Description

Nina Simone was a great pianist, a riveting vocalist, and an uncompromising personality. Her sociopolitical consciousness and eclecticism set her apart from the pack. Her interpretations of soul, jazz, blues, and standards are both striking and unique; not for nothing do her fans refer to her as "the Goddess." She established her jazz credentials with an emotive interpretation of George Gershwin 's 'I Loves You Porgy' in 1959. Her influential '60s work included "Forbidden Fruit" and "I Put A Spell On You." One of her singles, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," later became a worldwide hit for the Animals. In later years, she recorded less frequently, but in 1987, while in self-imposed exile in France, she had a fluke hit after her '50s version of "My Baby Just Cares For Me," was resurrected in a TV commercial. Simone died in 2003 at her home in France at age 70.

Biography

b. Eunice Waymon, 21 February 1933, Tyron, North Carolina, USA, d. 21 April 2003, Carry-le-Rouet, France. An accomplished pianist as a child, Simone later studied at New York's Juilliard School Of Music but left in 1954 after struggling to make headway in the tradition bound classical music world. She began working as a singer-pianist in the Midtown Bar and Grill in Atlantic City, taking her stage name from the French actress Simone Signoret. Her jazz credentials were established in 1959 when she secured a hit with an emotive interpretation of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy". Her influential 60s work included "Gin House Blues", "Forbidden Fruit" and "I Put A Spell On You", while another of her singles, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", was later covered by the Animals. The singer's popular fortune flourished upon her signing with RCA Records. "Ain't Got No - I Got Life", a song lifted from the musical Hair, was a UK number 2, while her searing version of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" reached number 5.
In America, her own composition, "To Be Young, Gifted And Black", dedicated to her late friend, the playwright Lorraine Hansberry, reflected Simone's growing militancy. The potent "Mississippi Goddam" detailed the singer's enraged reaction to the deaths of four children in the bombing of a Sunday school in Birmingham, Alabama, in September 1963. Promotional copies of the single were smashed and returned to Simone's record label by a Carolina radio station, reflecting the danger a black performer faced in challenging ingrained prejudice. Releases grew infrequent as her political activism increased. Simone began exploring African-American history and struck up a close association with Liberia, a country to which she would return throughout the following decades. She left the US in the 70s, moving between Liberia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and France. In 1991, in a final snub to an America she perceived as uncaring, Simone settled in Bouc-Bel-Air in France where her work continued to flourish.
A commanding, if taciturn and sometimes difficult, live performer, Simone's appearances became increasingly focused on benefits and rallies, although a fluke UK hit, "My Baby Just Cares For Me", a resurrected 50s master, pushed the singer, momentarily, into the commercial spotlight when it reached number 5 in 1987 thanks to its use in a commercial for Chanel No 5. She gave a series of mesmerising performance at Ronnie Scott's jazz club during this period, although her standing as a performer was increasingly at odds with her turbulent personal life. A suspended eight-month jail term for firing a scattergun in the direction of two teenagers in the pool of the villa next to hers indicated ongoing personal problems, but during this period Simone was buoyed by winning back the licensing rights to several of her original recordings. Her live performances continued to enthral and enrage in equal measure, a situation completely in keeping with her stature as one of popular music's great divas. An uncompromising personality, Nina Simone's interpretations of pop, soul, jazz, blues and standards were both compulsive and unique.
DISCOGRAPHY: Jazz As Played In An Exclusive Side Street Club (Bethlehem 1958)****, Little Girl Blue (Bethlehem 1959)***, And Her Friends expanded reissue of first album (Bethlehem 1959)***, The Amazing Nina Simone (Colpix 1959)****, At The Town Hall (Colpix 1959)***, At Newport (Colpix 1960)****, Forbidden Fruit (Colpix 1961)***, At The Village Gate (Colpix 1961)***, Sings Ellington (Colpix 1962)***, Nina's Choice (Colpix 1963)***, At Carnegie Hall (Colpix 1963)****, Folksy Nina (Colpix 1964)***, In Concert (Philips 1964)***, Broadway ... Blues ... Ballads (Philips 1964)***, I Put A Spell On You (Philips 1965)***, Tell Me More (Philips 1965)***, Pastel Blues (Philips 1965)***, Let It All Out (Philips 1966)***, Wild Is The Wind (Philips 1966)***, Nina With Strings (Colpix 1966)***, High Priestess Of Soul (Philips 1966)****, Sings The Blues (RCA Victor 1967)****, Silk & Soul (RCA Victor 1967)***, "Nuff Said (RCA Victor 1968)***, Black Gold (RCA 1969)***, And Piano! (RCA Victor 1969)***, To Love Somebody (RCA 1971)***, Here Comes The Sun (RCA 1971)***, Heart And Soul (RCA 1972)***, Emergency Ward (RCA 1973)***, It Is Finished (RCA 1974)***, Gifted And Black (Mojo 1974)***, I Loves You Porgy (CBS 1977)***, Baltimore (CTI 1978)***, Cry Before I Go (Manhattan 1980)***, Nina Simone (Dakota 1982)***, Fodder On My Wings (IMS 1982)***, Nina's Back (VPI 1985)***, Live At Vine Street (Verve 1987)***, Live At Ronnie Scott's (Windham Hill 1988)***, Live (Zeta 1990)**, The Blues (Novus/RCA 1991)***, A Single Woman (Elektra 1993)***, The Great Show Of Nina Simone: Live In Paris (Accord 1996)**.
COMPILATIONS: The Best Of Nina Simone (Philips 1966)****, The Best Of Nina Simone (RCA 1970)****, Fine And Mellow (Golden Hour 1975)***, The Artistry Of Nina Simone (RCA 1982)***, Music For The Millions (Phillips 1983)***, My Baby Just Cares For Me (Charly 1984)****, Lady Midnight (Connoisseur 1987)***, The Nina Simone Collection (Deja Vu 1988)****, The Nina Simone Story (Deja Vu 1989)***, Anthology: The Colpix Years (Rhino 1997)****, Saga Of The Good Life And Hard Times 1968 sessions (RCA 1997)****, The Great Nina Simone (Music Club 1997)***, Ultimate Nina Simone (Verve 1997)****, Blue For You: The Very Best Of Nina Simone (Global 1998)****, Sugar In My Bowl: The Very Best Of 1967-1972 (RCA 1998)****, At Newport, At The Village Gate, And Elsewhere ... (Westside 1999)****, Nina Simone's Finest Hour (Verve 2000)***, Gin House Blues: Nina Simone In Concert (Castle Pie 2000)***, Four Women: The Philips Recordings 4-CD box set (Verve 2003)****, The Nina Simone Story 3-CD box set (Charly 2003)***, Gold (Universal 2003)****, Live 1968-1974 recordings (Camden 2004)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Live At Ronnie Scott's (Hendring Music Video 1988).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone, Nina Simone with Stephen Cleary. Nina Simone: Break Down & Let It All Out, Sylvia Hampton with David Nathan. Nina Simone, Kerry Acker.

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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