Eunice Kathleen Waymon (professionally as Nina Simone) was a 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.
To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to “Nina Simone” to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play “the devil’s music” or so-called “cocktail piano”.
She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958-1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue.
In 1958, she had a hit single with “I Loves You, Porgy”.
CIVIL RIGHTS:
Nina took civil rights and the movement, the fight to another level, and made it part of her persona.
In 1963, after the church bombing that killed four young Black girls in Birmingham, Ala., and the slaying of Medgar Evers, she wrote “Mississippi Goddam,” whose searing lyrics included the lines: “Oh but this whole country is full of lies, You’re all gonna die and die like flies.”
After the killing of The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., she recorded “Why? The King of Love Is Dead.”
SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS:
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.
