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Quick Facts
- NAME: Nina Simone
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Pianist, Singer, Journalist
- BIRTH DATE: February 21, 1933
- DEATH DATE: April 21, 2003
- EDUCATION: The Juilliard School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Tryon, North Carolina
- PLACE OF DEATH: Carry-le-Rouet, France
- Full Name: Eunice Kathleen Waymon
- AKA: Nina Simone
- AKA: Eunice Waymon
Best Known For
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Play NowNina Simone. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:29, May 22, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532.
Nina Simone. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532 [Accessed 22 May 2013].
"Nina Simone." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 22 2013, 04:29 http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532.
"Nina Simone," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532 [accessed May 22, 2013].
"Nina Simone," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532 (accessed May 22, 2013).
Nina Simone [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 22] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532.
Nina Simone, http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532 (last visited May 22, 2013).
Nina Simone. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532. Accessed May 22, 2013.
Career Renaissance
As the 1960s drew to a close, Simone tired of the American music scene and the country's deeply divided racial politics. She lived in several different countries, including Liberia, Switzerland, England and Barbados before eventually settling down in the South of France. For years, Simone also struggled with her finances, and clashed with managers, record labels, and the Internal Revenue Service.
Around this time, Simone recorded cover songs of popular music,
putting her own spin on such songs as Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun." She also showed her sensual side with the song "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl." She then took a break from recording, returning in 1978 with the album Baltimore. The title track was a cover version of a Randy Newman song. Critics gave the album a warm reception, but it did not do well commercially.
Simone went through a career renaissance in the late 1980s when her song "My Baby Just Cares For Me" was used in a perfume commercial in the United Kingdom. The song became a Top 10 hit in Britain. She also penned her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, which was published in 1992. Her next recording, A Single Woman, came out in 1993. To support these works, Simone gave some performances in the United States.
Touring periodically, Simone maintained a strong fan base that filled concert halls whenever she performed. She appeared in New York City in 1998, her first trip there in five years. The New York Times critic Jon Paneles reviewed the concert, saying that "there is still power in her voice" and the show featured "a beloved sound, a celebrated personality, and a repertory that magnifies them both." That same year, Simone attended South African leader Nelson Mandela's 80th birthday celebration.
Legacy
In 1999, Simone performed at the Guinness Blues Festival in Dublin, Ireland. She was joined on stage by her daughter Lisa for a few songs. Lisa, from Simone's second marriage to manager Andrew Stroud, followed in her mother's footsteps. She has appeared on Broadway in Aida, using the stage name "Simone."
In her final years, Simone battled with health problems. Some reports indicate she was battling breast cancer, but that claim has not been officially confirmed. She died on April 21, 2003, at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France.
While she may be gone, Simone left a lasting impression on the world of music. She sang to share her truth, and her music still resonates with great emotion and power. Simone has inspired an array of performers, from Aretha Franklin to Joni Mitchell. Her deep, distinctive voice continues to be a popular choice for television and film soundtracks, from documentaries to comedies to dramas.
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African-American Expats
View groupMany African-Americans left their country to escape the confines of racism, segregation and McCarthyism in the United States. As a result, an entirely new African-American subculture sprouted up in Europe, Africa and other countries abroad. A street in Paris is named after Josephine Baker, who found acceptance and fame in France that she couldn't achieve in the still-segregated United States. Marcus Garvey was a leader of the Back-to-Africa movement. And singer Nina Simone lived in several different countries, including Liberia, Switzerland, England and Barbados before eventually settling down in the South of France. Find out more about these African-American expats, and the new lives they made for themselves abroad, on Biography.com.
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View groupAfter the Civil War, many of the country's best and brightest black advocates, artists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals moved to the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Thanks largely to the efforts of these residents, Harlem became both the cradle of a cultural revolution and the heart of the civil rights movement. Meet some of the many people who gave—and continue to give—this neighborhood a voice, simply by calling it home.
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