There’s a new film called Nina that tells the story of the world famous singer’s later years in Europe. But like Simone herself, the film has not been without controversy.
-
Birth name
Image Credit: Getty Images Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on Feb. 21, 1933, in South Carolina, but was raised in the small town of Tryon, North Carolina, on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At just 3 years old, she began playing piano, eventually playing in church.
-
Classical pianist
Image Credit: Getty Images Simone trained as a child to be the first black, female classical pianist. Her white music teacher organized funds for Nina’s education by taking up collections at Simone’s recitals.
-
Julliard
Image Credit: RLJ Entertainment While Simone was accepted into Julliard, after a year and a half, she was unable to finish her education there because of the high fees and what she perceived as racial bias. She applied for a scholarship at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia but was denied as a student. “It took me about six months to realize it was because I was black,” said Simon in the documentary, What Happened Miss Simone? Instead of attending the college, she took private lessons from a professor at Curtis.
-
The Devil’s music
Image Credit: Getty Images To pay for her private tutoring, Simone played piano in Atlantic City at what she called, “A very crummy bar.” Though she never wanted to be a singer, the bar owner offered her $90 to sing as well as play, and Simone couldn’t say no to the cash. She worked midnight to 7 a.m. and came up with a stage name – Nina Simone – so her family wouldn’t find out she was singing what her mother, a Methodist minister, called, “The Devil’s music.”
-
Emotional message
Image Credit: RCA Records Simone said she was interested in conveying an emotional message with her voice. “It means using everything you’ve got inside sometimes to barely make a note or if you have to strain to sing. So, sometimes I sound like gravel, sometimes, like coffee and cream.”
-
Newport Jazz Festival
Image Credit: Nina Simone/Facebook Unsure whether or not she belonged at the prestigious festival because she didn’t consider herself a jazz musician, she risked ridicule and performed before an enraptured audience. Her career began to take off.
-
Collaborations
Image Credit: Bethlehem Records Poet Langston Hughes wrote song lyrics to “Backlash Blues” for Simone. She also took inspiration from Lorraine Hansberry’s play, To Be Young, Black and Gifted, and wrote a song that she performed at colleges.
-
‘Playboy’s Penthouse’
Image Credit: Morada Vision In 1960, Simone performed her biggest hit, “I Loves You, Porgy,” on Hugh Hefner’s television show, Playboy’s Penthouse Her performance is absolutely haunting and beautiful.
-
Marriage
Image Credit: RLJ Entertainment In 1961, Simone wed Andrew Stroud, a New York police sergeant. Soon, Stroud was Simone’s manager. At first, it seemed a very successful partnership, and Simone was constantly touring. Later, Simone claimed he was abusive to her.
-
Lisa Simone Kelly
Image Credit: Creative Commons Nine months after Simone and Stroud were married, Simone gave birth to her daughter, Lisa. “The first three hours after Lisa was born were the most peaceful in my life. I was in love with the world,” Simone said.
-
Bill Cosby opened for her
Image Credit: RLJ Entertainment Hailed as a “hit new comic,” Cosby was one of the many entertainers who opened up for Simone’s concerts.
-
Work, work, work
Image Credit: Nina Simone/Facebook A dark shadow lingered over Simone’s newfound fame as she claimed, “All I did was work, work, work.” She was constantly on the road, separated from her young daughter and working non-stop. She said she was always tired but couldn’t sleep. In her diary, she wrote, “Must take sleeping pills to sleep and yellow pills to go on stage.”
-
‘Mississippi Goddam’
Image Credit: Creative Commons In 1963, four little black girls were killed when a bomb was set off in a Birmingham, Alabama, church. Simone wrote the protest song, “Mississippi Goddam,” but because of the curse word, some deejays refused to play the song. Some radio stations even sent the records back, broken in half. In 1965, she played the Selma march in Montgomery, Alabama. The march was led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Simone claimed her intense emotion and anger while singing damaged her voice. But Simone had found a deeper purpose in her life beyond music: the civil rights movement.
-
Dr. King
Image Credit: Martin Luther King/Facebook Her longtime guitarist, Al Schackman, said Simone once walked up to Martin Luther King, Jr., and said, “I’m not non-violent.” King reportedly replied, “That’s OK, sister, you don’t have to be.” Simone advocated using any means necessary to get equal rights for black Americans. The Civil Rights movement escalated when young black men were being drafted to fight in Vietnam. Simone became very vocal in the movement, making her less marketable in the mainstream media.
-
A new purpose
Image Credit: Getty Images During this period, Simone felt a calling, saying, “I was needed. I could sing to help my people. That became the mainstay of my life. Not classical piano, not classical music. Not even popular music.”
-
Liberia
Image Credit: RLJ Entertainment Simone divorced her husband and went to Liberia, Africa, where she said she felt at home. When her daughter Lisa was in seventh grade, she brought her to Liberia, but their life together was strained. Lisa said mother beat and abused her. When Lisa was 14, she went to live with her father in New York.
-
Europe
Image Credit: RLJ Entertainment Because she was unable to earn money in Africa, Simone went to Switzerland in 1976 and later, France. She performed in small cafes, barely scraping by. She then went to live in Holland.
-
Illness
Image Credit: Creative Commons In the 1980s, Simone was diagnosed with manic depression and bipolar disorder. She was given medication to help relieve her immense mood swings, and was able to perform at shows. Over time, however, the medication would affect her motor skills, making it difficult for her to sing and play piano. Simone also suffered from breast cancer and died at her home in the south of France in 2003. She was 70.
-
Legacy
Image Credit: Getty Images Over her career, Simone received 15 Grammy nominations and the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000. She is remembered as a musical genius and fearless rebel. A statue of her was erected in 2010 in her hometown of Tryon, North Carolina. The new biopic, Nina, opens in theaters on April 22.
-
Zoe Saldana
Image Credit: WENN The biopic Nina stars the beautiful and talented Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone. Though Saldana has expressed pride in her own African and Puerto Rican heritage, the filmmakers decided to make Saldana’s skin darker, to more closely match that of Simone’s, as well as give the actress a prosthetic nose. Some critics claim that darkening Saldana’s skin is akin to creating blackface, but supporters say it’s no different than Nicole Kidman changing her appearance by wearing a fake nose in The Hours.
-
Defending herself
Image Credit: RLJ Entertainment In 2014, Saldana defended her personal connection and admiration for Simone. “I know who I am, and I know what Nina Simone has meant to me for as long as I have known about Nina Simone,” she told BuzzFeed News.
More Stories from Entertainment
Leave a Comment