Rising Capitol Records Star Ascends to Big Time Club Circuits

MUSIC BUSINESS (8/1/1964) — Smash single. For five years “things have been moving cautiously for me,” said Nancy Wilson last week. The masterpiece of understatement came in the wake of the Capitol thrush’s first smash single (number 14 in the Pop 100 this week) and coverage in Time last week (and Newsweek this week) and a sensationally successful opening recently at Los Angeles’ venerable Coconut Grove.

“I went into the studio with the deliberate idea of cutting a top 40 kind of hit,” she said. “Actually though, I didn’t sing any differently than I ever do. It’s the material itself that did it and of course the arrangement. As far as my singing goes, I think it’s always been pop singing really.”

People have labelled me as jazz. I don’t like that designation. I want to be able to reach everybody, not just the jazz crowd. And besides, who is to say what a jazz singer is anyway? If it’s scat singing, I don’t qualify, because I’ve never scatted, never!

Cannonball. “It’s true I once made an album with Cannonball (Adderly). Maybe that’s one reason I’ve gotten the label. And it’s a good reason why I wouldn’t really want to do that kind of thing again. Although I think Cannonball himself is great. I actually sang with his group for a stand back in my home town of Columbus, Ohio, six years ago.

“I’ve been singing for years. Since I was a kid in Columbus. I had my own TV show there when I was 15. Five years ago, I came to New York where I started doing night club work at places like the Blue Mirror in the Bronx. And later I played Mister Kelly’s in Chicago. But now things are different.

“I’m playing the biggest clubs, places like the Waldorf in New York (where she appeared earlier this year) the fancy places in Vegas and Reno, and right now the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles. I’m tired because there’s been no let-up at all. From one night club to another. And it’s work, real work.

“Now I have to really entertain. You can’t just get up there and be soulful in clubs like these. They expect a show and you’ve got to give them one. But this is something new and fresh and exciting for me. Even if I’m tired it it doesn’t get me bugged. As I say, my career has gone along nice and slow and I really think it’s better for an artist to grow that way.

No time at home. “The only trouble now is that things have gotten so good for me, so big, that I don’t have time at home at all. I love to be at home with my husband. I love to play with our little 17-month old son and cook and keep house but there’s so little time. I don’t have time for any leisure things like listening to records. Really. Just once in awhile when I do, I listen to Jesse Belvin (the late singer was on RCA Victor) and Shirley Horn. Shirley’s a very good new singer.

“After I’m through at the Coconut Grove, I’ve planned on a three week vacation. We all need it here. Then I’m taking the whole month of December off. I’d like to do that every year if I could. I’ve planned that month for a long time.

In the meantime, there are a lot of night club things to fill out the time between now and then. Broadway I’d love to do sometime. I suppose a musical, but first I’d like doing a straight drama, either on the stage or in a movie. No, there’s nothing really in prospect. They haven’t come to me to show me any kind of script. But when it comes along, I’ll think about it carefully before I jump. I always go slowly and hope I’ll make the right decision.

Final decision.“It’s the same way I work with my records. I work closely with my a. and r. man, Dave Cavanaugh, but I decide on every song myself. They can recommend but I make the final decision, whether its albums or top 40 singles. And I certainly do intend to continue making singles for the top 40 market, even though I don’t see anything different because I have a hit. I think it was all just happening before that single came out. It’s the icing on the cake or the extra gravy or whatever you want to call it. It’s just part of a total picture that makes anybody a more complete entertainer.”

Meanwhile, Miss Wilson’s continues to be a familiar name in the album charts. Her latest “Today, Tomorrow and Forever,” which brought Time’s comment “a voice of agile grace and knowing jazz inflection,” is in the 11 spot this week. An earlier performance, ‘Yesterday’s Love Songs, Today’s Blues,’ is rated at 55 this week. Fans can also look forward to seeing Nancy on at least a couple of major network TV showcases this fall (“I haven’t seen the contracts yet, but I’m sure I’ll do them”) before she takes her promised month off. END

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Information, credit and news source: Music Business; August 1, 1964