Royal Soul: Nina Simone

"You have to learn to get up from the table when love is no longer being offered."-Nina Simone

Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, is undoubtedly one of the most revered, respected, and revolutionary jazz singers and pianists of our time.  From her humble beginnings as a child pianist who learned to play be ear, Waymon made a name for herself with her incredible talents in her mother’s church as the church’s pianist.  After falling in love with the music of classical pianists such as Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven, and Schubert, Waymon committed herself to becoming one of the world’s greatest African-American classical pianists.  Her dreams were curtailed after she was rejected from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia following her high school graduation (for what Waymon believe to be racist reasons).  She then began teaching music for a living.  When teaching wasn’t enough to pay the bills, she auditioned for a singing gig at the Midtown Bar & Grill in Atlantic City.  Waymon would adapt the stage name Nina Simone upon beginning work at the Midtown Bar & Grill, as she didn’t want her parents to know that she was singing the “devil’s music”. 

After gaining notoriety as a singer, Nina Simone’s catalog began to grow and rival those of the greats.  With timeless classics such as, “I Loves you Porgy”, “You Can Have Him”, “Cotton Eyed Joe”, “Trouble in Mind”, and her rendition of Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Brown Baby”, Nina Simone and her smooth Alto voice quickly rose to stardom.  She also boasted a revolutionary civil rights career that would also rival most artists of her time.  Her song “Mississippi Goddamn” was banned all over the south due to its indictment of the racial injustices of her era.  She continued creating honest music that sparked controversy in white supremacists’ communities.  Simone did not care.  She was one of the few courageous musicians to use her platform to drive racial, social, and political justice, and she would not allow controversy or media attention to distort her place in the movement for black liberation.

Nina Simone would live out the remainder of her life in Carry-le-Rout, France and die in her sleep on April 21, 2003.  She will forever be remembered for her royal fighting spirit, her soul-piercing voice, and her revolutionary music. 

What a royal soul.

Source:  Picture—Courtesy of billboard.com/ Information—http://www.ninasimone.com/bio/