Remembering Nancy Wilson, NYIT Staffer and Grammy Award Winning Vocalist

As the music world mourns the December 13 passing of Grammy-winning jazz and R&B vocalist Nancy Wilson, NYIT remembers her as a dedicated staff member during the university’s early days … and her early days as an aspiring entertainer.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Wilson traveled to New York in the late 1950s to jumpstart her career and found a home at NYIT as a part-time secretary.

“The people at New York Institute of Technology were wonderful,” Nancy said of her then employers in an interview with Downbeat in 1964. “They let me take long lunch hours to make auditions, and they gave me time off whenever necessary. And they were so encouraging! I stayed with them for a long time after I went to work in a night club.”

According to her obituary in The New York Times, which details her illustrious career on stage and screen as well as her civil rights advocacy work, “Ms. Wilson arrived in New York with three goals: to be signed by the influential jazz manager John Levy, who worked with the saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and the British pianist George Shearing; to be signed by Capitol Records, the home of singers like Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee; and to record her first album with the producer David Cavanaugh, who worked with those singers.

Within five months she fulfilled all three goals, even while holding down a day job as a secretary at NYIT. A high-profile gig at the Blue Morocco club led to the contract with Mr. Levy, who got her the label deal, which connected her with Mr. Cavanaugh to produce her debut album in 1960, “Like in Love,” with splashy arrangements by Billy May.”

But despite her moving on eventually to fulfill her dream, she stayed close to NYIT and its mission. NYIT Professor of Instructional Technology Stan Silverman recalls Wilson doing a benefit concert in the 1970s to help raise funds for local youth to attend NSF summer enrichment programs.