Judith Anne Nelson, née Manes (10 September 1939 – 28 May 2012) was an American soprano, noted for her performances of baroque music at the beginning of the "early music revival" of the 1970s and 1980s.Nelson was born in Evanston, Illinois. She graduated with a degree music from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1961. On August 5 of the same year she married Alan H.