Nina Simone

  • Tryon, NC
    hometown
  • Soul
    genre
  • 1954
    started
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About Nina Simone

Of all the major singers of the late 20th century, Nina Simone was one of the hardest to classify. She recorded extensively in the soul, jazz, and pop idioms, often over the course of the same album; she was also comfortable with blues, gospel, and Broadway. It's perhaps most accurate to label her as a "soul" singer in terms of emotion, rather than form. Like, say, Aretha Franklin, or Dusty Springfield, Simone was an eclectic who brought soulful qualities to whatever material she interpreted. These qualities were among her strongest virtues; paradoxically, they also may have kept her from attaining a truly mass audience. The same could be said of her stage persona; admired for her forthright honesty and individualism, she was also known for feisty feuding with audiences and promoters alike.

If Simone had a chip on her shoulder, it probably arose from the formidable obstacles she had to overcome to establish herself as a popular singer. Raised in a family of eight children, she originally harbored hopes of becoming a classical pianist, studying at New York's prestigious Juilliard School of Music -- a rare position for an African-American woman in the 1950s. Needing to support herself while she studied, she generated income by working as an accompanist and giving piano lessons. Auditioning for a job as a pianist in an Atlantic City nightclub, she was told she had the spot if she would sing as well as play. Almost by accident, she began to carve a reputation as a singer of secular material, though her skills at the piano would serve her well throughout her career.

In the late '50s, Simone began recording for the small Bethlehem label (a subsidiary of the vastly important early R&B/rock & roll King label). In 1959, her version of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" gave her a Top 20 hit -- which would, amazingly, prove to be the only Top 40 entry of her career. Nina wouldn't need hit singles for survival, however, establishing herself not with the rock & roll/R&B crowd, but with the adult/nightclub/album market. In the early '60s, she recorded no less than nine albums for the Candix label, about half of them live. These unveiled her as a performer of nearly unsurpassed eclecticism, encompassing everything from Ellingtonian jazz and Israeli folk songs to spirituals and movie themes.

Simone's best recorded work was issued on Philips during the mid-'60s. Here, as on Candix, she was arguably over-exposed, issuing seven albums within a three-year period. These records can be breathtakingly erratic, moving from warm ballad interpretations of Jacques Brel and Billie Holiday and instrumental piano workouts to brassy pop and angry political statements in a heartbeat. There's a great deal of fine music to be found on these, however. Simone's moody-yet-elegant vocals were like no one else's, presenting a fiercely independent soul who harbored enormous (if somewhat hard-bitten) tenderness.

Like many African-American entertainers of the mid-'60s, Simone was deeply affected by the Civil Rights Movement and burgeoning Black Pride. Some (though by no means most) of her best material from this time addressed these concerns in a fashion more forthright than almost any other singer. "Old Jim Crow" and, more particularly, the classic "Mississippi Goddam" were especially notable self-penned efforts in this vein, making one wish that Nina had written more of her own material instead of turning to outside sources for most of her repertoire.

Not that this repertoire wasn't well-chosen. Several of her covers from the mid-'60s, indeed, were classics: her revision of Weill-Brecht's "Pirate Jenny" to reflect the bitter elements of African-American experience, for instance, or her mournful interpretation of Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas." Other highlights were her versions of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," covered by the Animals for a rock hit; "I Put a Spell on You," which influenced the vocal line on the Beatles' "Michelle"; and the buzzing, jazzy "See Line Woman."

Simone was not as well-served by her tenure with RCA in the late '60s and early '70s, another prolific period which saw the release of nine albums. These explored a less eclectic range, with a considerably heavier pop-soul base to both the material and arrangements. One bona fide classic did come out of this period: "Young, Gifted & Black," written by Simone and Weldon Irvine, Jr., would be successfully covered by both Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway. She did have a couple of Top Five British hits in the late '60s with "Ain't Got No" (from the musical Hair) and a cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody," neither of which rank among her career highlights.

Simone fell on turbulent times in the 1970s, divorcing her husband/manager Andy Stroud, encountering serious financial problems, and becoming something of a nomad, settling at various points in Switzerland, Liberia, Barbados, France, and Britain. After leaving RCA, she recorded rarely, although she did make the critically well-received Baltimore in 1978 for the small CTI label. She had an unpredictable resurgence in 1987, when an early track, "My Baby Just Cares for Me," became a big British hit after being used in a Chanel perfume television commercial. In 1993, her record A Single Woman marked her return to an American major label, and her profile was also boosted when several of her songs were featured in the film Point of No Return. She published her biography, I Put a Spell on You, in 1991, but grew increasingly frail throughout the late '90s and had to be helped on to the stage during a 2001 Carnegie Hall performance. Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003 at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France, where she had been spending much of her retirement. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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Music

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  • Ain't Got No/I Got Life
    nina-simone
    Video
    Ain't Got No/I Got Life
  • Do I Move You
    nina-simone
    Video
    Do I Move You
  • Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter
    nina-simone
    Video
    Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter
  • I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
    nina-simone
    Video
    I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
  • To Love Somebody
    nina-simone
    Video
    To Love Somebody
  • To Be Young, Gifted and Black
    nina-simone
    Video
    To Be Young, Gifted and Black
  • To Be Free Artist Of The Month
    nina-simone
    Video
    To Be Free Artist Of The Month
  • "Felix Da Housecat (Remix)"
    nina-simone
    Video
    "Felix Da Housecat (Remix)"
  • 4516
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    • Here Comes The Sun
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/2/0/1/7/0/131107102.mp3
    • Sinnerman (Felix Da Housecat's Heavenly House mix)
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/5/6/0/4/8/953884065.mp3
    • I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/4/1/4/0/9/117990414.mp3
    • My Baby Just Cares For Me
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/9/3/9/8/1/983918939.mp3
    • I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/0/2/1/1/5/105351120.mp3
    • Feelin' Good (Joe Claussell remix)
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/2/3/0/5/2/904725032.mp3

Photos

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  • Studio portrait of American pianist and jazz singer Nina Simone (1933 - 2003) reclining on the floor, circa 1968.
    Nina Simone
    Studio portrait of American pianist and jazz singer Nina Simone (1933 - 2003) reclining on the floor, circa 1968.
    Hulton Archive/Getty Images
  • Elektra
    Nina Simone
    Elektra
    Carol Friedman

News

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  • Nina Simone
    Ian MacKaye Selects Nina Simone Documentary for Maryland Film Festival
    prefixmag.com
    Simone: La Légende, a rarely-screen 1992 French TV documentary on the Priestess of Soul. MacKaye will lead a post-show discussion on Simone, who died ...
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  • Nina Simone
    R&B/Hip-Hop Briefs: Ledisi, Sly Stone, Nina Simone, Public Enemy | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    Grammy nominee Ledisi will join gospel singers Yolanda Adams and Donald Lawrence for BET's 10th ... R&B/Hip-Hop Briefs: Ledisi, Sly Stone, Nina Si...
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  • Nina Simone
    Mary J. Blige To Play Nina Simone In New Biopic
    prefixmag.com
    Here's your weekly biopic of music star from 40 years ago news:Mary J. Bligehas been cast asNina Simonein a new biopic that begins shooting in Paris i...
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  • Nina Simone
    Mary J. Blige to Play Nina Simone in Biopic | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    R&B songstress Mary J. Blige will tune up her jazz vocals after signing to star in Cynthia Mort's "Nina," a movie about legendary singer Nina Simone. ...
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  • Nina Simone
    Mary J. Blige to Play Nina Simone
    www.pitchfork.com
    This episode of born-to-play casting news features queen of soul Mary J. Blige, who is set to portray the high priestess of soul Nina Simone in an upc...
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  • Nina Simone
    Meshell Ndegeocello to Release Nina Simone Tribute Album
    www.jambands.com
    Meshell Ndegeocello has announced the release of her 10th studio album, Pour une âme souveraine ("For a sovereign soul"), a dedication to Nina Simone....
    Read More

Discography

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  • Remixed & Reimagined (2006)
    Nina Simone
    Remixed & Reimagined (2006)
    Sony BMG
  • Live & Kickin': In Europe & the Caribbean, Vol. 1 (2006)
    Nina Simone
    Live & Kickin': In Europe & the Caribbean, Vol. 1 (2006)
    Overall Music
  • A Single Woman (1993)
    Nina Simone
    A Single Woman (1993)
    Elektra Entertainment
  • Let It Be Me (1987)
    Nina Simone
    Let It Be Me (1987)
    Verve
  • Nina's Back (1985)
    Nina Simone
    Nina's Back (1985)
    Magnum - (import)
  • Live at Ronnie Scott's (1984)
    Nina Simone
    Live at Ronnie Scott's (1984)
    Meteor (UK)
  • Artistry of Nina Simone (1982)
    Nina Simone
    Artistry of Nina Simone (1982)
    RCA
  • Fodder on My Wings (1982)
    Nina Simone
    Fodder on My Wings (1982)
    Sunnyside
  • The Rising Sun Collection (1980)
    Nina Simone
    The Rising Sun Collection (1980)
    Just A Memory Records
  • Baltimore (1978)
    Nina Simone
    Baltimore (1978)
    Legacy Recordings
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