previously-unpublished Johnny Mercer lyrics set to the music by co-producer Barry Manilow, "With My Lover Beside Me."(1991).
In the 1990s, Wilson began acting on a regular basis, appearing on "The Sinbad Show" and "The Cosby Show" on television and in such films as Robert Townsend's Meteor Man.