Nina Simone

Nina Simone

Simone in 1965
Background information
Birth name Eunice Kathleen Waymon
Born (1933-02-21)February 21, 1933
Tryon, North Carolina, US
Died April 21, 2003(2003-04-21) (aged 70)
Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • pianist
  • arranger
  • activist
  • composer
Years active 1954–2003
Labels Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA Victor, CTI, Legacy Recordings
Website ninasimone.com

Nina Simone (/ˈniːnə sᵻˈmoʊn/; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Born in North Carolina, the sixth child of a preacher, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist.[1] With the help of the few supporters in her hometown of Tryon, North Carolina, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York.[2]

Waymon then applied for a scholarship to study at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied despite a well-received audition.[3] Simone became fully convinced this rejection had been entirely due to her race, a statement that has been a matter of controversy. Years later, two days before her death, the Curtis Institute of Music bestowed an honorary degree on Simone.[3]

To make a living, Eunice Waymon changed her name to "Nina Simone". The change related to her need to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music"[3] or "cocktail piano" at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, and this effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist.

Simone recorded more than forty albums, mostly between 1958, when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue, and 1974, and had a hit in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy".[1]

Simone's musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach,[4] and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.[5][6]

Biography

Youth (1933–1954)

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in North Carolina and raised in Tryon, North Carolina. The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at age three; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the instrument, she performed at her local church. But her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was 12. Simone later said that during this performance, 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. She said that she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front,[7][8] and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.[9]

Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (1902 - April 30, 2001), was a Methodist minister and a housemaid. Simone's father, John Divine Waymon (1898 - October 24, 1972), was a handyman who at one time owned a dry cleaning business, but also suffered bouts of ill health. Simone's music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for her education.[10] Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist her continued education. With the help of this scholarship money she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina.

After her graduation, Simone spent the summer of 1950 at the Juilliard School, preparing for an audition at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her application, however, was denied. As her family had relocated to Philadelphia in the expectation of her entry to Curtis, the blow to her aspirations was particularly heavy, and she suspected that her application had been denied because of racial prejudice. Discouraged, she took private piano lessons with Vladimir Sokoloff, a professor at Curtis, but never re-applied to the institution. For several years, she worked a number of menial jobs and taught piano in Philadelphia.[11]

Early success (1954–1959)

To fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano, which increased her income to $90 a week. In 1954, she adopted the stage name "Nina Simone". "Nina" (from niña, meaning "little girl" in Spanish), and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the movie Casque d'Or.[12] Knowing her mother would not approve of playing the "Devil's Music", she used her new stage name to remain undetected. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small but loyal fan base.[13]

In 1958, she befriended and married Don Ross, a beatnik who worked as a fairground barker, but quickly regretted their marriage.[14] Playing in small clubs in the same year, she recorded George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), which she learned from a Billie Holiday album and performed as a favor to a friend. It became her only Billboard top 20 success in the United States, and her debut album Little Girl Blue soon followed on Bethlehem Records. Simone lost more than $1 million in royalties (notably for the 1980s re-release of My Baby Just Cares for Me) and never benefited financially from the album's sales because she had sold her rights outright for $3,000.[15]

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records and recorded a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich Village.[16] By this time, Simone performed pop music only to make money to continue her classical music studies and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.[17]

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in 1961. He later became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but he abused Simone psychologically and physically.[3][18]

Civil rights era (1964–1974)

Simone at Schiphol Airport, March 1969

In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from the American Colpix to the Dutch Philips, which also meant a change in the contents of her recordings. She had always included songs in her repertoire that drew upon her African-American origins (such as "Brown Baby" by Oscar Brown and "Zungo" by Michael Olatunji in her album Nina at the Village Gate in 1962). On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone in Concert (live recording, 1964), for the first time she openly addressed the racial inequality that was prevalent in the United States with the song "Mississippi Goddam", her response to the June 12, 1963, murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young black girls and partially blinded a fifth girl who survived. She remarked that the title and the song itself was, "like throwing 10 bullets back at them", becoming one of many other protest songs written by Simone.[19] The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in certain southern states.[20][21] Specifically, promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Simone's record label.[22] Simone later recalled how "Mississippi Goddam" was her "first civil rights song" and that the song came to her "in a rush of fury, hatred and determination". The song was a direct challenge to widely held beliefs that race relations could change gradually and called for more immediate developments, "me and my people are just about due".[23] "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow laws.

From then on, a civil rights message was standard in Simone's recording repertoire, becoming a part of her live performances. During the rise of her political activism, the release of her musical work grew more infrequent.[24] Simone performed and spoke at many civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches.[25] Simone advocated violent revolution during the civil rights period, rather than Martin Luther King's non-violent approach,[26] and she hoped that African Americans could, by armed combat, form a separate state. Her message to the public signified the transition from the non-violent approach to social change that was advocated by Martin Luther King into the more militant state that was implemented by Malcolm X and the associates of the Black Nationalist Movement.[27] Nevertheless, she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.[28]

Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor during 1967. She sang "Backlash Blues", written by her friend and Harlem Renaissance leader, 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 album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contains live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair, April 7, 1968, three days after the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. She dedicated the whole performance to him and sang "Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor, directly after the news of King's death had reached them.[29] In the summer of 1969, she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Together with Weldon Irvine, Simone turned the late Lorraine Hansberry's unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black into a civil rights song. Hansberry had been a personal friend whom Simone credited with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black) and by Donny Hathaway.[20][28]

Later life (1974–1993)

Simone at a concert in Morlaix, France, May 1982

In an interview for Jet magazine, Simone stated that her controversial song "Mississippi Goddam" hurt her career. She claimed that the music industry reprimanded her by boycotting her records.[30] Hurt and disappointed, Simone left the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting Stroud to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of a desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

Simone recorded her last album for RCA, It Is Finished, in 1974, and did not make another record until 1978, when she was persuaded to go into the recording studio by CTI Records owner Creed Taylor. The result was the album Baltimore, which, while not a commercial success, was fairly well received critically and marked a quiet artistic renaissance in Simone's recording output.[31] Her choice of material retained its eclecticism, ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl." Four years later Simone recorded Fodder on My Wings on a French label.

During the 1980s, Simone performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, where she recorded the album Live at Ronnie Scott's in 1984. Although her early on-stage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her audiences sometimes by recounting humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and by soliciting requests. In 1987, the original 1958 recording of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" was used in a commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume in Britain. This led to a re-release of the recording, which stormed to number 4 on the UK's NME singles chart, giving her a brief surge in popularity in the UK.

When Simone returned to the United States, she learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid taxes (as a protest against her country's involvement with the Vietnam War), and returned to Barbados to evade the authorities and prosecution.[32] Simone stayed in Barbados for quite some time and she had a lengthy affair with the Prime Minister, Errol Barrow.[33][34] A close friend, singer Miriam Makeba, then persuaded her to go to Liberia. Later, she lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands, before settling in France in 1993. During a 1998 performance in Newark, she announced, "If you're going to come see me again, you've got to come to France, because I ain't coming back."[35]

Simone published her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, in 1992. She recorded her last album, A Single Woman in 1993, where she depicted herself as such "single woman." This album reflected her solitude and pain. She continued to tour through the 1990s but rarely traveled without an entourage. During the last decade of her life, Simone had sold more than one million records making her a global catalog best-seller. This was accompanied by the CD revolution, global exposure through media television and the novelty of the Internet.

Illness and death

Simone had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s.[36] In 1993, Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She had suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis, actress Ruby Dee, and hundreds of others. Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and has appeared on Broadway in Aida.[37]

Reputation

Simone was known for her temper and frequent outbursts. In 1995, she fired a gun at a record company executive, whom she accused of stealing royalties. Simone said she "tried to kill him" but "missed".[38] In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with an air gun after the boy's laughter disturbed her concentration.[39] According to a biographer, Simone took medication for a condition from the mid-1960s on.[40] All this was only known to a small group of intimates, and kept out of public view for many years, until the biography Break Down and Let It All Out written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan revealed this in 2004, after her death. Singer-songwriter Janis Ian, a one-time friend of Simone's, related in her own autobiography, Society's Child: My Autobiography, two incidents to illustrate Simone's volatility: One incident in which she forced a shoe store cashier, at gunpoint, to take back a pair of sandals she'd already worn; and another in which Simone demanded a royalty payment from Ian herself as an exchange for having recorded one of Ian's songs, and then ripped a pay telephone out of its wall when she was refused.[41]

Musical style

Simone standards

Throughout her career, Simone assembled a collection of songs that would later become standards in her repertoire. Some were songs that she wrote herself, while others were new arrangements of other standards, and others had been written especially for the singer. Her first hit song in America was her rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (1958). It peaked at number 18 in the pop singles chart and number 2 on the black singles chart.[42] During that same period Simone recorded "My Baby Just Cares for Me", which would become her biggest success years later, in 1987, after it was featured in a 1986 Chanel No. 5 perfume commercial.[43] A music video was also created by Aardman Studios.[44] Well known songs from her Philips albums include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964), "I Put a Spell on You", "Ne me quitte pas" (a rendition of a Jacques Brel song) and "Feeling Good" on I Put a Spell On You (1965), "Lilac Wine" and "Wild Is the Wind" on Wild is the Wind (1966).[45]

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Feeling Good", and "Sinner Man" (Pastel Blues, 1965) have remained popular in terms of cover versions (most notably a version of the former song by The Animals), sample usage, and its use on soundtracks for various movies, TV-series, and video games. "Sinner Man" has been featured in the TV series Scrubs, Person of Interest, The Blacklist, Sherlock, and Vinyl, as well as in movies such as The Thomas Crown Affair, Miami Vice, and Inland Empire, and sampled by artists such as Talib Kweli and Timbaland. The song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was sampled by Devo Springsteen on "Misunderstood" from Common's 2007 album Finding Forever, and by little-known producers Rodnae and Mousa for the song "Don't Get It" on Lil Wayne's 2008 album Tha Carter III. "See-Line Woman" was sampled by Kanye West for "Bad News" on his album 808s & Heartbreak. The 1965 rendition of "Strange Fruit," originally recorded by Billie Holiday was sampled by Kanye West for "Blood on the Leaves" on his album Yeezus.

Simone's years at RCA-Victor spawned a number of singles and album tracks that were popular, particularly in Europe. In 1968, it was "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", a medley from the musical Hair from the album 'Nuff Said! (1968) that became a surprise hit for Simone, reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and introducing her to a younger audience.[46] In 2006, it returned to the UK Top 30 in a remixed version by Groovefinder.

The following single, a rendition of the Bee Gees's "To Love Somebody", also reached the UK Top 10 in 1969. "The House of the Rising Sun" was featured on Nina Simone Sings the Blues in 1967, but Simone had recorded the song in 1961 and it was featured on Nina at the Village Gate (1962), predating the versions by Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan.[47][48] It was later covered by The Animals, for whom it became a signature hit.

Performing style

Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title "High Priestess of Soul".[49] She was a piano player, singer and performer, "separately, and simultaneously."[18] As a composer and arranger, Simone moved from gospel to blues, jazz, and folk, and to numbers with European classical styling. Besides using Bach-style counterpoint, she called upon the particular virtuosity of the 19th-century Romantic piano repertoire—Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and others. Onstage, she incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element.[50] She compared it to "mass hypnosis. I use it all the time."[28] Throughout most of her life and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist and musical director Al Schackman. [51]

Legacy and influence

Music

Musicians who have cited Simone as important for their own musical upbringing include Elton John (who named one of his pianos after her), Aretha Franklin, Adele, David Bowie, Emeli Sandé, Antony and the Johnsons, Dianne Reeves, Sade, Beyoncé, Janis Joplin, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Christina Aguilera, Elkie Brooks, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Kanye West, Lena Horne, Bono, John Legend, Elizabeth Fraser, Cat Stevens, Anna Calvi, Lykke Li, Peter Gabriel, Maynard James Keenan, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Mary J. Blige, Fantasia Barrino, Michael Gira, Angela McCluskey, Lauryn Hill, Patrice Babatunde, Alicia Keys, Lana Del Rey, Hozier, Matt Bellamy, Ian MacKaye, Kerry Brothers, Jr., Krucial, Amanda Palmer, Steve Adey and Jeff Buckley.[20][52][53][54][55][56] John Lennon cited Simone's version of "I Put a Spell on You" as a source of inspiration for the Beatles' song "Michelle".[56]

Simone's music has been featured in soundtracks of various motion pictures and video games, including but not limited to, La Femme Nikita (1990), Point of No Return (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998), Notting Hill (1999), Any Given Sunday (1999), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Disappearing Acts (2000), Six Feet Under (2001), The Dancer Upstairs (2002), Before Sunset (2004), Cellular (2004), Inland Empire (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Sex and the City (2008), The World Unseen (2008), Revolutionary Road (2008), Home (2008), Watchmen (2009), The Saboteur (2009), Repo Men (2010), and Beyond the Lights (2014). Frequently her music is used in remixes, commercials, and TV series including "Feeling Good", which featured prominently in the Season Four Promo of Six Feet Under (2004). Simone's "Take Care of Business" is the closing theme of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (2015) Simone's "Stars" is played during the final moments of the season 3 finale of BoJack Horseman. (2016) The use of "Stars" as the season concludes is cited by critics as the show's greatest emotional climax in large part because of the music.

Film

The documentary Nina Simone: La légende (The Legend) was made in the 1990s by French filmmakers,[28] based on her autobiography I Put a Spell on You. It features live footage from different periods of her career, interviews with family, various interviews with Simone then living in the Netherlands, and while on a trip to her birthplace. A portion of footage from The Legend was taken from an earlier 26-minute biographical documentary by Peter Rodis, released in 1969 and entitled simply, Nina. Her filmed 1976 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival is available on video courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment and is screened annually in New York City at an event called "The Rise and Fall of Nina Simone: Montreux, 1976" which is curated by Tom Blunt.[57]

Footage of Simone singing "Mississippi Goddamn" for 40,000 marchers at the end of the Selma to Montgomery marches can be seen in the 1970 documentary King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis and the 2015 Liz Garbus documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?[3]

Plans for a Simone biographical film were released at the end of 2005, to be based on Simone's autobiography I Put a Spell on You (1992) and to focus on her relationship in later life with her assistant, Clifton Henderson, who died in 2006; Simone's daughter, Simone Kelly, has since refuted the existence of a romantic relationship between Simone and Henderson on account of his homosexuality.[58] Cynthia Mort, screenwriter of Will & Grace and Roseanne, has written the screenplay and directed the film, Nina, which stars Zoe Saldana in the title role.[59][60][61] In May 2014, the film was shown to potential distributors at the Cannes Film Festival, but has, as of August 2014, not been seen by reviewers.[62][63]

In 2015, two documentary features about Simone's life and music were released. The first, directed by Liz Garbus, What Happened, Miss Simone? was produced in cooperation with Simone's estate and her daughter, who also served as the film's executive producer. The film was produced as a counterpoint to the unauthorized Cynthia Mort film, and featured previously unreleased archival footage. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015 and was distributed by Netflix on June 26, 2015.[64] It was nominated on January 14, 2016 for a 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[65] The Amazing Nina Simone is an independent film directed by Jeff L. Lieberman and is also scheduled for release in 2015. The director initially consulted with Simone's daughter before going the independent route and instead worked closely with her siblings, predominantly Sam Waymon.[66][67]

Honors

Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her interpretation of "I Loves You, Porgy." She has also received fifteen Grammy Award nominations. On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone.[68][69] Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malcolm X College.[70] She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her.[71]

Two days before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute of Music, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.[72]

In 2002, the city of Nijmegen, Netherlands, named a street after her, the Nina Simone straat; she had lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990. On August 29, 2005, the city of Nijmegen, concert hall De Vereeniging, and more than fifty artists (amongst whom were Frank Boeijen, Rood Adeo, and Fay Claassen)[73][74] honoured Simone with the tribute concert Greetings from Nijmegen.

Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.[75]

In 2010, a statue in her honor was erected in Trade Street in her native Tryon, North Carolina.[76]

Discography

Albums

Year Album Type Label Billboard
1958 Little Girl Blue Studio Bethlehem Records
1959 Nina Simone and Her Friends Studio, compilation with four tracks by Simone
The Amazing Nina Simone Studio Colpix Records
Nina Simone at Town Hall Live and studio
1960 Nina Simone at Newport Live 23 (pop)
Forbidden Fruit Studio
1962 Nina at the Village Gate Live
Nina Simone Sings Ellington Studio
1963 Nina's Choice Compilation
Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall Live
1964 Folksy Nina Live
Nina Simone in Concert Live Philips Records 102 (pop)
Broadway-Blues-Ballads Studio
1965 I Put a Spell on You Studio 99 (pop)
Sincerely Nina Live and studio
Pastel Blues Studio 8 (black)
1966 Nina Simone with Strings Studio (strings added) Colpix
Let It All Out Live and studio Philips 19 (black)
Wild Is the Wind Studio 12 (black)
1967 High Priestess of Soul Studio 29 (black)
Nina Simone Sings the Blues Studio RCA Records 29 (black)
Silk & Soul Studio 24 (black)
1968 'Nuff Said! Live and studio 44 (black)
1969 Nina Simone and Piano Studio
To Love Somebody Studio
A Very Rare Evening Live PM Records
1970 Gifted & Black Studio Canyon Records (Hollywood)
Black Gold Live RCA Records 29 (black)
1971 Here Comes the Sun Studio 190 (pop)
1972 Emergency Ward Live and studio
Sings Billie Holiday – Lady Sings the Blues Live Stroud
1973 Live at Berkeley Live
Gospel According to Nina Simone Live
1974 It Is Finished Live RCA Records
1978 Baltimore Studio CTI Records 12 (jazz)
1980 The Rising Sun Collection Live Enja
1982 Fodder on My Wings Studio Carrere
1984 Backlash Live StarJazz
1985 Nina's Back Studio VPI
1985 Live & Kickin Live
1987 Let It Be Me (Recorded Live at Vine St.) Live Verve
Live at Ronnie Scott's Live Hendring-Wadham
The Nina Simone Collection Compilation Deja Vu
1989 Compact jazz Compilation Mercury
1993 A Single Woman Studio Elektra Records 3 (top jazz)
Additional releases
1972 Live in Europe Live Trip
1997 Released Compilation RCA Victor Europe
2003 Four Women: The Nina Simone Philips Recordings Compilation Verve
Gold Studio remastered Universal / UCJ
Anthology Compilation (from many labels) RCA / BMG Heritage
2004 Nina Simone's Finest Hour Compilation Verve / Universal
2005 The Soul of Nina Simone Compilation + DVD RCA DualDisc
Nina Simone Live at Montreux 1976 DVD only Eagle Eye Media
Nina Simone Live DVD only: Studio 1961 & 1962 Kultur / Creative Arts Television
2006 The Very Best of Nina Simone Compilation Sony / BMG
Remixed and Reimagined Remix RCA / Legacy / SME 5 (contemp.jazz)
Songs to Sing: the Best of Nina Simone Compilation/Live Compilation Deluxe
Forever Young, Gifted, & Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit Remix RCA / SME
2008 To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story Compilation Sony / Legacy / BMG
2009 The Definitive Rarities Collection – 50 Classic Cuts Compilation Artwork Media

Chart singles

Year Single (A-side, B-side)
Both sides from same album except where indicated		 Chart positions Album
US Pop[77] US
R&B[78]		 UK[79]
1959 "Chilly Winds Don't Blow"
b/w "Solitaire"		 – – – The Amazing Nina Simone
"I Loves You, Porgy"
b/w "Love Me Or Leave Me"		 18 2 – Little Girl Blue
"Little Girl Blue"
b/w "He Needs Me"		 – – –
"Children Go Where I Send You"
b/w "Willow Weep For Me"		 – – – The Amazing Nina Simone
"Don't Smoke In Bed"
b/w "African Mailman" (from Nina Simone and Her Friends)		 – – – Little Girl Blue
"The Other Woman"
b/w "It Might As Well Be Spring" (from The Amazing Nina Simone)		 – – – Nina Simone At Town Hall
1960 "Mood Indigo"
b/w "Central Park Blues"		 – – – Little Girl Blue
"For All We Know"
b/w "Good Bait" (from Little Girl Blue)		 – – – Nina Simone and Her Friends
"Summertime"
b/w "Fine and Mellow"		 – – – Nina Simone At Town Hall
"You'll Never Walk Alone"
b/w "Plain Gold Ring"		 – – – Little Girl Blue
"Since My Love Has Gone"
b/w "Tomorrow (We Shall Meet Once More)" (from The Amazing Nina Simone)		 – – – Serenade Of Soul
"Central Park"
b/w "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" (from Nina Simone and Her Friends)		 – – – Little Girl Blue
"If Only For Tonight"
b/w "Under The Lowest" (from Nina Simone At Town Hall)		 – – – Non-album track
"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"
b/w "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" (from Nina Simone At Town Hall)		 93 23 –
1961 "Trouble In Mind"
b/w "Cotton Eye Joe" (from Nina's Choice)		 92 11 – Nina At Newport
"Work Song"
b/w "Memphis In June"		 – – – Forbidden Fruit
"Gin House Blues"
b/w "You Can Have Him" (from Nina Simone At Town Hall)		 – – –
"Come On Back, Jack"
b/w "You've Been Gone Too Long" (from The Amazing Nina Simone)		 – – – Non-album track
1962 "In The Evening By The Moonlight"
b/w "Chilly Winds Don't Blow" (from The Amazing Nina Simone)		 – – – Nina At Newport
"I Got It Bad"
b/w "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" (Non-album track)		 – – – Nina Simone Sings Ellington
"My Baby Just Cares For Me"
b/w "He Needs Me"		 – – – Little Girl Blue
"Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me"
b/w "Hey, Buddy Bolen"		 – – – Nina Simone Sings Ellington
"Exactly Like You"
b/w "Fine and Mellow"		 – – – Nina Simone At Town Hall
"Merry Mending"
b/w "Something To Live For"		 – – – Nina Simone Sings Ellington
"You Better Know It"
b/w "I Like The Sunrise"		 – – –
"It Don't Mean A Thing"
b/w "The Gal From Joe's"		 – – –
"I Can't Get Out Of This Mood"
b/w "Willow Weep For Me"		 – – – The Amazing Nina Simone
1963 "Little Liza Jane"
b/w "Blackbird" (from Nina Simone With Strings)		 – – – Nina At Newport
1964 "I Loves You Porgy"
b/w "Old Jim Crow" (Non-album track)		 – – – The Best Of Nina Simone
"Mississippi *%??**&%"
b/w "Sea Lion Woman" (from Broadway-Blues-Ballads)		 – – –
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
b/w "A Monster" (Non-album track)		 – – – Broadway-Blues-Ballads
1965 "I Am Blessed"
b/w "How Can I" 		– – –
"I Put A Spell On You"
b/w "Gimme Some"		 – 23 49 I Put A Spell On You
"Either Way I Lose"
b/w "Break Down and Let It All Out" 		– – – Wild Is The Wind
1966 "Why Keep On Breaking My Heart"
b/w "I Love Your Lovin' Ways" 		– – –
"I Love You've Lovin' Ways"
b/w "See-Line Woman" (from Broadway-Blues-Ballads)		 – – –
"Four Women"
b/w "What More Can I Say" 		– – –
"Don't You Pay Them No Mind"
b/w "I'm Gonna Leave You" 		– – – High Priestess Of Soul
1967 "Day and Night"
b/w "Do I Move You" 		– – – Nina Simone Sings The Blues
"You'll Go To Hell"
b/w "It Be's That Way Sometimes" 		– – – Silk & Soul
"I Wish I Knew"
b/w "Cherish" 		– – –
1968 "To Love Somebody"
b/w "I Can't See Nobody"		 – – 5 To Love Somebody
"Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)" -- Part 1
b/w Part 2 		– – – 'Nuff Said!
"Ain't Got No, I Got Life"
b/w "Real Real" (from Nina Simone Sings The Blues)		 94 (1969) – 2
"Do What You Gotta Do"
b/w "Peace Of Mind"		 83 43 2
1969 "I Put A Spell On You"
b/w "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (from Broadway-Blues-Ballads)
Reissue 		– – 28 I Put A Spell On You
"Revolution" -- Part 1
b/w Part 2		 – 41 – To Love Somebody
"Suzanne"
b/w "Turn Turn Turn" 		– – –
"To Be Young, Gifted and Black"
b/w "Save Me" (Non-album track)		 76 8 – Black Gold
1970 "I Loves You Porgy"
b/w "My Baby Just Cares For Me"
A-side reissue of 1959 recording 		– – – Little Girl Blue
"Who Knows Where The Time Goes"
b/w "Assignment Song" 		– – – Black Gold
"Whatever I Am"
b/w "Why Must Your Love Well Be So Dry" 		– – – Non-album tracks
1971 "O-O-H Child"
b/w "New World Coming" 		– – – Here Comes The Sun
"Here Comes The Sun"
b/w "Angel Of The Morning" 		– – –
1973 "Anytime, Anywhere"
b/w "Sunday In Savannah" 		– – – Gospel According To Nina Simone
"No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed"
b/w "The Assignment Song" 		– – – Live At Berkeley
"My Sweet Lord"/"Today Is A Killer"
b/w "Poppies"		 – – – Emergency Ward!
1978 "Baltimore"
b/w "Forget" 		– – – Baltimore
1979 "The Family"
b/w "That's All I Want From You" 		– – –
1987 "My Baby Just Cares For Me"
b/w "Little Girl Blue"
Original 1958/1959 recordings		 – – 5 Little Girl Blue
1994 "Feeling Good" (Original 1965 recording)
b/w "My Baby Just Cares For Me" (live, non-album track)		 – – 40 Feeling Good - The Very Best Of Nina Simone
2003 "Sinnerman"
CD single with four different versions 		– – – Four Women - The Nina Simone Philips Recordings

References

  1. 1 2 Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 1–62
  2. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Jazz.com; retrieved October 28, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Liz Garbus, 2015 documentary film, What Happened, Miss Simone?
  4. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, p. 23
  5. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, p. 91
  6. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 17–19
  7. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, p. 26
  8. ↑ Hampton 2004, p. 15
  9. ↑ Shatz, Adam, The Fierce Courage of Nina Simone, The New York Review of Books, March 10, 2016, contrasting works by Garbus and Light and pointing to a significant omission
  10. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, p. 21
  11. ↑ http://ncpedia.org/simone-nina
  12. ↑ BarónALio-Lambert 2006, p. 56
  13. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 48–52
  14. ↑ "Nina Simone obituary". The Independent. London, UK. April 23, 2003. Archived from the original on 2009-02-23.
  15. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, p. 60
  16. ↑ Dorian, Lynskey (2010). 33Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs. London: Faber and Faber. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-571-24134-7.
  17. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, p. 65
  18. 1 2 "L'hommage: Nina Simone Biography". Archived from the original on July 23, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  19. ↑ http://search.proquest.com/docview/148308029/
  20. 1 2 3 Neal, Mark Anthony (June 4, 2003). "Nina Simone: She Cast a Spell — and Made a Choice". Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  21. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 90–91
  22. ↑ http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/epm/25760?q=nina+simone&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1&size=100
  23. ↑ Feldstein, Ruth (2005). ""I Don't Trust You Anymore": Nina Simone, Culture, and Black Activism in the 1960s". The Journal of American History. 91, no. 4: 1349–1379 – via JSTOR.
  24. ↑ http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/epm/25760?q=nina+simone+civil+rights&search=quick&pos=3&_start=1#firsthit
  25. ↑ "The Nina Simone Database: Timeline". 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  26. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003
  27. ↑ http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2228003?q=nina+simone+civil+rights&search=quick&pos=4&_start=1#firsthit
  28. 1 2 3 4 Lords, Frank (1992). Nina Simone, La Legende (documentary) (DVD). France, United Kingdom: Quantum Leap.
  29. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 114–115
  30. ↑ Company, Johnson Publishing (1986-03-24). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company.
  31. ↑ Sunderland, Celeste (July 1, 2005). "All about Jazz: review "Fodder on My Wings" & "Baltimore"". Retrieved August 5, 2007.
  32. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 120–122
  33. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 129–134
  34. ↑ Brun-Lambert 2006, p. 231
  35. ↑ Cohodas, Nadine (2010). Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone. University of North Carolina Press. p. 358.
  36. ↑ Higgins, Ria (June 24, 2007). "Best of Times Worst of Times Simone". The Times. London, UK. Retrieved May 8, 2010.(subscription required)
  37. ↑ Frank, Jonathan. "Talking Broadway Seattle: Aida". Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  38. ↑ Sebastian, Tim (March 25, 1999). "BBC Hard Talk: Putting Music First". BBC News. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  39. ↑ "BBC Obituary: Nina Simone". BBC News. April 21, 2003. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  40. ↑ Hampton 2004, pp. 9–13
  41. ↑ Ian, Janis. Society's Child: My Autobiography. Penguin Group, 2008. pp. 246-247.
  42. ↑ "Allmusic Guide: "I Love You Porgy" Billboard chart position". Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  43. ↑ advertising. Inside Chanel. Retrieved on October 28, 2013.
  44. ↑ Boscarol, Mauro. "Nina Simone Web: My Baby Just Cares for Me". Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  45. ↑ Hampton 2004, pp. 196–202
  46. ↑ Hampton 2004, p. 47
  47. ↑ Boscarol, Mauro. "Nina Simone Web: House of the Rising Sun". Archived from the original on November 13, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  48. ↑ Hampton 2004, pp. 202–214
  49. ↑ Henley, Jon; Campbell, Duncan (April 22, 2003). "Nina Simone, high priestess of soul, dies aged 70". The Guardian. London.
  50. ↑ Nupie, Roger. "Dr. Nina Simone: Biography". Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  51. ↑ Simone & Cleary 2003, pp. 58–59
  52. ↑ Nicholson, Rebecca (February 12, 2011). "Anna Calvi: 'Without performing I'd be a nervous wreck'". The Guardian. London, UK.
  53. ↑ Vineyard, Jennifer (2005). "Mary J. Wants To Bring Nina Simone Back To Life". Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  54. ↑ Fiore, Raymond. "Entertainment Weekly: Seven who influenced Alicia Keys' Life". Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  55. ↑ Tranter, Kirsten (May 10, 2014). "Lolita in the 'hood". Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  56. 1 2 "The Nina Simone Web: Influenced by Nina". Archived from the original on May 3, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  57. ↑ Stein, Joshua David (March 24, 2010). "Pressed for Time: The Rise and Fall of Nina Simone". New York Press.
  58. ↑ Obenson, Tambay A. (August 16, 2012). "Nina Simone's Daughter Finally Speaks: 'Project Is Unauthorized; Simone Estate Not Consulted'". Indiewire Blogs: Shadow and Act: On Cinema of the African Diaspora. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
  59. ↑ Vega, Tanzina (September 2, 2012). "Stir Builds Over Actress to Portray Nina Simone". New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
  60. ↑ "Casting the Role of Nina Simone". New York Times. September 2, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
  61. ↑ Garcia, Marion (September 17, 2012). "Zoe Saldana, jugée trop claire pour interpréter Nina Simone". L'Express (French). Retrieved January 18, 2012.
  62. ↑ Pierpoint, Claudia Roth (August 6, 2014). "A Raised Voice: How Nina Simone turned the movement into music". newyorker.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  63. ↑ "Nina". IMDb.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  64. ↑ Tinubu, Aramide A. (June 23, 2015). "Review: 'What Happened, Miss Simone' Leaves Us Wondering What Happens When What You Love Most, Haunts You". Shadow & Act. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  65. ↑ "Oscars 2016 Nominations: Complete List of Nominees". Eonline. January 14, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  66. ↑ www.amazingnina.com
  67. ↑ Martinez, Vanessa (January 20, 2014). "Exclusive: 'The Amazing Nina Simone' Doc (Ft Siblings, Friends, Band Members) in Post-Production". Shadow & Act. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  68. ↑ Hampton 2004, p. 85
  69. ↑ Kelly, John (April 25, 2005). "Answer Man: Kindness Turned Brutality". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
  70. ↑ Kolodzey, Jody. "Remembering Nina Simone". Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  71. ↑ Hanson, Eric (2004). "A Diva's Spell" (PDF). Williams Alumni Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  72. ↑ "The Nina Simone Foundation". Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
  73. ↑ Grafe, Klaas-Jan (30 November 2005). "Impressive Hommage to Nina Simone". 3voor12.vpro.nl. NPO. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  74. ↑ "Greetings From Nijmegen – Tribute to Nina Simone". rateyourmusic.com. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  75. ↑ "2009 Inductees". North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  76. ↑ "Commemorative Landscapes". DocSouth. University of North Carolina.
  77. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 643. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
  78. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 402.
  79. ↑ Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins. p. 703. ISBN 0-00-717931-6.

Bibliography

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