Nancy Nash

Nancy Nash is a Canadian blues and pop singer, who has recorded and performed both under her birth name and as Sazacha Red Sky. Under the latter name, she garnered a Juno Award nomination for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording at the Juno Awards of 1994.[1] Initially nominated for her recording of Chief Dan George's "The Prayer Song",[1] the nomination was revised to reflect her album Red Sky Rising after she was accused of cultural appropriation by George's family.[2]

Early career

Nash was born and raised in North Battleford, Saskatchewan,[3] and spent her early career working in Edmonton, Alberta.[4] Associated with the blues band Hot Cottage and recorded with Big Walter Horton in the 1970s,[4] she was given her own half-hour CBC Television special as part of the variety series Points East, Points West in 1976. She released her debut album, Natural Born, in 1978. She recorded and guested with Senator Tommy Banks, Big Miller, Rene Simard, Alan Thicke, Paul Anka.

She later moved to Vancouver. Initially a member of the short-lived dance pop band Touché, she later released a second album and several singles as a solo artist. She participated in the 1986 charity single "Actions Speak Louder Than Words",[5] performed as a backing vocalist for Bon Jovi, Loverboy, Long John Baldry, Prism and Cher,[6] and recorded the Expo 86 theme song "Something's Happening Here". She won a West Coast Music Award in 1987 for Best Female Vocalist.[7]

Nash is a supporter of native rights, and adopted into four First Nation families, (ref. Edmonton Journal) (Vernon Morning Star), Shuswap, Okanagan, Haida, Tsu'leil Waututh, [8].[8] Nash was given the name Sazacha Sk'tghaxeeahw (red sky full of hope) by adoptive Haida mom Dr. Minnie Croft and she used her Haida name as requested by her adoptive mother in the Red Sky Rising release until her Haida family had left for the spirit world.

Controversy

The Prayer Song, Nash (Sazacha Sk'tghexeeahw (Red Sky) recorded was registered in the Public Domain prior to her recording on Red Sky Rising. Dan George's son Leonard 'adopted', a First Nations term which conveys kindred acknowledgement, Nancy Nash into his family in 1987 and gave her permission to use the ancient Prayer Song to the four directions claiming on many public appearances including a radio JR country program it was hundreds of years old. George stated he had never met Nash until long after his father's death,[9] and insisted that she did not have the right to record "The Prayer Song". George, Nash and Paul Janz had already recorded a demo version of the song in 1987 and submitted to Factor for a grant which was refused stating aboriginal music was not part of the ethnic program/cultural. [9] Under conventional copyright law, as long as the song is properly credited and the appropriate royalties are paid a singer does not need permission to record a cover version of another musician's song — however, "The Prayer Song" is considered a sacred song to the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, and according to Leonard George it could not be performed or recorded by a musician who is not a member of the First Nation unless it was explicitly given to that musician as a gift by Dan George who Leonard George now claimed was a personal son of his fathers or his surviving heirs.[9] Nash had participated as a guest musician in public performances of the song by the George family,[8] but according to Leonard George she had not been given their approval to record her own version without their participation.[8]The Prayer Song was introduced in 1986 on JR Country by Leonard George as a traditional song of the Tslei-Waututh people and was hundreds of years old. At that performance he asked his sister Nancy Nash to come on stage to perform the song with him. Prior to that Nash had hired Leonard George to perform the song with her when she was the sidekick and opening act for Bob Hope in the fall of 1986 at the EXPO grounds in Vancouver. At that time Leonard George taught her the song.

Nash stated Leonard George had originally given her his blessing to record the song,[8] and withdrew his approval only after her album had already been released.[8] Nash also accredited the song to the Chief Dan George Foundation on the Red Sky album. [8] Further, the song was subsequently revealed to already have been registered in the public domain by SOCAN long before the release of Nash's recording.

Leonard George sought a legal injunction to prevent the award from being presented at the Juno Awards ceremony,[10] and the final compromise revising her nomination to reflect the album instead of the song was announced on the morning of the ceremony.[2]In 1995 Grand Chief Slaholt of the Tsleil-Watuth First Nation heard the song Nash recorded. Legal council was present as well as his wife Dolly. John Slaholt aka John George and younger brother of actor Dan George was the only traditional Chief and keeper of his tribes songs. He told Nash the song was not a song of his people or of his brother Dan George. Since this dispute there have been many versions of who owns the song including claims by the Squamish nation as well as the Cherokee and Tibetan nations. At present when members of the Tsu'leil Watuth people perform the song they now claim credit it to both Squamish and Salish nations. (Whiterock Blues Festival -2015)

Unlike Nash's dispute with the George family, Minnie Croft, the Haida elder whom Nash had named in the same promotional materials as her adoptive mother, confirmed to the media that she did consider Nash to be her adopted daughter.[9] Dr. Minnie Croft who is Raven Clan mother to the Haida Nation said Nash would never had been taught the song if she wasn't allowed to sing it. Leonard George taught her the song.

Nash is of mixed heritage including Haida, black African, Germanic/Jew, English, Dutch, French, and Scottish. The category for Juno aboriginal awards isn't based upon ethnicity but upon the First Nations expression of their cultural music.(Juno Awards regulations)

Later career

She has recorded three further albums, composed music for the documentary film Girl Gone Bad, and founded a wildlife sanctuary in British Columbia.

In 2013, she wrote and recorded "Comin' Home", a song for the centennial of her hometown of North Battleford.[3] She reunited with her onetime Hot Cottage bandmate Cam MacInnes to record the album Long Live the Blues, released in 2014. In 2015, Nash was the first woman to be inducted into the Edmonton Blues Hall of Fame in 2015 for her achievements in music, and was presented the award by musician and Senator Tommy Banks.[11]

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 "Rankins tops with four nominations". Ottawa Citizen, February 9, 1994.
  2. 1 2 "Juno compromise reached in native song controversy". Toronto Star, March 20, 1994.
  3. 1 2 "Former resident gifts NB with centennial song". The Battlefords News-Optimist, June 22, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Hot Cottage still smoking after 30 years". Edmonton Journal, February 5, 1999.
  5. ↑ "Band banks on Canadians to help poor at home". Toronto Star, December 10, 1985.
  6. ↑ "Gruesome foursome milking the macabre". Toronto Star, October 28, 1988.
  7. ↑ "Skywalk takes seven West Coast Music Awards". Vancouver Sun, March 17, 1987.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Controversy surrounds aboriginal category". Montreal Gazette, March 20, 1994.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "A Juno loss is in their prayers: Non-native nominee criticized for recording sacred family song". The Globe and Mail, March 19, 1994.
  10. ↑ "Dispute threatens aboriginal Juno award". Toronto Star, March 19, 1994.
  11. ↑ "Nancy Nash inducted into Edmonton Blues Hall of Fame". Vue Weekly, June 3, 2015.
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