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Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Background information
Birth name Eunice Kathleen Waymon
Born February 21, 1933
Tryon, North Carolina, U.S.
Died April 21, 2003 (aged 70)
Carry-le-Rouet, France
Genres
  • R&B
  • jazz
  • blues
  • folk
  • soul
  • classical
  • gospel
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
  • arranger
  • composer
  • activist
Years active 1954–2003
Labels
  • Bethlehem
  • Colpix
  • Philips
  • RCA Victor
  • CTI
  • Legacy
Website ninasimone.com

Hip-Hop Keeps Nina Simone’s Iconic Music Alive

WHAT HAPPENED MISS SIMONE Documentary Official Trailer

Clips From Documentary by Director Liz Garbus


 

pdfNina Simone
pdfNina Simone Autobiography I Put A Spell On You from Wikipedia

 

Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

Simone's social commentary was not limited to the civil rights movement; the song "Four Women" exposed the Eurocentric appearance standards imposed on black women in America, as it explored the internalized dilemma of beauty that is experienced between four black women with skin tones ranging from light to dark. She explains in her autobiography I Put a Spell on You (p. 117) that the purpose of the song was to inspire black women to define beauty and identity for themselves without the influence of societal impositions.

Honors

In 2002, the city of Nijmegen, Netherlands, named a street after her, as "Nina Simone Street": she had lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990. On August 29, 2005, the city of Nijmegen, the De Vereeniging concert hall, and more than 50 artists (among whom were Frank Boeijen, Rood Adeo, and Fay Claassen) honored Simone with the tribute concert Greetings from Nijmegen.

Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

In 2010, a statue in her honor was erected on Trade Street in her native Tryon, North Carolina.

Simone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.


 

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