Legendary jazz singer, Nancy Wilson has died at the age of 81, her manager and publicist Devra Hall Levy told The Associated Press late Thursday night.<\/b>
\nLegendary jazz singer Nancy Wilson \u2013 a three-time Grammy Award-winning \u201csong stylist\u201d \u2013 died after a long illness at her California home, her manager and publicist Devra Hall Levy said. She was 81.
Her cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
Wilson, who had been living in Pioneertown, a desert community near Joshua Tree National Park, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, on February 20,1937 \u2013 and began her musical journey singing for a local church.
She launched a career as an R&B singer with the 1961 single \u201cGuess Who I Saw Today.\u201d However, one of her biggest hits was in 1964 with \u201c(You Don\u2019t Know) How Glad I Am.\u201d It landed her a Grammy Award for best R&B recording.
She later moved to singing jazz and torch songs and eventually snagged two more Grammy Awards in 2005 and 2007, respectively.
She retired from touring in 2011.
Her death, however, sparked brief confusion on Twitter over who had actually died. After the Associated Press posted late Thursday that Nancy Wilson died, fans of the rock band Heart assumed Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson, 64, had died.
One user tweeted their condolences to Anne Wilson, the sister of Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson. \u201cGood god I love Heart, had no idea she was that old. I hope Ann is doing ok, tough to lose a sister.\u201d To clarify for people still confused on Twitter Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson is 64-years-old and is very much alive.
Another person wrote, \u201cGuys, would you consider Nancy Wilson from Heart an 81-yr-old jazz singer? Think, people, think!\u201d
Nancy Wilson famously referred to herself as a \u201csong stylist,\u201d as she refused to be pigeon-holed into one specific music category. \u201cThe music that I sing today was the pop music of the 1960s,\u201d she told The San Francisco Chronicle in 2010.
\u201cI just never considered myself a jazz singer. I do not do runs and \u2014 you know. I take a lyric and make it mine. I consider myself an interpreter of the lyric.\u201d
Wilson did a cover of \u201cThe Christmas Waltz,\u201d a song originally written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra. She was best known for songs such as her breakthrough \u201cGuess Who I Saw Today\u201d and the 1964 hit \u201d(You Don\u2019t Know) How Glad I Am,\u201d which drew upon Broadway, pop and jazz.
In the 1990s, Wilson became the host of National Public Radio\u2019s \u201cJazz Profiles,\u201d a documentary series featuring jazz legends and the music legacy.
In 2004, she was awarded a \u201cJazz Masters Fellowship\u201d for lifetime achievement by The National Endowment for the Arts.
Wilson was married twice \u2014 to drummer Kenny Dennis, whom she divorced in 1970; and to Wiley Burton, who died in 2008. She had three children.
Wilson is survived by her three children and five grandchildren. There will be no funeral service, as per her wishes a family statement said. However, her family will pay tribute to the iconic entertainer and hold a celebration of her life.
With Post Wires<\/p>\n