Nancy Wilson wants to take a break

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (Columbus TV Show) - Fifty years after she began her professional music career on a Columbus television show, jazz singer Nancy Wilson says it's time to relax a bit.

Wilson told the Chillicothe Gazette she's tired of having an itinerary and that she wants to spend more time at home with her family.

Her publicist, Lynn Coles, said Wednesday that Wilson will continue as host of her jazz show on National Public Radio and is expected to release another album later this year. However, Coles said, Wilson "absolutely, positively plans to cut back her schedule" later this year.

The 65-year-old got her first paid gig while still a student at West High School in Columbus. She was chosen to represent the school at a singing contest, but the judges told her to skip the contest and instead invited her to sing twice a week for 13 weeks on "Skyline Melody," a local Columbus TV show.

She sang in local clubs and cabarets until 1959, when she left Ohio for New York . A year later, Wilson married and moved to California to record for Capital Records.

In the more than 40 years since, Wilson has recorded 60 albums and hosted her own musical variety program, "The Nancy Wilson Show" on television.