In 1984, the year before I landed my first New York TV job, I was co-host of a live weekday hour-long show on Milwaukee's ABC affiliate. For a local show, we booked some pretty good guests to be live in our studio -- Colleen Dewhurst, Robert Guillaume, Mary Hart of ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, openly gay NFL player Dave Kopay, Miss America Vanessa Williams and jazz singer Nancy Wilson. I grew up loving Nancy Wilson. The love started thanks to Mom and Dad. They purchased a couple of her early albums. On one, she sang songs introduced in Hollywood movies. On the other, she sang songs from Broadway shows. Nancy Wilson was a great guest and a fantastic singer.
For your entertainment, I am posting vocals that made me fall in love with the artistry of Nancy Wilson. From her Hollywood album, here's a song introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1942 musical he did with Rita Hayworth entitled YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER. It got Johnny Mercer and Jerome Kern an Oscar nomination for Best Song. Here is "Dearly Beloved."
With Cannonball Adderley, Nancy sang "Never Will I Marry." This song was introduced by Anthony Perkins in the 1960 Frank Loesser Broadway musical, GREENWILLOW. Yes, the same Anthony Perkins who played Norman Bates in PSYCHO. He starred in a Broadway musical.
Jere's one more. ABC's THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE was a Saturday night music variety show my family loved. Here's Nancy Wilson making a guest appearance to sing, "The Very Thought of You."
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