22 July 31st -Aug 6th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Remembering Nancy Jackson The singer and former co-owner of iconic Tempe nightclub Chuy’s died on June 25. BY BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN N ancy Jackson had the kind of singing talents that could light up a room, thanks to what longtime friend and fellow vocalist Alice Tatum calls a “truly versatile and original voice.” “She had a great range and control with her own sound, and that was what was cool about her,” Tatum says. “She could do all these styles, like rock, pop and jazz. It was wonderful.” Jackson, a former Valley resident, had many opportunities to show off her talents in the ’80s and ’90s. Music was Jackson’s life, both as an artist and venue owner. After moving to Arizona in the late ’70s, she became a mainstay of the Phoenix music scene and performed at local venues both solo or in bands alongside her husband, bassist Jim Simmons, and Tatum. Jackson is best known for her 11-year stint co-owning iconic Tempe club Chuy’s with Simmons from the early ’80s through the early ’90s, transforming it into a jazz and blues hot spot. The venue drew major talent, hosting legends like Charlie Musselwhite, Jaco Pastorius and Gatemouth Brown, while also showcasing local standouts like singer-songwriter Walt Richardson and bluesmen Hans Olson and Bob Corritore. Jackson died suddenly at her home near Asheville, North Carolina, on June 25. She was 69. Corritore describes Jackson as a mentor and credits her with helping elevate Phoenix’s music scene while inspiring its performers and laying the foundation for its future success. “She was really a positive force in the community, and she kept a lot of us working and a lot of us inspired and amazing shows,” Corritore says. “And she seemed to do it with kindness and grace, and a real sense of musicality.” A ‘wonderful voice’ Jackson was born in Ohio in 1956 and raised in a musical household, where she was immersed in everything from Tony Bennett and Laura Nyro to Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. She moved to the Valley in the mid-’70s to study music at Arizona State University, performing with local jazz and big band ensembles on the side. Around that time, she began dating Simmons, her future husband, who played in several local jazz groups of the era. Tatum recalls first meeting Jackson through Simmons. “She was dating Jim, my bass player at the time, and I met her while she was sunbathing in his backyard,” Tatum recalls. “We hit it off right away and just became really good friends.” Jackson and Simmons were inseparable both onstage and off, performing together in a band of their own. Walt Richardson recalls first encountering the couple at a show by their then-act, Nancy Jackson and the ENT Band, in the late ’70s. “She was in several bands, it seemed like, or maybe it was the same band that kept evolving, I’m not sure,” Richardson says, laughing. “I was just starting out, and we were all playing some of the similar venues.” Corritore caught several of Jackson’s shows back then and remembers her effort- lessly showcasing her versatile talents. “It was kind of like a pop-jazz thing that was just beginning to come up,” Corritore says. “And she would also sing pop songs, but it was a nice, easygoing, sweet thing with her wonderful voice.” A year after earning her vocal degree from ASU in 1980, Jackson and Simmons turned their shared passion for music into a business. Using seed money from her businessman father, the couple bought Chuy’s Choo-Choo, a ground-level bar at the now-demolished Casa Loma Hotel along Tempe’s Mill Avenue, where they’d previously played. “Since I was a child, I was always tinkling with the piano or singing,” Jackson told Phoenix New Times in 1993, “And I was determined to open a nightclub where others who truly loved music could come and listen.” ‘The most happening place in town’ Within a few years of taking over Chuy’s, Jackson and Simmons ditched the “Choo-Choo” portion of the club’s name. They dove headfirst into transforming the club into a hit, with Jackson meticulously working long hours behind the scenes. “I was a perfectionist, never happy with anything,” Jackson told New Times in 1993. “It was seven days a week, 14 hours a day of running the club, doing business.” Longtime Arizona concert promoter Danny Zelisko says the couple brought a parade of iconic names to perform, including Little Charlie and the Nightcats and McCoy Tyner. “Every big jazz and blues person you could think of played there, like the Crusaders and John Lee Hooker,” Zelisko says. All of the hard work by Jackson and Simmons resulted in packed crowds. In the ’80s, Chuy’s became what New Times described as “arguably the most popular music hot spot in Arizona history.” Corritore, who attended shows at the club, says the description was very much true. “Chuy’s was the most happening place in town, and it was the cultural beacon for so many of us. We got to see great acts that were coming through,” he says. “It just always stood for great music and a great venue.” Corritore says both Chuy’s and Jackson helped lay the groundwork for his own venue, The Rhythm Room, which he opened in 1991. “I gradually got to know Nancy and eventually earned her confidence. And I started booking acts over at Chuy’s as kind of an independent promoter. She was really sponsoring the acts, but I was bringing things that I thought would be very good for the community,” Corritore says. “She called upon me to put bands together behind some of the blues people who were coming through. She was like a mentor to me and gave me a lot of pointers that I took to heart. I can honestly say if it wasn’t for Nancy Jackson and Chuy’s, there’d be no Rhythm Room.” To read the full version of the story, visit phoenixnewtimes.com. An undated photo of vocalist and former Tempe club owner Nancy Jackson. (Provided by Alice Tatum) ▼ Music
