NINA SIMONE: THE STORY OF THE BLACK JAZZ ARTIST THAT DEFIED ALL ODDS

‘What happened, Miss Simone?’ A feature dedicated to the late, genre-fluid, singer-songwriter Nina Simone, in honour of Black History Month.

Eunice Waymon, whom many of us know as the musical legend that is Nina Simone, was born in North Carolina in 1933. Throughout her life, Simone explored musical genres boundlessly - from classical piano to soul, jazz and gospel - and became an icon in  American music. Alongside this, she was one of the first musicians to use her songs to advocate for the Civil Rights Movement, addressing the horrific incidents of racism throughout her albums. In honour of Black History Month, VOCAL GIRLS reflects on the monumental influence Nina Simone had on the music industry and her incredible contributions to the civil rights movement.

Image Credit: @prithandpen

Nina Simone grew up playing the piano by ear from the age of three. After playing in her mother’s church amongst the community, Simone (then Waymon) was spotted by English piano teacher, Muriel Mazzanovich. From then onwards, the precocious child had her heart set on becoming America’s first Black classical pianist. This led to her performing her first classical piano recital in her church at the age of twelve. However, this unfortunately ended prematurely when a young Simone rightly refused to play due to Waymon’s parents being forced to sit in the back pews because of their race. Some believe that this was one of the first issues in Simone’s career which contributed to her huge presence in the Civil Rights Movement. Despite these early frustrations, the community rallied to raise money for Waymon to continue her classical music studies in New York. However, when she finally was able to apply to the Curtis Institute of Music, she was rejected; this is something Waymon felt was another case of racial discrimintion, due to the prevalence of racism within the industry.

As funding fell short, Waymon realised she had to begin performing elsewhere to survive. When Waymon approached venues to perform, they allowed her to play on one condition: if she sang too. The musician knew she could not play “the devil’s music” beneath her family name, and thus was born the Soul Priestess, Miss Nina Simone.

From here, Simone grew in acclamation, playing nightclubs around the country, effortlessly blending her classical training with genres ‘for the people’. 

Until the end, Simone hated being referred to as a ‘jazz singer’ due to the term’s ignorance towards her performance’s fluidity. Over the years, she touched techniques of folk, pop, soul, jazz, gospel music - and the list goes on. Simone released her first album, ‘Little Girl Blue’, in 1958 and landed a Top 20 hit with the album track, ‘I Loves You Porgy’. Her success from this led to global recognition, playing on the Playboy’s Penthouse show and regularly appearing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. People internationally were mesmerised by the performer’s vibrato-driven vocals, meticulous piano-playing, and her glassy, honest presence on stage. 

By the mid-1960s, Simone was also recognised as a voice for the Civil Rights Movement. Her song ‘Mississippi Goddam’ was written in response to the tragic murder of Medgar Evers in 1963, and the Birmingham church bombing which killed four African American children. She also penned ‘Four Women’, detailing the complex history of an African American quartet, and ‘Young, Gifted and Black’ - a title which has since been recreated by the likes of Aretha Franklin and JAY-Z. Addressing her African diasporan upbringing wasn’t unusual throughout Simone’s music, but following the 60s, her public presence was actively political in hopes of driving racial equality. The artist spoke and performed at numerous civil rights meetings and attended various marches across the years. 

At face value, It may be easy to gloss over the prejudice and struggles Nina Simone continually faced throughout her career due to her renowned success. For example, it is generally forgotten that she was robbed of her original dream of becoming a classical pianist. Meanwhile, she was also forced into a hectic and unjust lifestyle by her then husband/manager, Andrew Stroud, as well as being physically and emotionally abused by him. In the 2015 documentary film based on Simone’s life, the performer talks of how isolating her commitment to music was as a child. She felt she was obviously unable to be part of the white community, whilst also feeling secluded from her segregated black community, due to a sense of “not fitting in”. Throughout her later years, Nina Simone suffered tremendously with mental health struggles and financial issues, resulting in a stagnation of her later work.

Despite all of this, Simone’s contributions to defeating the racial segregation of America, alongside her unparalleled musical works, forms an undoubtable legacy for the artist across the world. Whilst the late musician sadly passed away in 2003, there are pieces of her art to be found everywhere today. Her lack of fear for the truth can be found in the works of Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Janelle Monáe to name a few, whilst her iconic, deep, silky voice has completed many  idyllic film soundtracks over the years. And finally, most notably, she will continually be remembered as an honest commentator on the struggles of the African-American community through her celebrated catalogue of music.