Nanci Griffith Wiki, Net Worth, Husband, Family, Cause of Death, Cancer, Illness, Health Problems, Children, Obituary
Table of Contents
Nanci Griffith Biography – Nanci Griffith Wiki
Nanci Griffith (born Nanci Caroline Griffith) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Her recording career spanned five decades and nearly 20 albums, including 1994’s Other Voices, Other Rooms, a collection of classic folk songs featuring collaborations with Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, and Guy Clark, for which she won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Nanci Caroline Griffith was born July 6, 1953, in Seguin, Texas but raised in Austin, and by 12 years old she had already written her first song and played her first gig. She would attend the University of Texas and begin working as a teacher before committing to music full-time in 1977. In 1978, Griffith’s debut album There’s a Light Beyond These Woods won a songwriting prize at the Kerrville Folk Festival.
She moved to Nashville in the early ’80s, writing songs for the likes of Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, and Dolly Parton. She recorded several solo albums for the independent Philo Records before scoring a major label deal with MCA following her 1986 album The Last of the True Believers.
Her first hit as an artist was a cover of Julie Gold’s “From a Distance,” which Bette Midler would later record to even greater success. It was a theme that would persist throughout Griffith’s career; while she never had a radio hit of her own, songs she wrote or performed would achieve greater commercial success when recorded by others. Kathy Mattea’s version of “Love at the Five and Dime” hit No. 3 on the country charts in 1986, and Suzy Bogguss scored a top 10 hit in 1991 with “Outbound Plane,” which Griffith wrote with Tom Russell for her 1998 album Little Love Affairs, ended up as a Top 10 hit for Suzy Bogguss in 1991.
A masterful storyteller, her music was often imbued with pointed social commentary, and later, an explicitly political bent. Her 1987 song “Trouble in the Fields” sung of the plight of rural farmers, and her 1989 anti-racist screed “It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go” drew a parallel of prejudice between Catholic kids in Belfast and Black children in Chicago. Her 2009 album The Loving Kind was inspired by Mildred Loving’s obituary; it featured pointed criticisms of then-outgoing president George W. Bush.
Griffith was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award by the Americana Music Association in 2008. Her last album was 2012’s Intersection.
Nanci Griffith Age
Nanci Griffith was born on July 6, 1953, in Seguin, Texas. She died on August 13, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 68 years old.
Nanci Griffith Husband
Was Nanci Griffith married? She was married to singer-songwriter Eric Taylor from 1976 until their divorce in 1982. She was engaged to singer-songwriter Tom Kimmel in the early 1990s, but they never married. Her high school boyfriend, John, died in a motorcycle accident and later inspired several of her songs.
Nanci Griffith Family
Nanci Caroline Griffith was born on July 6, 1953, in Seguin, Texas, about 35 miles northeast of San Antonio, to Marlin Griffith, a book publisher and singer in barbershop quartets, and Ruelen Strawser, a real estate agent and amateur actress. She was the last of three children. Her parents divorced in 1960. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
Nanci Griffith Death
Grammy-winning folk singer Nanci Griffith died in Nashville on August 13, 2021, at the age of 68. Her death was announced by her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment. Its statement did not say where she died or give a cause of death, saying only, “It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing.”
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young paid tribute shortly after her death was confirmed: “Nanci Griffith was a master songwriter who took every opportunity to champion kindred spirits, including Vince Bell, Elizabeth Cook, Iris DeMent, Julie Gold, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Eric Taylor and Townes Van Zandt,” he wrote. “Her voice was a clarion call, at once gentle and insistent. Her brilliant album ‘The Last of the True Believers’ is a template for what is now called Americana music, and her Grammy-winning Other Voices, Other Rooms is a compelling guide to 20th-century folk songs. Nanci offered gifts that no one else could give.”
Don McLean paid tribute to Griffith in a statement: “Nanci was a lovely person. I worked with her on a TV special we did for PBS TV and on that show, we sang two duets. They were And I Love You So and Raining in My Heart. I never heard anyone sing harmony in a more beautiful way. We should have done an album together. At this taping in Austin, Texas she brought her father to see it. I really loved her spirit it was warm and loving and I’m really sorry to hear she has gone.”
Country singer Suzy Bogguss, who had a Top 10 hit with Griffith’s song “Outbound Plane,” posted a remembrance to her friend on Instagram. Bogguss wrote: “My heart is aching. A beautiful soul that I love has left this earth. I feel blessed to have many memories of our times together along with most everything she ever recorded. I’m going to spend the day reveling in the articulate masterful legacy she’s left us. Rest my dear friend Nanci Griffith.”
Singer Darius Rucker tweeted his sadness after Griffith’s passing. He tweeted: “Today i am just sad man. I lost one of my idols. One of the reasons I am in Nashville.She blew my mind the first time I heard Marie and Omie. And singing with her was my favorite things to do.”
Nanci Griffith Cause of Death
Nanci Griffith’s cause of death was not revealed. Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, confirmed her death but did not provide a cause of death.
Nanci Griffith Health Health – Nanci Griffith Cancer
Nanci Griffith survived cancer twice in the 1990s. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and with thyroid cancer in 1999, according to the Independent.
Nanci Griffith Net Worth
Nanci Griffith’s net worth is estimated to be $2 million.