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Who is Nina Simone?

Nina Simone, whose real name is Eunice Kathleen Waymon, was born on February 21, 1933, in North Carolina, USA, as the sixth of eight siblings, four girls, and four boys.

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop.

When she was only 4 years old, she started her career singing in the church choir with her mother and siblings. Born to music, a gifted woman born for music, Nina's uniquely colorful voice radiated radiance even when she was a little girl. In 1938, a philanthropist who noticed Nina's unique talent started giving her piano lessons.

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Nina Simone Name

In 1958, Nina Simone created a stage name for herself, inspired by the way her boyfriend called her, by adding the name of the French artist Simone Signoret, whom she admired, to the Spanish word 'nina' meaning 'girl'.

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Education

It's 1950 when Nina was just 10 years old, she started studying at the New York Juilliard School of Music. Due to social pressure, she had to move to Philadelphia with her family. Unable to suppress her passion for music, Nina Simone started singing at the Midtown Bar and Grill in Atlantic City in 1954.

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Debut Album

She made her first album work in 1959. Although she seems to have climbed the ladder of success in a very short time mathematically, she deserved it with her voice and effort. She responded to the world's cruel war against her and her race by producing albums with sales exceeding one million copies. The song "My Baby Just Cares For Me" in the album, which is among the classics, remained popular even after 30 years and was used in the commercial of the perfume "Chanel No: 5".

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She Responded To Racism With Her Songs

Nina Simone, who is also a songwriter, described the torture of black women in her work called 'Four Woman'.

Her song 'Mississippi Goddam' was written to protest events such as the murder of a resistance hero named Medgar Evers and the death of four young black children as a result of the bombing of a black church.

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'I Put Spell on You'

Nina Simone did not only include her experiences in her songs, she wrote her biographical work called "I Put Spell on You" in 1971.

Nina Simone in an interview with Phyl Garland in 1967;

“As far as I understand, it has no purpose for people like us other than to say things that millions of people cannot say, to reflect the truth. I think this will be the legacy we leave behind when we die for an artist. I hope I will be a lucky person like Billie Holiday," she expressed herself.

Although the artist is defined as a jazz vocalist, she expressed her thoughts on jazz music to Brantley Bardin in 1997 with these words:

“For most whites, jazz means black, jazz means dirt, that's not what I play, I play black classical music, so I don't like the word jazz, just as I don't like Duke Ellington, it's just a black term for me.”

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Nina Simone, who maintained her political stance until the end of her life, died in 2003 in France, where she accepted her homeland, at the age of 70. (April 21, 2003)

Legendary jazz and blues singer Nina Simone has recorded more than 500 songs and recorded 60 albums in her lifetime. She became the first woman to receive the 'Jazz Cultural Award' and made a significant contribution to the black freedom struggle with her music.

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Top 10 list of must-listen songs from Nina Simone's unique voice:

Feeling Good

My Baby Just Cares For Me

I Put A Spell On You

I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)

Baltimore

Sinnerman

Here Comes the Sun

Lilac Wine

What Me Quitte Pass

The Twelfth of Never

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Nina Simone: a revolutionary artist fighting for freedom

https://www.afrikapital.org/p/nina-simone-a-revolutionary-artist