Her mum, a Methodist Minister and she also worked as a maid. Her father was also a pastor; though always sick. She was no 6 out of 8 children. Her parents were so poor like the church rats.
When she was born, her Dad staring at her cute baby face named her Eunice Kathleen Waymon. What a very beautiful name for a beautiful baby girl.
No money for naming ceremony or dedication.
There was something intriguing about baby Eunice
She always moved and giggled at the sound of any musical sound around her.
After service, she would crawl to the piano and play with it and press different keys making unharmonious sound, then the pianist in the church started to teach her the Piano.
The first song she performed was God be with you till we meet again and she was just 3 years old. She demonstrated great talent with the Piano that she was a beauty to behold when ever she was performing.
So the church allowed her to perform a lot of times.
When she was 12, she staged her first concert, a Piano recital.
Because she was black, they didn't allow her parents sit at the front. Eunice refused playing until her parents sit at the front after insisting and they had no choice than to bring the the simple black parents to the front of the recital hall.
Her music teacher was so nice that she established a special fund for Eunice Education. With the help of this scholarship money, she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina, she graduated in 1950 at age 17.
Some one sponsored her piano lessons at Juliard for a summer music program, then at this point, she was preparing for audition at Curtis institute of music in Philadelphia. Since, they were so certain she will be given the scholarship, her parents and every one relocated to Philadelphia.
Something now happened when they got to Philadelphia......
Even though she performed so well at the audition, she was not admitted because she was black.
The blow was too heavy for her to bear, she never forgot this incidence through out her life time.
Discouraged, she took private piano lessons with Vladimir Sokoloff, a professor at Curtis, but never could re-apply due to the fact that at the time the Curtis institute did not accept students over 21, then she started working as a photographer assistant. Her parents were suffering no money, even though she helped out by teaching piano. In 1955, she needed money to pay for her classes with the professor, then she had to think of a way to make money, then something happened..............
She started to play at the Mid town bar and grill in New Jersey and this time changed her name so her parents won't know because they would never approve of her playing in a bar. She changed her name from Eunice Kathleen Waymon to Nina Simone. She had to play Piano and sing at the same time, she fast became so popular, everyone wanted to watch her play and sing. She sang different Genres from Blues to Jazz, Gospel e.t c.
She sang "Feeling Good".... She played the Piano for all her performance. At age 25, In 1958, she befriended and married Don Ross, a beatnik who worked as a fairground barker, but quickly regretted the marriage and she left the marriage. She started to release albums, her earliest album was "Little girl blue" which made her so popular. Then in 1961 Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud. He later became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but he abused Simone psychologically and physically. Her life was full of so much turmoil, as much as people wanted to hear her sing and play she was very unpredictable. Infact, there was a time as she was performing in a bar, someone was making noise and laughing, she stopped playing and got up to slap the man.
There was another time she took a gun and she shot her producer, she accused him of stealing her money though she missed target.
Then later she was diagnosed of Bipolar disorder.
Her daughter really suffered as she didn't have time to take care of her, she was always going on tours and because of her mental issue, her daughter was raised by different families, her daughter one time attempted suicide but she was rescued
She later left her husband, she left America and went to France. Nina Simone was involved in Civil right activitism so she sang lots of songs against the government that was used against her as most of her audience were whites, they were not inviting her for performance, and she got angry and left for France.
Sinnerman by Nina simone
She kept singing and inspiring lots of younger artist, they saw her as a big influence, she so much loved her black people and was doing everything to stop racism with her songs.
At a time, Miriam Makeba, one of the greatest musicians in South Africa invited her to come stay in Africa, she agreed and stayed a while in Africa.
Her story is so inexhaustible.
Her style and music influenced a lot of great musicians, example include:
1. Elton John, who named one of his Pianos after her.
2Madonna,
3.Aretha Franklin
4. Beyoncé,
5. Adele,
6.David Bowie,
7.Boy George,
8.Emeli Sandé,
9. The Johnsons
10: Diano Ross etc
Most of her songs have become popular Jazz standards around the World. In 1992, she wrote an Auto biography which she titled "I put a spell on you", you can buy the book on Amazon or read from Google reads. She won a lot of awards and interestingly, her daughter followed after her footsteps, she is also a musician, actress and song writer. Many streets in America were named after her. In 2010, A statue was erected in her honor in her birth place in North Carolina.
She was diagnosed of breast cancer. On the 21st of April, 2003 she eventually gave up the ghost.
But few days before her death, something happened.
Do you remember the name of the school that didn't give her admission? Curtis institute of Music sent her a letter, they were to give her an honorary degree in Music. She didn't live to witness the ceremony.
Many other Schools Gave her honorary degrees too. There are lots of movies about her e.g Nina Simone. She was also a very good writer,she wrote lot of quotes.
1.You've got to learn to leave the table
When love's no longer being served
2. There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were
3.To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.
Finally, I will all leave you with one of her songs that brought her to lime light......Little girl feeling blue
I hope you have learnt something. Please leave a comment below
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