Nina Simone: life, music, and legacy

Nina Simone developed a distinctive style of music and presentation that has proved to be popular across age and trend barriers. Her singing and compositions were a mixture and a subtle amalgam of elements of Jazz, soul, pop and blues. The range of her songs traversed almost every genre; including works by Bob Dylan and Jacques Brel, as well as many other artists. Some critics claim that the secret of her unique style and appeal lay in her background of gospel music.

The secret of her delivery has always seemed to me to lie in that background in the gospel church. She can muster the vocal majesty and electrifying force of a Southern preacher, or a singer such as Mahalia Jackson.

(Gayford, M. )

Others describe her voice and presentation of the songs as "haunting" and this can be ascribed to particular way in which she uses jazz phrasing and in her use of timing in her songs.

Her autobiography gives us some insight into this astounding talent and into the reasons for her popularity. In her book I Put a Spell on You she states that she wanted to "make people feel on a deep level. It's difficult to describe because it's not something you can analyse; to get near what it's about you have to play it. And when you've caught it, when you've got the audience hooked, you always know because it's like electricity hanging in the air." ( ibid)

Nine Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in North Carolina, USA on the 21st of February, 1933. She was a child protege, playing the piano at an early age. She gave her first piano recital at the town library at the age of ten years old. However, her first pubic success was marred by racism, which she was to react to in her later work, when her parents were not allowed to sit in the first row of the theatre because of their color. ( Biography)

She later studied at the Julliard School of Music in New York. Her training however was in classical piano and she did not consider herself a singer. However while working as an accompanist in 1954 at a bar to support her family she was told that she was required to sing as well as play the piano. This was the beginning of her carrier in show business. She also decided to change her name to Nina Simone.

While working for the Bethlehem recoding label, Simone recorded the famous I Loves You, Porgy, from the opera "Porgy and Bess." This song changed her status from a nightclub singer to a recording star. Nina Simone's talent was something that could not be ignored and her singing style became a great success internationally. The following is an evocative description of her style and techniques.

Combining Bachian counterpoint, the improvisational approach of jazz and the modulations of the blues, her talent could no longer be ignored. Other characteristics of the Simone art are: her original timing, the way she uses silence as a musical element and her often understated live act, sitting at the piano and advancing the mood and climate of her songs by a few chords. (Dr. Nina Simone: Biography)

Nina Simone also extended the influence of her music later to express her views on political and racial issues. Her music is also seen by many to be a symbol and an artistic icon of the struggle against discrimination and racism. When four black children were killed as a result of a racially inspired bombing of a church in Birmingham in 1963, Simone write the song, Mississippi Goddam. This was a harsh critique of the attitude towards black people in the U.S.A. It was a bitter and emotional song and was an example of the way that she could evoke a wide range of human feelings. Her music is often seen as a political weapon in the struggle agonist discrimination and oppression.