2011
Search results
Nina Simone (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) ( / ˌniːnə sɪˈmoʊn /) [1] was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop.
no fear. S he was one of the most extraordinary artists of the twentieth century, an icon of American music. She was the consummate musical storyteller, a griot as she would come to learn, who used her remarkable talent to create a legacy of liberation, empowerment, passion, and love through a magnificent body of works.
- Who Was Nina Simone?
- Background and Early Life
- Innovative Fusion of Styles
- Prominent Civil Rights Singer: "Mississippi Goddam" and "Four Women"
- Struggles and Career Renaissance
- Death and Legacy
Nina Simone studied classical piano at the Juilliard School in New York City, but left early when she ran out of money. Performing in night clubs, she turned her interest to jazz, blues and folk music and released her first album in 1957, scoring a Top 20 hit with the track "I Loves You Porgy." In the 1960s, Simone expanded her repertory in exempla...
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 h...
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 lone Top 20 pop hit with her version of "I Loves You Porgy," from the George and Ira Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess. Under different lab...
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...
As the 1960s drew to a close, Simone tired of the American music scene and the country's deeply divided racial politics. Having been neighbors with Malcolm X and Betty Shabazzin 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...
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...
May 9, 2024 · Nina Simone, American singer who created urgent emotional intensity by singing songs of love, protest, and black empowerment in a dramatic style, with a rough-edged voice. In the 1960s she became a friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X and performed at civil rights demonstrations.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Eunice Kathleen Waymon, known professionally as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musical arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of styles, including classical, jazz, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. Nina referred to her music as Black Classical Music.
People also ask
Was Nina Simone a civil rights activist?
What type of music did Nina Simone play?
How old is Nina Simone?
What did Nina Simone do for a living?
“The High Priestess of Soul,” Nina Simone was a singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Mostly known as a jazz singer, her music blended gospel, blues, folk, pop, and classical styles. No popular singer was more closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement than Simone.
YouTube Channel for the Estate & Charitable Trust of Dr. Nina Simone
Related searches
