1) Nancy Sue Wilson - … Read Full Bio ↴There is more than one artist with this name:
1) Nancy Sue Wilson - jazz diva best known for her 60s standards recordings.
2) Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson - singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and member of the group Heart.
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1) Nancy Sue Wilson (born February 20, 1937, in Chillicothe, OH, United States – December 13, 2018, in Pioneertown, CA, United States) was a jazz diva famous for recording American standards in the 60s.
She was among contemporary music's most stylish and sultry vocalists; while often crossing over into the pop and R&B markets -- and even hosting her own television variety program -- she remained best known as a jazz performer, renowned for her work alongside figures including Cannonball Adderley and George Shearing. Wilson first attracted notice performing the club circuit in nearby Columbus; she quickly earned a growing reputation among jazz players and fans, and she was recording regularly by the late '50s, eventually signing to Capitol and issuing LPs including 1959's Like in Love and Nancy Wilson with Billy May's Orchestra. Her dates with Shearing, including 1960's The Swingin's Mutual, solidified her standing as a talent on the rise, and her subsequent work with Adderley -- arguably her finest recordings -- further cemented her growing fame and reputation.
In the years to follow, however, Wilson often moved away from jazz, much to the chagrin of purists; she made numerous albums, many of them properly categorized as pop and R&B outings, and toured extensively, appearing with everyone from Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan to Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker. She even hosted her own Emmy-winning variety series for NBC, The Nancy Wilson Show, and was a frequent guest performer on other programs; hits of the period included "Tell Me the Truth," "How Glad I Am," "Peace of Mind," and "Now, I'm a Woman." Regardless of how far afield she traveled, Wilson always maintained her connections to the jazz world, and in the 1980s, she returned to the music with a vengeance, working closely with performers including Hank Jones, Art Farmer, Ramsey Lewis, and Benny Golson. By the 1990s, she was a favorite among the "new adult contemporary" market, her style ideally suited to the format's penchant for lush, romantic ballads; she also hosted the Jazz Profiles series on National Public Radio.
In the early 2000s, Wilson recorded two albums with Ramsey Lewis for Narada (2002's Meant to Be and 2003's Simple Pleasures). Her 2004 album R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal) was a blend of straight-ahead jazz and ballads, similar to her next record, 2006's Turned to Blue, which, like R.S.V.P., used a different instrumentalist for each track. In 2005, Capitol released a three-part series to pay tribute to Wilson's contributions to music in the '50s and '60s: Guess Who I Saw Today: Nancy Wilson Sings Songs of Lost Love, Save Your Love for Me: Nancy Wilson Sings the Great Blues Ballads, and The Great American Songbook.
Wilson died from a long-illness on December 13, 2018 at her home in Pioneertown, California at the age of 81.
2) Nancy Lamoureux Wilson (born March 16, 1954, San Francisco, CA, United States), more popularly known as Nancy Wilson, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter. Along with her older sister Ann Wilson, she is part of the Seattle/Vancouver rock band Heart. She is married to film director and screenwriter Cameron Crowe and has composed and performed music for most of Crowe's movies, including Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, and Elizabethtown.
While Ann is the lead singer on most of the Heart recordings, Nancy is the lead vocalist on Treat Me Well, These Dreams, Stranded, There's the Girl and Will You Be There (In The Morning), and frequently performs background vocals. She is also the band's rhythm and lead guitarist. In 1999, she released a live solo album, Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop.
Solo albums
1999 - Live At McCabes Guitar Shop
2005 - Elizabethtown
2009 - Baby Guitars
2016 - Undercover Guitar (with Julie Bergman)
2021 - You and Me
No Easy Way Down
Nancy Wilson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But now it must fall to the ground
Now your sad eyes reveal just how badly you feel
And there is no easy way down
The view from the cliffs must have been exciting
And up to the peaks you were bound
Now you're stranded alone and the past is unknown
No, it isn't very easy when you're left on your own
No, it isn't very easy when each road you take
Is one more mistake, there's no one to break your fall
To lead you back home, yeah
We all like to climb to the heights of love
Where our fantasy world can be found
But you must know in the end when it's time to descend
There is no easy way down
There is no easy way down
In Nancy Wilson's song No Easy Way Down, the lyrics paint a picture of a person who has experienced a high point in their life, represented by the toy balloon sailing in the sky. However, that moment has passed and the balloon must come down, which is symbolic of the person's current state of feeling down and alone. The sad eyes and the past being unknown indicate that the person is grappling with negative emotions and unresolved issues. The lyrics acknowledge that it is not easy to come down from soaring heights and return to reality.
The second verse further emphasizes this point by referencing the view from the cliffs and the excitement that comes from reaching the peaks. The person was likely chasing a dream or a goal, but is now stranded and alone with the past left behind. The chorus provides the message that when you are left on your own and faced with the consequences of your choices, there is no one to break your fall or lead you back home. The final verse speaks more broadly about the human experience of wanting to climb to the heights of love and living in a fantasy world, but ultimately knowing that there is no easy way down from those heights.
Line by Line Meaning
Your toy balloon has sailed in the sky, love
You were once carefree and happy, but now things have changed and your situation has become more difficult.
But now it must fall to the ground
Your happiness and carefree attitude can't last forever, it must eventually come to an end.
Now your sad eyes reveal just how badly you feel
Your current situation is causing you to feel extreme sadness and despair, as shown by your eyes.
And there is no easy way down
It's difficult to come back down from something that once brought you such joy and happiness.
The view from the cliffs must have been exciting
It was thrilling to be so high up in love, but it cannot last forever.
And up to the peaks you were bound
You were driven to reach the highest point of love.
Now you're stranded alone and the past is unknown
You feel abandoned and unsure of what the future holds after coming down from the high point of love.
And there is no easy way down
It's difficult to come back down from something that once brought you such joy and happiness.
No, it isn't very easy when you're left on your own
It's particularly challenging to handle this on your own with no support system.
No, it isn't very easy when each road you take
It's hard to make decisions when there doesn't seem to be a good path forward.
Is one more mistake, there's no one to break your fall
Every decision seems to be a wrong one, and there's no one there to help you out when things go wrong.
To lead you back home, yeah
There's nobody there to guide you back to a place of happiness and contentment.
We all like to climb to the heights of love
Everyone enjoys the thrill of being in love and feeling high on that emotion.
Where our fantasy world can be found
It's easy to create a fantasy world in your head when you're in love.
But you must know in the end when it's time to descend
Eventually, you'll have to come back down to reality and face the harsh truths of the world.
There is no easy way down
Coming back down from the high of love is never easy.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Carole King, Gerry Goffin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind