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Nina Simone

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Nina Simone <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Foreveryounggiftedandblack.jpg
Forever Young Gifted and Black (2006), RCA records compilation album cover
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Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Eunice Kathleen Waymon</td></tr><tr><td>Also known as</td><td colspan="2">High Priestess of Soul</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">February 21, 1933</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Tryon, North Carolina, United States</td></tr><tr><td>Died</td><td colspan="2">April 21, 2003; Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, France</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Jazz, Soul, Folk, R&B, Gospel, Pop</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Singer-songwriter, pianist</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">Singing, piano</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1954–2003</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2"> RCA Victor, Philips, Bethlehem, Colpix, Legacy Recordings</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">NinaSimone.com</td></tr>

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist and civil rights activist. She generally is classified as a jazz musician, although she disliked being categorized. Her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles, such as jazz, soul, folk, r&b, gospel and even pop music. Her vocal style is characterized by passion, breathiness, and tremolo. Simone recorded over 40 live and studio albums, the biggest body of her work being released between 1958 (when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue) and 1974.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Youth (1933-1954)

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, one of eight children. She began singing at her local church and showed prodigious talent as a pianist. Her public debut, a piano recital, was made at the age of ten. Her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. Simone refused to play until her parents were moved back. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.

Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (who lived into her late 90s) was a strict Methodist minister; her father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman and sometime barber who suffered bouts of ill-health. Mrs. Waymon worked as a maid and her employer, hearing of Nina's talent, provided funds for piano lessons for the little girl. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Eunice's continued education.

At seventeen, Simone moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught piano and accompanied singers to fund her own studying as a classical pianist at New York City's Juilliard School of Music. With the help of a private tutor she studied for an interview to further study piano at the Curtis Institute, but she was rejected. Simone believed that this rejection was because she was a black woman and it fueled her hatred of the racial injustice in the United States. It seemed that her dream, to become the first African-American classical pianist, would not be fulfilled.

[edit] Early Success (1954-1959)

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Simone played at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City to fund her studying. The owner said that she would have to sing as well as play the piano in order to get the job. She took on the stagename "Nina Simone" in 1954 because she didn't want her mother to know that she was playing "the devil's music". "Nina" (meaning "little one" in Spanish) was a nickname a boyfriend had given to her and "Simone" was after the French actress Simone Signoret. Simone played and sang a mixture of jazz, blues and classical music at the bar, and by doing so she created a small but loyal fan base.<ref>(with Stephen Cleary) I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone (New York: Pantheon, 1991). ISBN 0-679-41068-6 or ISBN 0-306-80525-1 </ref>

After playing in small clubs she recorded a rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess) in 1958. It became her only Billboard top 40 hit in the United States, and her debut album Little Girl Blue soon followed on Bethlehem Records. Simone would never benefit financially from the album, because she sold the rights for 3000 dollars. It meant that she missed out on more than 1 million dollars of royalties (mainly because of the succesful re-release of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" in the 1980s). After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with the bigger label Colpix Records, followed by a string of studio and live albums.

[edit] Performing live

Simone's regal bearing and commanding stage presence earned her the title the "High Priestess of Soul". Her live performances were regarded not as mere concerts, but as happenings. In a single concert she could be a singer, pianist, dancer, actress and activist all simultaneously. On stage Simone's versatility became truly evident, as she moved from gospel to blues, jazz and folk, to numbers infused with European classical stylings, and counterpoint fugues. She incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element. Nina says about this herself:

"It's like mass hypnosis. I use it all the time" <ref>Documentary: Nina Simone, La Legende</ref>
Many recordings exist of her concerts, expressing fragments of her on-stage power, wit, sensuality and occasional menace. Throughout most of her live and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Flemming and guitarist and musical director Al Shackman.

[edit] Civil Rights (1964-1974)

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Simone was made aware of the severity of racial prejudice in America by her friends Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry (author of the play Raisin in the Sun). In 1964, she changed record labels, from the American Colpix to the Dutch Philips, which also meant a change in the contents of her recordings. Simone had always included songs in her repertoire that hinted to her African-American origins (such as "Brown Baby" and "Zungo" on Nina at the Village Gate in 1962). But on her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone In Concert (live recording, 1964), Simone for the first time openly addresses the racial inequality that was prevalent in the United States with the song "Mississippi Goddam". It was her response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four black children. The song was released as a single, being boycotted in certain southern states.<ref>(with Stephen Cleary) I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone (New York: Pantheon, 1991). ISBN 0-679-41068-6 or ISBN 0-306-80525-1 </ref>. With "Old Jim Crow" on the same album she reacts to the Jim Crow Laws.

From then onwards, the civil rights message was standard in Simone's recording repertoire, where it had already become a part of her live performances. She covered Billie Holiday's ("Strange Fruit") on Pastel Blues (1965), on the southern hanging of black men, and sang the W.Cuney poem "Images" on Let It All Out (1966), talking about the absence of pride in the African-American woman. Simone wrote the song "Four Women" and sings it on Wild Is The Wind (1966). It is about four different stereotypes of African-American women.

Simone again moved from Philips to RCAvictor in 1967. She sang "Backlash Blues", written by her friend Langston Hughes on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings The Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967) she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The last song illustrates how white children would get indoctrinated with racism at an early age. The album Nuff Said (1968) contains live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair, April 7th 1968, three days after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King. She dedicated the whole performance to him and sang "Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player directly after the news of Dr. Kings death had reached them.

Together with Langston Hughes, Simone turned the late Lorraine Hansberrys unfinished play "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" into a civil rights song. She performed it live on Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and the song became the official "National Anthem of Black America" <ref>Documentary: Nina Simone, La Legende</ref>, and has been covered by Aretha Franklin (Young, Gifted and Black (1972)) and Donny Hathaway.

[edit] Later life (1978-2003)

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Simone left the United States in 1971, citing racial prejudice, the collapse of the civil rights movement, and exhaustion as her main reasons. Disagreements with agents, record labels, and the tax authorities also contributed. After her last album for Colpix Records, It Is Finished (1974), it was not until 1978 that she recorded another album, Baltimore. When she returned to the United States for promoting and touring, she was arrested for tax evasion (she had withheld several years of income tax as a protest against the Vietnam War). She lived in various countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, continuing to perform well into her 60s.

Simone had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which she strenuously took issue. In 1995, she reportedly shot and wounded her neighbour's son with a pneumatic pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration <ref>Hard Talk interview</ref>. She also fired at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties <ref>[1]</ref>.

Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities from the University of Massachusetts and Malcolm X College <ref>[2]</ref>. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her <ref>[3]</ref>.

In the 1980s she performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. The album Live At Ronnie Scott's was recorded there in 1984. Though her onstage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her adoring audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests. Her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, was published in 1992 <ref>(with Stephen Cleary) I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone (New York: Pantheon, 1991). ISBN 0-679-41068-6 or ISBN 0-306-80525-1 </ref>. She recorded her last album A Single Woman in 1993.

In 1993 Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. Simone had been ill with cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet on April 21, 2003, aged 70. She left behind a daughter Lisa Celeste, now an actress/singer who took on the stagename Simone and has appeared on Broadway in Aida.

[edit] Well known songs

Simone had her first and biggest hit in America with a rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy", a track from her debut album Little Girl Blue(1958). It peaked at number 18 in the pop singles chart and number 2 on the black singles chart<ref>I Loves You Porgy on Billboard charts (allmusic.com)</ref>. In 1987, she experienced a resurgence in popularity when "My Baby Just Cares for Me" from the same album, became a hit all over Europe after it featured in a Chanel no. 5 perfume commercial. A music video was then created by Aardman.

Well known songs from her Philips years include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964), "I Put a Spell on You", "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and "Feeling Good" on I Put A Spell On You (1965), "Lilac Wine" and "Wild is the Wind" on Wild is the Wind (1966).
"Feeling Good" was used in a Sky Movies advertisement, a 24 promotional advertisement, and in the drama series Six Feet Under (a promo for the 4th season). Several cover versions were made, most notably by British rock band Muse and Michael Bublé. It was sampled in a song by Mary J Blige on her album The Breakthrough (2006).
"Sinnerman" (from the 1966 album Pastel Blues) featured in the films The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and Cellular (2004), an episode of the tv series Scrubs and on the soundtrack for the videogame Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. Hip-hop producer Kanye West sampled "Sinnerman" for the Talib Kweli single "Get By". Talib Kweli also recorded a hip-hop remake of Four Women, which is featured on Reflection Eternal with DJ Hi-Tek. Recently, a remixed version by Felix da Housecat was used in the soundtrack of the film Miami Vice (2006). It was also covered by 16 Horsepower.

Well known songs from her RCAvictor years include "House of the Rising Sun" on Nina Simone Sings The Blues (1967), "Ain't Got No-I Got Life", "Gin House Blues" and "Do What You Gotta Do" on Nuff Said (1968), the Bee Gees's "To Love Somebody", "I Shall Be Released" and Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin" on To Love Somebody (1969).
"Aint' Got No-I Got Life", a medley from the musical Hair, gave Simone a new and younger audience when it became a surprise hit, reaching nr. 2 in the UK charts in 1968. It has since become one of her most popular songs. It has been used in a television advertising campaign in the United Kingdom for Müller Dairy and returned to the UK Top 30 in a remixed version by Groovefinder in 2006.
Simone had recorded the traditional song "House of the Rising Sun" in 1961 and it featured on Nina At The Village Gate (1962), predating versions by Dave Van Ronk, and Bob Dylan. It was picked up by The Animals and became their signature hit. They repeated this with a Simone cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood".

See also Civil Rights (1964-1974) in the Biography section for Simone's civil rights related songs.

[edit] In the media

Nina Simone's music has featured in soundtracks of various motion pictures. Her music is frequently used in remixes, commercials and tv series. A lot of artists have covered Nina Simone's songs (or even her rendition of songs originally sung by other artists).

[edit] On Soundtracks

For a complete overview, see IMDB<ref>IMDB, Nina Simone on soundtracks</ref>.

[edit] On Film

The documentary Nina Simone: La Legende was made in the 90's by french filmakers <ref>Documentary: Nina Simone, La Legende</ref>. It was based on her autobiography I Put A Spell On You and features live footage from different periods of Nina's career, interviews with friends and family, various interviews with Nina herself while she was living in the Netherlands, and on a trip to her birthplace.

Plans for a Nina Simone biographical picture were released at the end of 2005. The movie will be based on Nina Simone's autobiography I Put A Spell On You (1992) and will also focus on her relationship in later life with her assistant Clifton Henderson. Tv-writer Cynthia Mort (Will & Grace, Roseanne) is working on the script, and singer Mary J Blige will take on the lead role. The movie is scheduled for 2007 <ref>untitled nina simone movie project at IMDB</ref>.

[edit] Contemporary use

  • In their song "God Bless Our Dead Marines" Canadian band A Silver Mt. Zion sang
    "Who among us will avenge Ms. Nina Simone?"
  • Fugees singer Lauren Hill sang in "Ready or Not"
    "While you're imitating Al Capone, I'll be Nina Simone, and defecatin' on your microphone."
  • In their song "The Swish" American rock band The Hold Steady sing
    "My name is Neal Schon but people call me Nina Simone"
  • In the song "Get by Remix" Rapper Kanye West raps
    "I'm packing weight like Nina Simone piano flow"
    and Rapper Talib Kweli raps
    "I send a rest in peace to Nina Simone"
  • In "These Photographs" by Joshua Radin, he sings
    "You're Nina Simone, when you talk on the phone."

[edit] Discography

[edit] Bethlehem albums (1958-1959)

[edit] Colpix albums (1959-1964)

[edit] Philips albums (1964-1967)

[edit] RCAvictor albums (1967-1974)

[edit] The later years (1978-1993)

[edit] Additional

[edit] Quotations

  • "Jazz is a white term used to define Black people. My music is Black Classical Music."
  • "You can see colors through music... Anything human can be felt through music, which means there is no limit to the creating that can be done... it's infinite. It's like God... you know?"
  • "Who am I? I am the reincarnation of an Egyptian Queen!" <ref>Documentary: Nina Simone, La Legende</ref>
  • "If I had my way, I'd've been a killer!" <ref>Documentary: Nina Simone, La Legende</ref>

[edit] Bibliography & References

<references/>

[edit] External links

Great American Songbook
Songwriters

Arlen | Berlin | Carmichael | Coleman | Dietz | Ellington | Fields | G. Gershwin | I. Gershwin | Hammerstein | Hart | Kern | Lerner | Loewe | Loesser | Mandel | Mercer | McHugh | Porter | Rodgers | Schwartz

Singers

Armstrong | Astaire | Bennett | Brice | Bublé | Carter | Como | Crosby | Dearie | Eckstine | Feinstein | Fitzgerald | Garland | Holiday | Horn | Horne | Keel | Kelly | Krall | Lee | Martin | McRae | Midler | Mitchell | Rogers | Simone | Sinatra | Stewart | Streisand | Tormé | Vaughan | Washington | Williams

bg:Нина Симон

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