Nancy Nash, a former resident of North Battleford who has gone on to find fame and a multi-faceted future, was inducted into the Edmonton Blues Hall of Fame Sunday at the renowned venue of Blues on Whyte.
Nash is the first female inductee into the Edmonton Blues Hall of Fame.
Long Live The Blues is the title of her latest disc, issued early this year.
During the 1970s, in Edmonton, Nash played with Hot Cottage. Holger Peterson recorded them with blues legend Walter Horton, Nash's first harmonica mentor. They also worked alongside B.B. King, John Mayall, Freddi King, Joan Baez and Albert King.
During the 1980s, Nash lived in Vancouver and sang jingles, appeared on TV shows and toured with and recorded sessions for bands and artists, some of them still unknown at the time, including Loverboy, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, who was once in her band, Cher, Prism, Trooper, BTO, Rita McNeil, Matt Minglewood, Paul Anka and Tom Jones. She also worked as Bob Hope's sidekick and opening act from 1986 to1992.
She also developed and taught a pop music class at Vancouver College and worked on commercials and TV shows, such as 21 Jump Street, working alongside fledgling actors Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise.
Nash also worked in Los Angeles, Calif. for a time.
She went on to record several records, Natural Born, Letting Go, but she was also listening to her heart and spirit, and began to include aboriginal artists into her shows and recordings. Over the years she was adopted into four aboriginal families and has performed under the Haida name of Sazacha Red Sky.
Nash currently lives on Vancouver Island. For many decades Nash's passions have included fostering children, taking care of the planet, caring for animals that are abused and abandoned and assisting musically talented protégés, young and not so young, as a muse ecologist and caring for elders. She also teaches music, voice, harmonica and slide guitar.
