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Nancy Wilson’s Greatest Hits is the first collection
of her Columbia recordings of ‘Bos and ‘9os
Sixteen song collection in
cludes her two break
through Capitol singles of
1960 and 1962, a previously
unreleased 12° mix, and a
Stephen Sondheim tribute
on Sony Classical
The singer who
reigned as “Female
Vocalist of the
Year” in the Playboy and
Down Beat jazz and pop
polls for more than three
decades 1s paid tribute on
Nancy Wilson's Greatest
Hits, a 16-song collection
dominated by a dozen of her
most recent Columbia re
cordings (released between
1984 and 1997) and offset
by the two original Capitol
singles that established her
career back in the early
19605. The new album has
been released by Columbia/
Legacy, a division of Sony
Music
“For almost four decades
now, Nancy Wilson has in
deed been a lady with a
song,” writes British jour
nalist David Nathan in his
liner notes, referring to the
title of her breakthrough
Columbia album of 1989
Nathan, author of the forth
coming book, The Soulful
Divas (Billboard Publica
tions), continues, “The song
has always been about love
love gained, love lost, love
on the way in and love on
the way out. Remarkably,
in the space of the 16 tunes
included in this sumptuous
collection, she manages to
cover every aspect of this
theme, from fantasy (‘Do
You Still Dream About Me")
toreaiity ('l Can't Make You
Love Me’'), from longing
(‘Wish You Were Here') to
loneliness (‘When October
Goes’)."
In the course of a career
that has seen cataclysmic
changes in pop and jazz
styles — starting in 1960
when Nancy Wilson re
corded her first single for
Capitol, the enduring
“Guess Who | Saw Today,”
and then broke through on
a collaboration with Can
nonball Adderley in 1962
that yielded “Save Your
Love For Me" — she has
stood as an icon of taste
and sophistication. By the
mid-'6os, Wilson had risen
w become one of Capitol
Records’ “bést-selling art-’
ists, second only to the
Beatles and surpassing
even such established art
ists as Nat “King” Cole,
Peggy Lee and the mas
sively popular Beach Boys.
In 1964, she captured a
Grammy Award ‘or “How
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Nancy Wilson
Glad I Am” (she has four
other nominations) and
went on to win an Emmy
Award for her 1967-68 NBC
television network series,
The Nancy Wilson Show.
Nancy Wilson has exerted
incalculable influence on
today's generation of bal
lad singers, from Anita
Baker and former Colum
bia labelmate Regina Belle
(who frequently notes Wil
son as a mentor), to the late
Phyllis Hyman, "She is tops
as a performer,” Ayman
JANUARY 6, 2000
said, “with such grace, dig
nity and style. When I first
heard her sing ‘Guess Who
I Saw Today?’' it scared me.
I thought, no one could sing
like that.”
During Nancy's tenure at
Columbia Records, every al
bum was an event, starting
with her first collaboration
with Ramsey Lewis in 1984,
The Two of Us, produced by
Stanley Clarke. For Wil
son, who had been record
ing consistently during the
early 1980 s in Japan (and
where she continues to en
joy phenomenal popular
ity), the next album was a
true landmark: Keep You
Satisfied, her first solo al
bum for a major U.S. label
since leaving Capitel in
1980, took its title from
AUGUSTA FOCUS
“Just to Keep You Satis
fied,” the closing tune of
Marvin Gaye's 1973 opus,
Let's Get it On.
1987's Forbidden Lover,
acknowledged as the 50" al
bum of Nancy Wilson's ca
reer, was marked by its title
tune duet with Epic artist
Carl Anderson (of The Color
Purple). In 1989, Wilson
took a cue from Aretha,
Dionne Warwick and oth
ers, and recorded one of the
first multi-producer cross
over albums at Columbia: A
Lady With a Song was a
major success, bolstered by
a pair of singles — “Don't
Ask My Neighbors” and “Do
You Still Dream About Me”
— that put Wilson back on
the Bi.lboard R&B chart for
the first time in more than
a decade.
Nancy Wilson scored a
major coup in pop history
when she collaborated with
Barry Manilow on the 1991
project, With My Lover Be
side Me. At the suggestion
of the widow of songwriter
Johnny Mercer (renowned
composer of “Moon River,”
“Fcols Rush In,” “Satin
Doll,” “One For My Baby”
and many more), Manilow
was commissioned to com
pose music for a number of
Mercer's previously unpub
lished lyrics that were dis
covered after his death
(One of these, “When Octo
ber Goes,” had actually
been issued on Manilow's
1984 LP, 2:00 AM Para
dise Case ) Nancy Wilson
was a natural for the
project, which became one
of her most beloved Colum
bia albums
The singer came back
even stronger in 1994 with
Love, Nancy, produced by
Andre Fischer and ar
ranged by Jeremy Lubbock
and lan Prince. The album
included covers of “More
Love.” “Love Won't Let Me
Wait” (the #1 R&B hit by
Major Harris in 1975), and
“I Can't Make You Love Me”™
(atop 20 pop hit for Bonmie
Raitt in 1992), the latter
also heard on this collec
tion in a previously
unreleased mix version for
the first time. Sondheim
Color and Light, a tribute
to composer Stephen
Sondheim Issued on Sony
Classical in 1995, contained
“Loving You.” a show-stop
ping duet by Nancy Wilson
and Peabo Bryson. Another
multi-producer album fol
lowed in 1997, If I Had My
Way, featuring a cover of a
1975 Bill Withers gem,
“Hello Like Before”, and a
duet with James Ingram on
producer Barry Eastmond’s
“Wish You Were Here.”
“A no-nonsense yet com
passionate woman who ex
hibits a real love for life,
for family and for friends,”
Nathan concludes, “Nancy
Wilson's greatest gift may
simply be her honesty .. an
incomparable recording
artist and performer, time
less yet timely and for those
of us-m or out- of love at- -
ways right on time.