Nina Simone
b. Eunice Waymon, 21 February 1933, Tyron, North Carolina, USA. An accomplished pianist as a child, Nina later studied at New York's Juilliard School Of Music. Her jazz credentials were established in 1959 where she secured a hit with an emotive interpretation of George Gershwin's I Loves You Porgy. Her influential '60s work included Gin House Blues, Forbidden Fruit and I Put A Spell On You, while another of her singles, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, was later covered by the Animals. The singer's popular fortune flourished upon her signing with RCA. Ain't Got No—I Got Life, a song lifted from the mock-hippie musical, Hair, was a UK number 2, while her searing version of the Bee Gees’ To Love Somebody reached number 5. In America, her own composition, To Be Young, Gifted And Black, dedicated to her late friend and playwright, Lorraine Hansberry, reflected Nina's growing militancy. Releases then grew infrequent as her political activism increased. A commanding, if taciturn live performer, Simone's appearances were increasingly focused on benefits and rallies, although a fluke UK hit, My Baby Just Cares For Me, a resurrected '50s master, pushed the singer, momentarily, into the commercial spotlight when it reached number 5 in 1987. Tired of an America she perceived as uncaring, Simone has settled in France where her work continues to flourish. An uncompromising personality, Nina Simone's interpretations of soul, jazz, blues and standards are both compulsive and unique.