Γεννημένη στη πόλη Τράιον της Βόρειας Καρολίνας το 1933, η Eunice Kathleen Waymon όπως ήταν το πραγματικό της όνομα και επηρεασμένη κυρίως από τα gospel, ξεκίνησε τη καριέρα της σαν πιανίστρια σε μπαρ και νυχτερινά μαγαζιά στην Atlantic City από το 1954, αλλάζοντας παράλληλα και το όνομά της σε Nina Simone. Μέσα σε ελάχιστο χρονικό διάστημα έγινε γνωστή για την απίστευτη ικανότητά της στο πιάνο αλλά και την εξαιρετική κοντράλτο φωνή της. Όσα έχτιζε όμως το ταλέντο της τα γκρέμιζε ο εκρηκτικός χαρακτήρας της και οι αντιπαραθέσεις που συχνά δημιουργούσε με το κοινό που την παρακολουθούσε.
Το 1958 κάνει την πρώτη της επιτυχία με τη διασκευή του τραγουδιού I Loves You Porgy του George Gershwin από το μιούζικαλ Porgy And Bess, που περιλαμβάνεται στο πρώτο της άλμπουμ που κυκλοφόρησε την ίδια χρονιά με τον τίτλο Little Girl Blue και που εκτός του I Loves You Porgy, περιλαμβάνει και τα πολύ επιτυχημένα Love Me or Leave Me και My Baby Just Cares for Me που έκανε δεύτερη καριέρα και έγινε παγκόσμια επιτυχία το 1987 όταν χρησιμοποιήθηκε για τη διαφήμιση του αρώματος της Channel, No5.
Το 1964 εγκαταλείπει την δισκογραφική εταιρεία Colpix και κάνει συμβόλαιο με την Philips, ενώ ένα χρόνο μετά το 1965 μια άλλη διασκευή της χαρίζει μεγάλη επιτυχία. Αυτή τη φορά ήταν η blues μπαλάντα του Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins με τίτλο I Put a Spell on You που γράφτηκε το 1956.
Η Nina Simone στα χρόνια της Philips αλλά και μετέπειτα ηχογραφεί όχι μόνο Jazz τραγούδια αλλά και Blues και Soul και δεν διστάζει να κάνει διασκευές τραγουδιών όπως το Here Comes the Sun των Beatles. Παρότι θεωρείται κλασική jazz τραγουδίστρια, η Nina Simone με τις τεράστιες φωνητικές δυνατότητες, απόδειξε κυρίως μέσα από τις live εμφανίσεις της, πόσο καλή ήταν ερμηνευτικά σε blues, RnB, Soul αλλά και pop κομμάτια. Άλλωστε το προσωνύμιο που έλαβε πολύ αργότερα «Η Ιέρεια της Soul» (The High Priestess of Soul) τα λέει όλα.
Από τις αρχές τις δεκαετίας του '60 ασχολήθηκε ενεργά και συνέδεσε το όνομά της με τους αγώνες για τα πολιτικά δικαιώματα και το ρατσισμό, ενώ το 1971 φεύγει από τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες ύστερα από τις αντιπαραθέσεις που είχε με τις δισκογραφικές εταιρείες αλλά κυρίως με το Αμερικανικό Δημόσιο όπου αρνήθηκε να καταβάλλει τους φόρους της ως ένδειξη διαμαρτυρίας για τον πόλεμο στο Βιετνάμ.
Ενδεικτικό της αντιφατικότητας του χαρακτήρα της αλλά και της «δύσκολης» ζωής της ήταν το προσωπικό ημερολόγιό της που έδωσε στην δημοσιότητα μετά το θάνατό της ο δεύτερος σύζυγος και για χρόνια παραγωγός της Andrew Stroud. Εκεί η ίδια περιγράφει τους ξυλοδαρμούς που υπέστη, την απέραντη μοναξιά της αλλά και της εξαρτήσεις της.
Την δεκαετία του 90 τραγούδια της ντύνουν μουσικά κινηματογραφικές ταινίες όπως στις: "Point Of No Return" (1993) με το τραγούδι "Here Comes the Sun", "Romeo And Juliet" ( 1996) με το τραγούδι "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" και "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999 - ριμέικ της ταινίας του 1968) με το τραγούδι "Sinnerman". Αυτό είχε σαν αποτέλεσμα οι νεώτερες γενιές να γνωρίσουν και να αγαπήσουν το έργο της.
Το 2003 η μεγάλη ερμηνεύτρια χάνει την άνιση μάχη με τον καρκίνο
ALBUMS
Label: Bethlehem
SONGS: Mood Indigo/Don't Smoke In Bed/He Needs Me/Little Girl Blue/Love Me Or Leave Me/My Baby Just Cares For Me/Good Bait (Instrumental)/Plain Gold Ring/You'll Never Walk Alone/I Loves You, Porgy/Central Park Blues
Label: Colpix
Producer: Hecky Krasnow
SONGS: Blue Prelude/Children Go Where I Send You/Tomorrow (We Will Meet Once More)/Stompin' At The Savoy/It Might As Well Be Spring/You've Been Gone Too Long/That's Him Over There/Chilly Winds Don't Blow/Theme From 'Middle Of The Night'/Can't Get Out Of This Mood/Willow Weep For Me/Solitaire
Label: Colpix
Producer: Jack Gold & Bob Blake
SONGS: Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair/Exactly Like You/The Other Woman/Under The Lowest/You Can Have Him/Summertime/Cotton Eyed Joe/Return Home/Wild Is The Wind/Fine And Mellow
Label: Colpix
Producer: Stu Phillips
SONGS: Trouble in Mind/Porgy/Little Liza Jane/You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To/Flo Me La/Nina's Blues (instrumental)/In the Evening By the Moonlight
Label: Colpix
Producer: Cal Lampley
SONGS: Rags and Old Iron/No Good Man/Gin House Blues/I'll Look Around/I Love to Love/Work Song/Where Can I Go Without You/Where Can I Go Without You/Just Say I Love Him/Memphis in June/Forbidden Fruit
Label: Colpix
Producer: Cal Lampey
SONGS: Just in Time/He Was Too Good to Me/House of the Rising Sun/Bye Bye Blackbird (instrumental)/Brown Baby/Zungo/If He Changed My Name/Children Go Where I Send You
Label: Colpix
Producer: Stu Philips
SONGS: Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me/I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good/Hey Buddy Bolden/Merry Mending/Something to Live For/You Better Know It/I Like the Sunrise/Solitude (Eddie DeLange, Irving Mills)/The Gal From Joe's/Satin Doll (instrumental)/It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Label: Colpix
Producer: Jack Lewis
SONGS: Black Swan/Theme from Samson and Delilah/If You Knew/Theme from "Sayonara" (instrumental)/Twelfth of Never/Will I Find My Love Today/Other Woman/Cotton Eyed Joe
Label: Colpix
Producer: Jack Lewis
SONGS: Silver City Bound/When I Was a Young Girl/Erets Zavat Chalav/Lass of the Low Country/The Young Knight/The Twelfth of Never/Vanetihu/You Can Sing a Rainbow/Hush Little Baby
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: I Loves You Porgy/Plain Gold Ring/Pirate Jenny/Old Jim Crow/Don't Smoke in Bed/Go Limp/Mississippi Goddam
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/Night Song/The Laziest Gal in Town/Something Wonderful/Don't Take All Night/Nobody/I Am Blessed/Of This I'm Sure/See-Line Woman/Our Love (Will See Us Through)/How Can I/The Last Rose of Summer
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: I Put a Spell on You/Tomorrow Is My Turn/Ne Me Quitte Pas/Marriage is for Old Folks/July Tree/Gimme Some/Feeling Good/One September Day/Blues on Purpose/Beautiful Land/You've Got to Learn/Take Care of Business
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: Be My Husband/Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out/End of the Line/Trouble in Mind/Tell Me More and More and Then Some/Chilly Winds Don't Blow/Ain't No Use/Strange Fruit/Sinnerman
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: Mood Indigo/The Other Woman/Love Me or Leave Me/Don't Explain/Little Girl Blue/Chauffeur/For Myself/The Ballad of Hollis Brown/This Year's Kisses
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: I Love Your Lovin' Ways/Four Women/What More Can I Say/Lilac Wine/That's All I Ask/Break Down And Let It All Out/Why Keep On Breaking My Heart/Wild Is the Wind/Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair/If I Should Lose You/Either Way I Lose
Label: Philips
Producer: Hal Mooney
SONGS: Don't You Pay Them No Mind/I'm Gonna Leave You/Brown Eyed Handsome Man/Keeper of the Flame/The Gal from Joe's/Take Me to the Water/I'm Going Back Home/I Hold No Grudge/Come Ye/He Ain't Comin' Home No More/Work Song/I Love My Baby
Label: RCA Victor
Producer: Danny Davis
SONGS: Do I Move You/Day and Night/In the Dark/Real Real/My Man's Gone Now/Backlash Blues/I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl/Buck/Since I Fell for You/The House of the Rising Sun/Blues for Mama
Label: RCA Victor
Producer: Danny Davis
SONGS: It Be's That Way Sometime/The Look of Love/Go to Hell/Love O' Love/Cherish/I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free/Turn Me On/Turning Point/Some Say/Consummation
Label: RCA Victor
Producer: Joe René for Stroud Productions
SONGS: In the Morning/Sunday in Savannah/Backlash Blues/Please Read Me/Gin House Blues/Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)/Peace of Mind/Ain't Got No, I Got Life/I Loves You Porgy/Take My Hand, Precious Lord/Do What You Gotta Do
Label: RCA
Producer: Stroud Productions
SONGS: Seems I'm Never Tired Lovin' You/Nobody's Fault But Mine/I Think It's Gonna Rain Today/Everyone's Gone To The Moon/Compensation/Who Am I?/Another Spring/I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)/The Desperate Ones
Label: RCA
Producer: Stroud Productions & Danny Davis
SONGS: Suzanne/Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)/Revolution (Part 1)/Revolution (Part 2)/To Love Somebody/I Shall Be Released/I Can't See Nobody/Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues/The Times They Are A-Changin
Label: RCA Victor
Producer: Stroud Productions (Andrew Stroud)
SONGS: Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair/Ain't Got No, I Got Life/Westwind/Who Knows Where The Time Goes/The Assignment Sequence/To Be Young, Gifted and Black
Label: RCA Victor
Producer: Harold Wheeler & Nat Shapiro
SONGS: Here Comes the Sun/Just Like a Woman/O-o-h Child/Mr. Bojangles/New World Coming/Angel of the Morning/How Long Must I Wander/My Way
Label: RCA Victor
Producer: Nina Simone, Andrew Stroud & Weldon J. Irvine, Jr.
SONGS: My Sweet Lord-Today Is a Killer/Poppies/Isn't It a Pity/Let It Be Me
Label: RCA Victor
Released: 1974
SONGS: The Pusher/Com' by H'Yere/Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter/Mr. Bojangles/I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl/Dambala/Let It Be Me/Obeah Woman
Label: CTI
Producer: Creed Taylor
SONGS: Baltimore/Everything Must Change/The FamilyMy Father/Music For Lovers/Rich Girl/That's All I Want From You/Forget/Balm In Gilead/If You Pray Right
Label: Carrere
Producer: Yves Chamberlan & Giancarlo Cerr
SONGS: I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive/Fodder in Her Wings/Vous Êtes Seul, Mais Je Désire Être Avec Vous/Il Y A Un Baume A Gilead/Heaven Belongs To You (Le Ciel T'appartiendra)/Liberian Calypso/Thandewye/I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them/Color Is A Beautiful Thing/There Is No Returning (Le Peuple En Suisse)
Label: VPI
SONGS: Pirate Jenny/For a While/You Took My Teeth/I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl/Backlash Blues/Do What You Gotta Do/Mississippi Goddamn/See-Line Woman/The Other Woman/I Loves You Porgy/Four Women/I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive/My Baby Just Care For Me
Label: Verve
SONGS: My Baby Just Cares for Me/I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl/Fodder in Her Wings/Be My Husband/Just Like a Woman/Balm In Gilead/Stars/If You Pray Right (Heaven Belongs to You)/If You Knew/Four Women/Mississippi Goddamn/Baltimore
Label: Hendring-Wadham
Producer: Eddie Singleton
SONGS: God God God/If You Knew/Mr Smith/Fodder in Her Wings/Be My Husband/I Loves You Porgy/The Other Woman/Mississippi Goddamn/Moon Over Alabama/For a While/See-Line Woman/I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive/My Baby Just Cares for Me
Label: Elektra
Producer: André Fischer
SONGS: A Single Woman/Lonesome Cities/If I Should Lose You/The Folks Who Live On The Hill/Love's Been Good To Me/Papa, Can You Hear Me/Il N'y A Pas D'amour Heureux/Just Say I Love Him/The More I See You/Marry Me/Blue Prelude
SINGLES
1959: Chilly Winds Don't Blow/Solitaire
1959: I Loves You, Porgy/Love Me or Leave Me
1959: Little Girl Blue/He Needs Me
1959: Children Go Where I Send You/Willow Weep for Me
1959: Don't Smoke in Bed/African Mailman
1959: The Other Woman/ It Might as Well Be Spring
1960: Mood Indigo/Central Park Blues
1960: For All We Know/Good Bait
1960: Summertime/Fine and Mellow
1960: You'll Never Walk Alone/Plain Gold Ring
1960: Since My Love Has Gone"Tomorrow (We Shall Meet Once More)
1960: Central Park/He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
1960: If Only for Tonight/Under the Lowest
1960: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out/Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair
1961: Trouble in Mind/Cotton Eye Joe
1961: Work Song/Memphis in June
1961: Gin House Blues/You Can Have Him
1961: Come on Back, Jack/You've Been Gone Too Long
1962: In the Evening by the Moonlight/Chilly Winds Don't Blow
1962: I Got It Bad//I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl
1962: My Baby Just Cares for Me/He Needs Me
1962: Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me/Hey, Buddy Bolen
1962: Exactly Like You/Fine and Mellow
1962: Merry Mending/Something to Live For
1962: You Better Know It/I Like the Sunrise
1962: It Don't Mean a Thing/The Gal from Joe's
1962: I Can't Get Out of This Mood/Willow Weep for Me
1963: Little Liza Jane/Blackbird
1964: I Loves You, Porgy/Old Jim Crow
1964: Mississippi Goddam/Sea Lion Woman
1964: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/A Monster
1965: I Am Blessed/How Can I
1965: I Put a Spell on You/Gimme Some
1965: Either Way I Lose/Break Down and Let It All Out
1966: Why Keep on Breaking My Heart/I Love Your Lovin' Ways
1966: I Love You've Lovin' Ways/See-Line Woman
1966: Four Women/What More Can I Say
1966: Don't You Pay Them No Mind/I'm Gonna Leave You
1967: Day and Night/Do I Move You
1967: You'll Go to Hell/It Be's That Way Sometimes
1967: I Wish I Knew/Cherish
1968: To Love Somebody/I Can't See Nobody
1968: Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)-Part 1/Part 2
1968: Ain't Got No, I Got Life/Real Real
1968: Do What You Gotta Do/Peace of Mind
1969: I Put A Spell On You/Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
1969: Revolution-Part 1/Part 2
1969: Suzanne/Turn Turn Turn
1969: To Be Young, Gifted and Black/Save Me
1969: I Loves You Porgy/My Baby Just Cares for Me
1970: Who Knows Where the Time Goes/Assignment Song
1970: Whatever I Am/Why Must Your Love Well Be So Dry
1971: O-O-H Child/New World Coming
1971: Here Comes the Sun/Angel of the Morning
1973: Anytime, Anywhere/Sunday in Savannah
1973: No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed/The Assignment Song
1973: My Sweet Lord-Today Is a Killer/Poppies
1978: Baltimore/Forget
1979: The Family/That's All I Want from You
1987: My Baby Just Cares for Me/Little Girl Blue
1994: Feeling Good (Original 1965 recording)/My Baby Just Cares for Me (live)
2003: Sinnerman (CD single with four different version)
Σχόλια
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