[Dixielandjazz] Nancy Wilson to give final bow at Ohio University

[Robert Ringwald]

Nancy Wilson to Give Final Bow at Ohio University
allaboutjazz.com, August 23, 2011
Athens, Ohio -- Legendary jazz song stylist Nancy Wilson makes one thing crystal
clear: If she's going to do something, she wants to do it right. She began her career
embracing that standard, and now she's set to end it in the same way.
The three-time Grammy Award winner recently confirmed that after 60 years, she will
perform on a public stage for the last time at Ohio University, giving her final
show in the same state that she gave her first. According to Wilson, her idea was
to come full-circle: "I'm not going to be doing it anymore, and what better place
to end it than where I started -- in Ohio."
Her performance will highlight the September 10 gala being held as part of the 125th
Anniversary celebration of The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education
and Human Services on the Ohio University campus in Athens. The public is invited
to attend.
"Ms. Wilson is one of the living legends of our time. We are extraordinarily honored
to have the opportunity to host her for our special celebration of many years of
success," said Renée A. Middleton, Dean of The Patton College.
Wilson was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, and by age 15 she was working in television
in Columbus. After six years of singing throughout Ohio and the Midwest, she decided
she was prepared to move to New York City, acknowledging that she was also prepared
to accept failure. "I was fully prepared to go back home and be a big fish in a small
pond... if it wasn't done right, I didn't want to do it," she said.
Of course, something went right; the songstress ended up becoming a powerhouse for
Capitol Records, outselling the likes of Frank Sinatra and her early influence, Nat
King Cole. In 1964, she won her first Grammy Award for, "How Glad I Am." She went
on to win two other Grammys and an Emmy for her own NBC show, The Nancy Wilson Show.
Wilson was a major figure in the civil rights marches of the 1960s, and in 2005 she
was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. Among her many other
accomplishments is a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but Wilson says one of her
favorite moments was getting a Chillicothe street named after her. "The Hollywood
Star didn't even touch it," she said.
Wilson said she is looking forward to her swan song. "I just have a feeling that
I'll enjoy it. Because I enjoy what I do, and knowing it's the last performance in
front of a good-sized audience, it'll just be fun for me. It won't be sad. I won't
feel sorrowful about it. I think I'll have a ball."
Nancy Wilson will perform at 8:00 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2011, in the Baker University
Center Ballroom on the Ohio University campus in Athens, Ohio. The event is open
to the public. For tickets and more information, visit cehs.ohio.edu/125 or contact
Tamy Solomon:
solomon at ohio.edu
, 740-597-2990.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=85950

--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
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