Nancy Whiskey (born Anne Alexandra Young Wilson, 4 March 1935 – 1 February 2003) was a Scottish

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

singer, best known for the 1957 hit song, "

Freight Train Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) haul ...

Life and career

Nancy Wilson was born in

Dalmarnock Dalmarnock (, gd, Dail Mheàrnaig) is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of the River Clyde opposite the town of Rutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods of P ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, and learned guitar as a child. Dean Steel, "Obituary: Nancy Whiskey"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 8 February 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2014 While attending art school in Glasgow, she performed on the local folk club circuit where she met fellow singer and guitarist Jimmie Macgregor who introduced her to

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

hillbilly music Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas we ...

. She took her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

from a Scottish folk song, " The Calton Weaver", which has a chorus of: "Whisky, whisky, Nancy whisky, Whisky, whisky, Nancy-O". She formed a relationship with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist Bob Kelly, and they moved to London in 1955. Obituary: Nancy Whiskey
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2014 On MacGregor's recommendation, she was signed by

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken, ...

and, although reluctant to surrender her reputation as a solo performer, was persuaded to join the

Chas McDevitt Charles James McDevitt (born 4 December 1934) is a Scottish musician, one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s. Biography McDevitt was born in Eaglesh ...

Skiffle Group to record

Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This po ...

's song "Freight Train". The group had already recorded the song, with McDevitt singing, but re-recorded it with Nancy Whiskey's vocals. The record made the top five in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1957, and she also toured the United States with McDevitt's group and appeared on the ''

Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night ...

''. "Freight Train" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. A dispute over the rights to the song, which had been introduced to Britain by

Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American Folk music, folk singer. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years, and was married to the singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. First American period Seeg ...

, was eventually settled out of court. After a second, smaller hit, "Greenback Dollar", Whiskey left the group. She disliked the

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...

style which she was obliged to perform with McDevitt, and her outspoken comments, together with the fact that she was expecting a child with Bob Kelly, a married man, offended some fans. She resumed a solo career and—after his divorce—married Kelly, who became a member of her backing group, the Skifflers, who later renamed themselves as the Teetotallers. She also recorded several singles for Oriole Records in the late 1950s, and released an album, ''The Intoxicating Miss Whiskey''. She and Kelly moved to

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, around 1958 after the birth of their daughter (named Yancey Anne in tribute to pianist

Jimmy Yancey James Edwards Yancey (February 20, c. 1895 – September 17, 1951) was an American boogie-woogie pianist, composer, and lyricist. One reviewer described him as "one of the pioneers of this raucous, rapid-fire, eight-to-the-bar piano style". Bio ...

). Although by the 1970s she had largely retired from the mainstream music industry, she continued to perform occasionally in folk clubs, and at other events such as a 1997 gala concert at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

billed as "The Roots Of British Rock". Bob Kelly died in 1999, and she died in 2003 in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, aged 67. Nancy Whiskey's hit tune, "Freight Train," is now the lead, cover song for the 2023 release of Wes Anderson's film, Asteroid City.

Discography

* ''Nancy Whiskey Sings'' (1957, Topic 7T10) * ''The Intoxicating Miss Whiskey''

References

External links

More information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiskey, Nancy Musicians from Glasgow 20th-century Scottish women singers Scottish folk singers 1935 births 2003 deaths Skiffle musicians Bridgeton–Calton–Dalmarnock