Nina Simone RIP

The superb Nina Simone died of natural causes at the age of 70 at her adopted home in the South of France. The jazz/soul/gospel lady was born Eunice Waymon on 21 Feb. 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, to the Methodist clergy parents of eight, who all turned out to be musical. She studied at Julliard Music School in New York City and, as a pianist, accompanied other singers until she picked up the mic herself.

At four Eunice began playing the piano by ear, and at seven a local teacher raised money to send her to high school and then the prestigious Julliard. To supplement her income, she auditioned for an Atlantic City nightclub, which ordered her to sing too. “I was stunned,” she later explained. “I hadn’t paid any attention to my voice.” What came out was raw, emotive, with unmistakable timbre. When Simone sang, hairs stood to attention!

Her debut single, ‘I Loves You Porgy’, became a hit in 1959 to present us with an extraordinary talent, an interpreter of unique emotional power that defied any categorisations, with equal amounts of blues, jazz, folk, pop, gospel, showtunes, adding up to love and protest. She was a prominent anti-segregation activist and one of her best-known tunes is ‘To Be Young, Gifted And Black’, a huge US hit that was covered many a time, including Aretha Franklin (‘72). It is enough to listen to ‘Nuff Said’ on ‘Saga Of The Good Life And The Hard Times’ (RCA, 1997) to hear her fervent beliefs; it was recorded live the night after Martin Luther King’s murder.

In the late 1960s she renounced the USA, moved to Barbados, then Liberia (Miriam Makeba being a close friend), tried Switzerland and GB, before settling in the South of France. (She took her stage name from French screen goddess, Simone Signoret.) Listening her delivering ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ – it relaunched her career in 1987 when used for Chanel No. 5 perfume TV commercial by giving her a Top Five hit – is like being allowed to eavesdrop heaven.

Simone’s greatest Brit-hit, No.2, occurred in 1969 with her version of ‘Ain’t Got No – I Got Life’ from the musical ‘Hair’; she also made an appearance on Pete Townshend’s ‘Iron Man’. Her music was used to soundtrack ‘Point Of No Return’ (aka ‘The Assassin’, 1993), the insipid remake of the French ‘Nikita’ that only had two things going for it: Bridget Fit…, sorry – Fonda and the character’s liking Nina Simone’s music!

The woman was tireless, working until 2001; she is survived by a daughter. Ms Simone played several residencies at Ronnie Scott’s in London, where a bottle of brandy was part of her ‘rider’ (contractual dressing room requirements) and audiences never quite knew what to expect. One of her last London concerts was at the Royal Albert Hall, where her daughter Lisa filled the warm-up slot. Fans, not unreasonably, expected them to share a number or several but it didn’t happen. Simone, never one to yield star billing, did not refer to her daughter’s performance at all.

Still, Lisa Celeste Stroud, simply known as Simone, will lead the mourners at Friday’s funeral in Carry-le-Rouet, near Marseille. Simone (daughter) has taken time off from appearing on Broadway to attend; she has a part in Elton John and Tim Rice’s ‘Aida’, one of the most popular musicals in New York City.

A fair look into Simone’s psyche and life can be perused in her autobiography, ‘I Put A Spell On You’, published in 1991. The book is named after a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s song she recorded early in her career, as well as ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ that would need The Animals’ cover to make it a hit. After divorcing her manager/husband, in 1974 she quit music, only to comeback four years later.

So, another sad day, another giant lost. Goodbye ‘High Priestess of Soul’ and thank you for the passion – her voice’n’piano routine can touch you in a way several boy- and girl-groups combined can’t even itch! – of such unique elegance, fierce spirit, valiant endurance and, above all – the songs!
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Post scriptum (25 April 2003)

Nina Simone was cremated at a private service in Marseille. The service in the small town Carry-le-Rouet began with a recording of Jacques Brel’s ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ (‘Don’t Leave Me’), which Simone regularly performed on stage.

Memorial services for the singer are to be held in New York and her hometown. At Ms Simone’s request her ashes will be scattered across several African countries.