FEATURE:
The Lockdown Playlist
The Best of Nina Simone
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THIS Lockdown Playlist…
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive - Getty Images
is a nod to a legend of music. Although Nina Simone died in 2003, she has this enormous legacy. As today (21st February) would have been her eighty-eighth birthday, I wanted to compile some of her greatest songs. I am not going to go into a lot of depth regarding Nina Simone as I might do that in another feature down the line. In any case, here is a little bit of biography and background:
“The sixth of eight children born to a poor family in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few supporters in her hometown, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She then applied for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission despite a well-received audition, which she attributed to racial discrimination. In 2003, just days before her death, the Institute awarded her an honorary degree.
To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist. She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice”.
To mark the birthday of a music icon, this Lockdown Playlist is a selection of amazing Nina Simone songs. In my view, she is one of the greatest singers who ever lived – something that is proven in songs I have chosen! If you have heard of Nina Simone before but have not really checked out many of her albums, I would urge people to…
DO some further exploring.