American jazz singer, although may be more accurate to classify her as a “soul” singer because of the emotion that permeates her material, or as an eclectic because of her signature blend of soul, jazz, blues, gospel and pop. Simone’s version of George Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy,” 1959, became the only Top 40 Hit of her career on June 22 , but her music never gained a mass audience during her life.
The sixth of eight children, Eunice Kathleen Waymon’s mother was a minister who worked as a maid, and her father was a handyman. From the time she was old enough to pull herself up onto the piano bench, she loved music. In 1938 (at age 6) she became the official pianist of the Methodist Chapel of Tryon and began to attend school for black children.
Her mother’s employer paid for her first piano lessons, and she gave her first recital spring 1943. This marked an important time in her life because she personally experienced racism for the first time. Her parents, initially seated in the first row at the recital, were moved so that “whites” could be “properly” seated, and her deep commitment to fight racism was born. Later the town of Tyron got together and created a fund to help her realize the full extent of her dream to become a classical pianist. In 1950, she won a scholarship to study the piano at the Juilliard School in New York. When her family moved to Philadelphia, she applied for a fellowship at the renowned Curtis Institute, but her request was denied. In 1954, she took a job at a bar and grill in Atlantic City. Knowing her mother would not approve of her working there, she adopted the stage name of Nina Simone. Her success at the club led to other gigs in the area, and in 1957, she got a recording session with Bethlehem Records. Her first jazz album, “Little Girl Blue,” was successful nationwide.
Her initial success continued, and over the next five years, she recorded ten albums. The early 1960s, however, marked a change in musical style, her songs now becoming more militant. After the bombing of a Sunday school in which four black children were killed, she recorded her famous protest song, “Mississippi Goddam!” A forthright woman, known for her great honesty and individualistic nature, Simone was often involved in feuds with her promoters. She was feisty with her audiences too, something that began in the early days of her career when she refused to sing until everyone was perfectly quiet.
In the early 1970s, feeling manipulated by the record companies, fed up with show business and racism, and experiencing serious financial problems, Simone felt she had to escape from it all. She left the United States and headed to Barbados. Over the next few years, she lived a nomadic existence, spending time in Switzerland, Paris, Great Britain, Liberia and the Netherlands, before eventually settling in the south of France where she continued to record. In 1987, “My Baby Just Cares for Me” became a big hit in Britain after it was used in a perfume commercial, and her biography, “I Put a Spell on You,” was published in 1991.
Five of Simone’s songs were prominently featured in the motion picture soundtrack of “Point of No Return, “1993, the same year that the release of “A Single Woman” marked her return to a major American label. She appeared at the Nice Jazz Festival in France during 1997, and in 1999, she and her daughter performed several duets as “Simone” at the Guinness Blues Festival in Dublin, Ireland.
In the mid-1950s, Simone met her first husband, a white beatnik, while performing. She left him a year after they married. In the early 1960s, she married Andy Stroud, a detective who became her manager. They had one daughter, Lisa Cileste. Their relationship became increasingly strained, and they divorced in 1970. While in Barbados during the 1970s, she became the married Prime Minister Earl Barrow’s “kept” woman.
She died of natural causes on April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, France
Link to Wikipedia biography