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
This Bitter Earth
Nancy Wilson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What fruit it bears
What good is love
That no one shares
And if my life is like the dust
That hides the glow of a rose
What good am I
Heaven only knows
I wanna tell you
This bitter Earth
Can it be so cold
Today you're young
Too soon your old
But while a voice
A voice Within me cries
someone May answer my call
And this bitter earth
May not be so bitter after all
The lyrics of Nancy Wilson’s song This Bitter Earth explore the bitter realities of life and the unrequited nature of love. She starts the song by referring to the earth and the fruits it bears, and questions the purpose of love if it is not shared by anyone. The following lines reveal how she compares herself to the dust that hides the beauty of a rose, wondering the purpose of her existence. The phrase “heaven only knows” portrays how she is unable to find answers to her despair.
The second stanza of the song brings a more hopeful tone. Wilson's voice introduces this notion of the bitter earth being less painful if someone answers her call. She wonders if it’s possible for things to not be bitterly cold, asking if time can be slowed down or reversed in some way. Though she acknowledges that her wish might be left unanswered, the hope lingers that someone somewhere might answer her cry.
Overall, the lyrics in This Bitter Earth speak to a universal experience. The song is reflective of how temporary life is and how love can be as fleeting or as fickle as the wind. The flip side of the hopelessness is a tender vulnerability that Wilson conveys, demonstrating that even in the bitterness, there can still be a glimmer of hope.
Line by Line Meaning
This bitter earth
The world we live in is filled with bitterness and sorrow
What fruit it bears
Our world produces nothing but sadness and despair
What good is love
Love is meaningless if there's no one to share it with
That no one shares
Love is only valuable if it can be shared with another person
And if my life is like the dust
If my life is worthless and insignificant
That hides the glow of a rose
That covers up the beauty and wonder of life
What good am I
What is the point of me existing?
Heaven only knows
Only God knows the purpose of my life
Can it be so cold
Is life really so cruel and heartless?
Today you're young
We only have a short time to live our lives
Too soon your old
Before we know it, our time is up and we are old
But while a voice
Even if I feel lost and alone
A voice Within me cries
There is still a small part of me that is hopeful
someone May answer my call
I might find someone who can help me through my struggles
And this bitter earth
This harsh and cruel world we live in
May not be so bitter after all
Might become bearable with the support of others
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: STEVIE SALAS, STEPHEN L. ALLEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind