Nikki Hornsby
Hornsby in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Nikki Hornsby
Born	Long Beach, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop, Americana, country, Christian music and Blues
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1970s–present
Labels	CJP-NHRecords
Formerly of	Nikki Hornsby and the Rangers
Website	www.cjp-nhrecords.com

Nikki Hornsby is an American musician who has been active in the pop, Americana, country, and blues genres as a songwriter, singer, and guitarist.^[1] From Long Beach, California,^[2] Hornsby grew up in Fairfax County of Northern Virginia. She is the granddaughter of Dan Hornsby, who was a songwriter, musician, talent scout, and producer for Columbia Records RCA Victor. Her family association with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen influenced her when young.^[1][3] Hornsby inherited her grandfather's archive of early Americana music and has worked to document his legacy, including that he discovered many songwriter-singers, like Bessie Smith, for Columbia Records.^[1]

Career

Before 2000

Hornsby played gigs in the eastern US while a college student. She moved back to California in the 1970s and began playing regularly, but did not begin to record until the late 1980s, when she founded her own label, NH Records (later CJP-NH Records). Around that time, her song "Shoe String and a Prayer" began to get radio play in America and Europe; the tune charted on the Cash Box Top 100^[4] and hit the independent country charts in America, and she was named Female Singer of the Year in Scandinavia in 1988.^[5] By 1991, she formed Nikki Hornsby and the Rangers.^[6]

In the early 1990s, she routinely sang at the Alpine Village in Torrance, California.^[7] In August 1991, she drew the largest crowd of the summer at Redondo Beach's summer Concert in the Park series.^[8] Nikki Hornsby and the Rangers played the Concert in the Park series again in August 1993 and July 1994.^[9][10]

In the 1980s, she recorded as a solo singer-songwriter musician with Steve Duncan (Desert Rose Band), Jack Daniels (Hwy 101 Band), Jay Dee Manness (Desert Rose Band), John Jorgensen (Desert Rose Band), and guitarist Al Bruno.^[11]

2000–2006

Laura Schlessinger (left) with Hornsby in 2009. Schlessinger used Hornsby's song "Hot Talkin' Big Shot" for several years as theme music.

"Hot Talkin' Big Shot"

In August 2001, Nikki Hornsby sang at the Cliffie Stone Memorial Jamboree in Santa Clarita, California.^[12] Hornsby also acted as a judge for a number of California country music competitions and as a judge of talent for the Colgate Talent Contests.^[5] "Hot Talkin' Big Shot" is an original song by Hornsby.^[13]

2006–present

Hornsby appeared on the Spanish TV channel IB3 in April 2006. She also performed on commercial radio telecasts in Palma.^[14] In 2009, CJP-NHRecords released Just Wait Instrumentally (the instrumental version of the 2006 album Just Wait).^[15] In 2014, CJP-NHRecords released Hornsby's original song "Just Lovin' You"^[16] that was covered by the singer Zita Sabon as "Ich Liebe Dich" (translated into German).^[17] In 2011 she was nominated for Billboard's Women in Music award.^[18]

Discography