Nina Simone History and Biography (Lire version française)

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Dr. Nina Simone (Hon.) (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. She generally is classified as a jazz musician, although she disliked that categorisation herself; and her work also has been described as covering the blues, rhythm and blues,classical, and soul. Her vocal style is characterized by passion, breathiness, and tremolo.   Biography Youth Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon at 30 East Livingston Street in Tryon, North Carolina, one of eight children. Like a number of other African-American singers, she was inspired as a child by Marian Anderson and began singing at her local church, also showing prodigious talent as a pianist. When she debuted publicly at a piano recital at age ten, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for whites. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement. At seventeen, Simone moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught piano and accompanied singers. She was able to begin studying piano at New York City's prestigious Juilliard School of Music, thanks to the sponsorship of benefactors, but lack of funds meant that she was unable to fulfill her dream of becoming America's first African-American concert pianist. She later had an interview to study piano at the Curtis Institute, but was rejected. Simone believed it was because she was black. First success Simone turned instead to blues and jazz after getting her start in an Atlantic City nightclub, taking the name Nina Simone in 1954 - "Nina" was her boyfriend's nickname for her (from the Spanish for "little girl"), and "Simone" was after the French actress Simone Signoret. She first came to public notice in 1959 with her wrenching rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), her only Top 40 hit in the United States. This was soon followed by the single "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (this was also a hit in the 1980s in the United Kingdom when used for television advertisements for Chanel No. 5 perfume). Civil rights Throughout the 1960s, Simone was involved in the civil rights movement and recorded a number of political songs, including "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" (later covered by Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway), "Backlash Blues," "Mississippi Goddam" (a response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama killing four black children), "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free," and Kurt Weill's "Pirate Jenny," set in a southern hotel. Greatest hits In 1961, Simone recorded a version of the traditional song "House of the Rising Sun", a song which was later recorded by Bob Dylan and was a hit for The Animals. Other songs she is famous for include "I Put a Spell on You" (originally by Screamin' Jay Hawkins), The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," "Four Women," Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," and "Aint Got No (I Got Life)." In 1987, Nina experienced a resurgence in popularity when "My Baby Just Cares for Me," a track from her first Bethlehem Records album (originally released in 1958) became a huge hit in the UK and elsewhere. Nina's versatility as an artist was evident throughout her music, which often had a folk-music simplicity. In a single concert, she moved easily from gospel-inspired tunes to blues and jazz and, in numbers like "For All We Know," to numbers infused with European classical stylings, and counterpoint fugues. Simone's "Sinnerman" was featured in the films The Thomas Crown Affair, and Cellular, as well as on the soundtrack for the video game "Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure". Throughout most of her career she was accompanied by guitarist and musical director Al Shackman. Later life In 1971, Simone left the United States following disagreements with agents, record labels, and the tax authorities, citing racism as the reason. She returned in 1978 and was arrested for tax evasion (she had withheld several years of income tax as a protest against the Vietnam War). She lived in various countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, continuing to perform into her 60s. In the 1980s, she performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. In 1995, Simone purportedly shot and wounded her neighbour's son with a pneumatic pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration. She also fired at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties (see[1]). She had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which Simone strenuously took issue. Though her onstage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her adoring audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests. Simone's regal bearing and commanding stage presence earned her the title the "High Priestess of Soul." Her daughter, an actress/singer known only as Simone, has appeared on Broadway in Aida. Simone's autobiography I Put a Spell on You (ISBN 0306805251) was published in 1992. In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. She had been ill with cancer for several years before she died in 2003, aged 70, in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet. Her music continues to be featured in motion picture soundtracks, including the 1993 film Point of No Return (aka The Assassin), The Thomas Crown Affair, 2002's The Bourne Identity, and 2004's Cellular. Also, a stunning cover of Duke Ellington's "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" is featured in 1998's The Big Lebowski. Her music is also used in Shallow Grave and at the end of Before Sunset. Also, the song "Feeling Good" was recently used in a Sky Movies advert. Quotation "Jazz is a white term to define Black people. My music is Black classical music." Discography 1958 Jazz as played in an exclusive side street club 1959 And Her Friends 1959 The Amazing 1960 At Town Hall 1961 Nina At Newport 1961 Forbidden Fruit 1962 Nina at The Village Gate 1962 Sings Ellington 1963 Nina's Choice 1963 At Carnegie Hall 1964 Folksy Nina 1964 In Concert 1964 Broadway Blues Ballads 1965 I Put A spell On You 1966 Pastel Blues 1966 Let It All Out 1967 High Priestress of Soul 1967 Sings the Blues 1967 Silk & Soul 1968 'Nuff Said 1969 A very Rare Evening 1969 And Piano! 1969 To Love Somebody 1970 Cosi ti amo 1970 Black Gold 1971 The Best of 1971 Here Comes the Sun 1971 Gifted é Black 1972 Emergency Ward 1974 It is Finished 1975 The Great Show Live in Paris 1977 Lamentations 1978 Baltimore 1980 Cry Before I Go 1982 Fodder On My Wings 1985 Nina'Back 1987 Live & Kickin 1987 Let It Be Me 1988 Live at Ronnie Scotts 1990 Madame Nina Simone 1993 A Single Woman 1994 The Rising Sun Collection 2006 The Very Best Of Source : Wikipedia.org

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