About
Nina Blackwood is an American disc jockey and music journalist, who was the first of the original five MTV VJs (along with Mark Goodman, J. J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn). She has been an actress and model noted for her raspy voice.
Blackwood was born Nina Kinckiner in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her father was in government service, and also taught Sunday school – but he was never a minister, as has sometimes been reported. She grew up on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Rocky River High School, graduating in 1970. In high school, she sang and played keyboards in her high school sweetheart’s band, and covered the song “Venus.”
Before entering broadcasting, Blackwood appeared nude in the August 1978 Playboy pictorial “The Girls in the Office” as a brunette.
She moved to California, and studied acting at the Strasberg Institute. Blackwood has acted in a number of TV show and films, making appearances in the movies Vice Squad (1982), Reckless Kelly (1993), and I Crave Rock & Roll (1996).
She was chosen for MTV’s original video jockey lineup, along with Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter…
Born On This Day
Bio and photo via Wikipedia, used under Creative Commons licensing.