Nina Simone
Biography:
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 1933. Her mother was a Methodist minister, and her father was a handyman and a preacher also. Nina Simone didn't start out as a vocalist. She had her start as a pianist. She started playing piano at the age of three. She played piano in her mother's church and could play basically anything by ear. She soon started studying classical music with an Englishwoman named Muriel Mazzanovich. Her favorite classical composers were Johann Sebastian Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Schubert, and Beethoven. Graduating valedictorian of her high school class, her hometown raised money for a scholarship for Nina to study at Julliard in New York City. The family moved to New York City before Nina got accepted to the school. Nina wanted to be a pioneering African-American classical pianist, but that vanished when she was denied admission to Julliard. She claimed that the reason she was denied was because of the color of her skin. After being denied from Julliard, Eunice was determined to support herself as a musician. With that ambition, she auditioned for a job playing piano at the Midtown Bar & Grill in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1954. The club owner told Eunice that she would have to sing as well as play jazz standards and the hits of the day. At the time Eunice wasn't a singer, but to support herself she sang well enough to get the job. When she got the job, she started to call herself Nina Simone. She chose "Nina" meaning "little one" and "Simone" after actress Simone Signoret. Nina became a very big hit in the community and gained a loyal audience. She caught the eye of Syd Nathan. Nathan was the owner of the blues and country label King Records. With Nathan, she got a major hit with her interpretation of "I Loves You Porgy" from Porgy and Bess. The single rose to the Top 20 of the pop charts. Nathan and Simone's eyes started not to meet. Simone discovered that she signed away her royalties when she received her advance with King Records. With this information, she signed with Colpix Records. Nina Simone was always conscious of the civil rights movement, and her songs showed it. With her songs "Mississippi Goddam", "Young, Gifted and Black", "Four Women", and I Put a Spell on You", Nina Simone wanted equality for all. She was not afraid to express that through her speech or through her songs. Nina was abused by her husband and manager Andrew Stroud. She stated that Andrew protected her from everyone but himself. Nina said that he worked her like a dog and that she was terrified of him. Al Schackman Nina's guitarist remembered an incident when Nina accepted a fan letter from her fan club. Andrew didn't like that one bit. He beat her in the street and continued to assault her all the way home where he tied her up and raped her. That same night Nina ran away successfully to Al's house and hide out for two weeks. Nina and Andrew also abused their daughter Lisa. After their divorce, Nina continued to abuse Lisa physically, emotionally and mentally. Lisa stated that her mother was angry at the world and she was often the only person around that Nina could blame. Nina Simone influenced American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger Nnenna Freelon. Nnenna Freelon has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and performed with many elite artists such as Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, and Ray Charles. Nnenna said that Nina Simone influenced her because her grandparents used to play her records when she was younger. In her autobiography, Nina Simone writes that her function as an artist is “…to make people feel on a deep level. It’s difficult to describe because it’s not something you can analyze; to get near what it’s about you have to play it. And when you’ve caught it when you’ve got the audience hooked, you always know because it’s like electricity hanging in the air.” It was that very electricity that made her such an important artist to so many and it will be that electricity that continues to turn on new people all over the world for years to come.
Nina Simone died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rout, Bouches-du-Rhone on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by Miriam Makeba, Patti Labelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis and hundreds of others. Elton John sent a floral tribute with the message, “You were the greatest and I love you”. And the legacy continues…
