Friday Feature
Nina Simone
Author, Pianist, Activist,
Civil Rights Activist, Musician, Singer
(1933–2003)
“Music
is a gift and a burden I've had since I can remember who I was. I was born into
music. The decision was how to make the best use of it”
- Nina
Simone
Background & Early Life
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North
Carolina, Nina Simone took to music at an early age, learning to play piano at
the age of 3 and singing in her church's choir. Simone's musical training over
the years emphasized classical repertory along the lines of Beethoven and
Brahms, with Simone later expressing the desire to have been recognized as the
first major African-American concert pianist. Her music teacher helped
establish a special fund to pay for Simone's education and, after finishing
high school, the same fund was used to send the pianist to New York City's
famed Juilliard School of Music to train.
Simone taught piano and worked as a accompanist for other performers
while at Juilliard, but she eventually had to leave school after she ran out of
funds. Moving to Philadelphia, Simone lived with her family there in order to
save money and go to a more affordable music program. Her career took an
unexpected turn, however, when she was rejected from the Curtis Institute of
Music in Philadelphia; she later claimed the school denied her admittance
because she was African-American.
Turning away from classical music, she started playing American
standards, jazz and blues in Atlantic City clubs in the 1950s. Before long, she
started singing along with her music at the behest of a bar owner. She took the
stage name Nina Simone—"Nina," derived from the Spanish word
"niña," came from a nickname used by her then boyfriend while
"Simone" was inspired by French actress Simone Signoret. The
performer eventually won over such fans as writers Langston Hughes, Lorraine
Hansberry and James Baldwin.
Innovative Fusion of Styles
Simone began recording her music in the late 1950s under the Bethlehem
label, releasing her first full album in 1957, which featured "Plain Gold
Ring" and the title track "Little Girl Blue." It also included
her one and only Top 20 pop hit with her version of "I Loves You
Porgy" from the George and Ira Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess. Under
different labels, Simone released a bevy of albums from the late '50s
throughout the '60s and early '70s, including records like The Amazing Nina
Simone (1959), Nina Simone Sings Ellington! (1962), Wild Is the Wind (1966) and
Silk and Soul (1967). She also made cover songs of popular music, eventually
putting her own spin on such songs as Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are
A-Changin'" and the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun." And she
showed her sensual side with tracks like "Take Care of Business" on
1965's I Put a Spell on You and "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" on
1967's Nina Simone Sings the Blues.
In many ways, Simone's music defied standard definitions. Her classical
training showed through, no matter what genre of song she played, and she drew
from a well of sources that included gospel, pop and folk. She was often called
the "High Priestess of Soul," but she hated that nickname. She didn't
like the label of "jazz singer," either. "If I had to be called
something, it should have been a folk singer because there was more folk and
blues than jazz in my playing," she later wrote in her autobiography.
Prominent Civil Rights Singer
By the mid-1960s, Simone became known as the voice of the Civil Rights
Movement. She wrote "Mississippi Goddam" in response to the 1963
assassination of Medgar Evers and the Birmingham church bombing that killed
four young African-American girls. She also penned "Four Women,"
chronicling the complex histories of a quartet of African-American female
figures, and "Young, Gifted and Black," borrowing the title of a play
by Hansberry, which became a popular anthem. After the assassination of
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Simone's bassist Greg Taylor penned
"Why (The King of Love Is Dead)," which was performed by the singer
and her band at the Westbury Music Festival.
During the '60s, Simone had prominent hits in England as well with
"I Put a Spell on You," "Ain't Got No-I Got Life/Do What You
Gotta Do" and "To Love Somebody," with the latter penned by
Barry and Robin Gibb and originally performed by their group the Bee Gees.
Struggles and Career Renaissance
As the 1960s drew to a close, Simone tired of the American music scene
and the country's deeply divided racial politics. Having been neighbours with
Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz in Mount Vernon, New York, she later lived in
several different countries, including Liberia, Switzerland, England and
Barbados before eventually settling down in the South of France. For years,
Simone also struggled with severe mental health issues and her finances, and
clashed with managers, record labels and the Internal Revenue Service.
Simone, who had taken a break from recording in the mid-70s, returned in
1978 with the album Baltimore, with the title track a cover version of a Randy
Newman tune. Critics gave the album a warm reception, but it did not fare well
commercially.
Simone went through a career renaissance in the 1980s when her song
"My Baby Just Cares For Me" was used in a Chanel No. 5 perfume
commercial in the United Kingdom. The song thus became a Top 10 hit in Britain
in 1985. She also penned her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, which was
published in 1991. Her next recording, A Single Woman, came out in 1993.
Touring periodically, Simone maintained a strong fan base that filled
concert halls whenever she performed. In 1998, she appeared in the New York
tri-state area, her first trip there in five years, specifically playing at the
New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. The New York Times critic Jon
Pareles reviewed the concert, saying that "there is still power in her
voice" and the show featured "a beloved sound, a celebrated
personality, and a repertory that magnifies them both." That same year,
Simone also attended South African leader Nelson Mandela's 80th birthday
celebration.
Death and Legacy
In 1999, Simone performed at the Guinness Blues Festival in Dublin,
Ireland. She was joined on stage by her daughter Lisa Simone Kelly for a few
songs. Lisa, from Simone's second marriage to manager Andrew Stroud, followed
in her mother's footsteps. Among an array of performance accomplishments, she
has appeared on Broadway in Aida, using the stage name "Simone."
In her final years, reports indicated that Nina Simone was battling
breast cancer. She died at the age of 70 on April 21, 2003, at her home in Carry-le-Rouet,
France.
While she may be gone, Simone left a lasting impression on the world of
music, art and activism. She sang to share her truth, and her work still
resonates with great emotion and power. Simone has inspired an array of
performers, including Aretha Franklin, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Lauryn Hill
and Meshell Ndegeocello. Her deep, distinctive voice continues to be a popular
choice for television and film soundtracks.
Accessed from: http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532
on 19 April 2017
0 comments:
Post a Comment