Nina Simone

Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933, died in 2003. She grew up in a poor neighbourhood in Tryon, North Carolina, and started playing the piano at the age of three. She gave her first concert when she was 12. It was at this concert that she developed her desire to fight for civil rights, as her parents, who were sitting in the front row, were asked to move to the back of the hall to make room for white people. Nina Simone refused to perform until her parents were seated again. At the age of 17 she worked for a photographer and a year later became self-employed as a singing teacher. She also played piano in a bar and grill in Atlantic City to continue taking private piano lessons. It was at this time that she chose the pseudonym Nina Simone (Nina being the nickname her boyfriend gave her and Simone being a reference to Simone Signoret). She was soon discovered and went on to record her first album, Little Girl Blue. From 1964 onwards, she became involved in the civil rights struggle but, unlike Martin Luther King, advocated violent revolution. During her career, Nina Simone recorded only three studio albums, the others were recorded in public at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, etc. Her songs include My Baby Just Cares for Me, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, I Put a Spell On You, Mr. Bojangles, Feeling Good and Sinnerman. Several of her songs have been covered by other artists, notably by The Animals and Muse.