The High Priestess of Soul
Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina. During her first recital at the age of 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 white people. Simone refused to play until her parents were moved back. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.
On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone In Concert (live recording, 1964), Simone confronted racial inequality that was prevalent in the United States with the song “Mississippi Goddam”. It was prompted by the murder of Medgar Evers and the death of four children in the church bombing in Alabama. The southern states boycotted the single when it was released. With “Old Jim Crow” on the same album she reacts to the Jim Crow Laws.
Simone left for Barbados in 1970. Her relationship with her husband and manager, Stroud who was also in charge of Simone’s income declined. Simone’s divorce can be seen as the end of her music business in the USA, and the beginning of her (partially self-imposed) exile and estrangement from the world for almost two decades.
Her on-stage style could be somewhat unpredictable and aloof but during 80’s Simone performed regularly at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London, where the album Live At Ronnie Scott’s was recorded in 1984. Simone enjoyed engaging her audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests.
On Human Kindness Day in 74 more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone for her music and commitment to humanity. Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities.She preferred to be called “Dr. Nina Simone” after these honors were bestowed upon her. On April 21st 2003 Simone was awarded an honorary diploma by the Curtis Institute, the school that had turned her down at the start of her career. She died two days later.
