Nancy Sue Wilson (February 20, 1937 – December 13, 2018) was an American singer whose career spanned over five decades, from the mid-1950s until her retirement in the early 2010s.

During her performing career, Wilson was labeled a singer of blues, jazz, R&B, pop, and soul; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer".

Wilson attended Burnside Heights Elementary School and developed her singing skills by participating in church choirs.

She attended West High School in Columbus, Ohio where she won a talent contest and was rewarded with a role as a host for a local television show.

When Wilson met Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, he suggested she move to New York City for career opportunities.

[3] Within four weeks of her arrival in New York she got her first big break, a call to fill in for Irene Reid at "The Blue Morocco".

The club booked Wilson on a permanent basis; she was singing four nights a week and working as a secretary for the New York Institute of Technology during the day.

Adderley suggested that she should steer away from her original pop style and gear her music toward jazz and ballads.

She was signed by Capitol Records in the late 1970s and in an attempt to broaden her appeal she cut the album Life, Love and Harmony, an album of soulful, funky dance cuts that included the track "Sunshine", which was to become one of her most sought-after recordings (albeit among supporters of the rare soul scene with whom she would not usually register).

In that same year she recorded with the Griffith Park Band whose members included Chick Corea and Joe Henderson.

In the early 1990s, Wilson recorded an album paying tribute to Johnny Mercer with co-producer Barry Manilow entitled With My Lover Beside Me.

In the late 1990s, she teamed up with MCG Jazz, a youth-education program of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild,[8] nonprofit, minority-directed, arts and learning organization located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(Rare Songs, Very Personal) (2005), and Turned to Blue (2007), both won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

[14] She received honorary degrees from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.

[16] In September 2005, Wilson was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.

"[17] Times.com, August 20, 2006: "It's been a long career for the polished Wilson, whose first albums appeared in the 1960s, and she faces that truth head-on in such numbers as 'These Golden Years' and 'I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up'.

Shorter breathed these days, she can still summon a warm, rich sound and vividly tell a song's story.

[18] At the Hollywood Bowl, August 29, 2007, Wilson celebrated her 70th birthday with an all-star event hosted by Arsenio Hall.

She was unable to attend the UNCF Evening of Stars Tribute to Aretha Franklin and had to cancel the engagement.