Carol Ann Holness, better known by her stage name Nancy Nova, is a singer and songwriter from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, who was largely active from 1978 to 1983. She is the daughter of former '' Blockbusters'' host

Bob Holness Robert Wentworth John Holness (12 November 1928 – 6 January 2012) was an English-South African radio and television presenter and occasional actor. He presented the British version of '' Blockbusters''. Early life Holness was born in Vryheid, ...

and sister of Ros Holness, who was a member of 1980s new-wave group Toto Coelo.

Biography

Nova attended

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS was an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance a ...

for three years from the age of 18. She initially found success as a songwriter for Jesse Green, writing the single "Flip". She was a featured artist on the Italian television programme ''Non Stop'' :it:Non Stop Italian television program for six weeks and her single, "Akiri Non Stop", was used as the

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the show. Her 1981 single, "The Force", received radio

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

and was a hit in the dance charts. She was a founder member of Toto Coelo, but left before they achieved popularity due to her signing a worldwide recording contract with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. She has also written songs and sang backing vocals for

Lena Zavaroni Lena Hilda Zavaroni (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish singer. At the age of 10, with her debut album '' Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)'', she was the youngest person to have had an album in the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart. Lat ...

and

Cleo Laine Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Hitching; 28 October 1927) is an English singer and actress known for her scat singing. She is the widow of jazz composer and musician Sir John Dankworth and the mother of bassist Alec D ...

. Though quiet for most of the 1980s and 1990s, in 2004 Nova released through her FX records label a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

of her 1980s songs on CD, entitled ''The Force''. A year later, an album of new material in a

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

style was released, entitled ''Nancy Sings Jazz''. Her latest album, ''Blowout'' (2007), was only available through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. In 2010 FX records released ''Super Nova'', a compilation of new versions of 8 older songs (from the 1980s, with and extra remix of ''The Force'') and 5 newer songs (1 from ''Nancy Sings Jazz'' and 4 from ''Blowout'', same versions as on these albums). She was noted in the ''

Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of ...

'' for being in the charts the same week as her sister (4 September 1982).

Discography

Albums

*''Akiri Non Stop'' (1978, Derby) *''The Force'' (CD) (2004, FX Records) *''Nancy Sings Jazz'' (2005, FX Records) *''Blowout'' (2007, iTunes only, FX Records) *''Super Nova'' (CD) (2010, FX Records)

Singles

*"No Way" (1978, Vogue) *"Akiri Non Stop" (1978, Derby) *"Heaven" (1979, Ritz/Derby) *"Heaven" (1980, Hansa) *"The Force" (1981, Ritz/Hansa) *"Made in Japan" (1982, EMI) *"No, No, No" (1982, EMI) – UK #63; Portugal No. 3 *"Lifeline" (1983, EMI)

Compilation appearances

*''Modern Heroes'' (TV Records 1982) - featured "Made in Japan" *''Twelve Inches of Pleasure'' (Proto Records 1983) – featured "The Force"

Releases as songwriter

Singles

*Jesse Green – "Flip" (co-writer) (EMI Records, 1976) – UK No. 26 *Sue - "Tip for the Top" (co-writer) *

Richard E Grant Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is an Eswatini-born English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Ho ...

& Orpheus - "To Be Or Not To Be" (co-writer) (Avex, 1997)

Albums

– ''Return to Carnegie'' – "Direction" (co-writer) *

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

– ''Save The World'' – "You Do This To Me" (co-writer)

References

External links

Official websiteMyspace page
– Mentioned as being in the charts alongside her sister in ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' in September 1982 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nova, Nancy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Nova, Nancy Singers from London English new wave musicians British disco musicians