Fans are in mourning this month after the death of Grammy-winning jazz singer Nancy Wilson. She was 81 years-old.

Wilson’s manager and publicist Devra Hall Levy confirmed that the singer passed away late Thursday night after a long illness at her home in Pioneertown, a California desert community near Joshua Tree National Park.

Wilson shot to fame in the 1960s, during which time she released eight albums that reached the top 20 on Billboard’s pop charts. Her biggest hits included “Guess Who I Saw Today” and the 1964 song ”(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am,” which drew upon Broadway, pop and jazz. She never liked being identified as solely a jazz singer, instead calling herself a “song stylist.”

“The music that I sing today was the pop music of the 1960s,” she said in 2010. “I just never considered myself a jazz singer. I do not do runs and — you know. I take a lyric and make it mine. I consider myself an interpreter of the lyric.”

Wilson also had a film in television career, appearing in things like “Hawaii Five-O,” ″Police Story,” and the Robert Townsend spoof “Meteor Man.” She also spent years hosting the NPR series “Jazz Profiles.”

At 70 years-old, Wilson was honored at the 2007 Carnegie Hall gala, where she performed “Never, Never Will I Marry,” ″I Can’t Make You Love Me” and the Gershwin classic “How Long Has This Been Going On?”

“After 55 years of doing what I do professionally, I have a right to ask how long? I’m trying to retire, people,” she said with a laugh as she left the stage while the crowd applauded.