A Bite of Nina Simone 🍪
My love of The High Priestess of Soul started in a movie theater when I was 16 years old
Monday Bites are bite-sized musician spotlights & playlists by Grace Lilly.
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🏆 A top-read post
• 3 min read •
It was the late 2000s
I was going to see a movie with my mom after school on a Friday night. As the lights in the theater went down and the previews started, I heard her voice for the first time. “Wild is the Wind” was playing in the trailer for Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road (2008). I was instantly mesmerized.
I’d never heard a voice like hers (and haven’t since). In the truest sense of the expression, it’s one-of-a-kind. It gave me chills. The depth of her voice seemed like it was made for cinema. I’ve been hooked ever since.
Nina Simone
The basics
🤝 American jazz singer
🤝 b. 1933 (North Carolina) - d. 2003 (France)
🤝 Songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger and activist
Why you should know her: Nina was one of the most extraordinary artists of the twentieth century & an icon of American music
If you like
✨ SZA
✨ Aretha Franklin
✨ Noname
✨ Billie Holiday
Known for
🏆 Writing songs about love, protest, and Black empowerment
🏆 Her distinct, deep voice and dramatic style that created urgent emotional intensity
🏆 Closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement, she released songs like “Mississippi Goddamn” and “Four Women” addressing racism and other injustices
Bite-sized facts
🍪 Known as “The High Priestess of Soul”
🍪 Started playing piano by ear at the age of three
🍪 Initially aspired to be a concert pianist & loved Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert
🍪 40+ original albums
Songs & dates
♫ 1957 Simone records her first album, "Little Girl Blue," a mixture of jazz, blues and classical
♫ 1959 Her first hit, George Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy,” goes Top 10
♫ 1963 Writes and releases “Mississippi Goddamn” in response to the assassination of Medgar Evers and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama
She said
⭐ “It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.”
⭐ “I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.”
⭐ “This is the world you have made for yourself, now you have to live in it.”
My Nina Playlist
I gathered my fav Nina songs, from me to you with love. Save on Spotify and listen all week 💗
Where to start
Her first hit
Performing "I Loves You Porgy" on The Ed Sullivan Show (September 11, 1960)
〰️
“Doing things gradually will bring more tragedy”
Performing “Mississippi Goddamn” live in France at the Antibes Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival (July 24-25, 1965)
〰️
Talking freedom & connection
Excerpt from the documentary "Nina: An Historical Perspective" by Peter Rodis.
“All I’m trying to do all the time is open people up so they can feel themselves and let themselves be open to somebody else.”
〰️
“It is meant for a queen and I am a queen.”
Talking David Bowie and performing “Stars” (1976)
Down the rabbit hole
If you wanna dive even deeper:
What Happened Miss Simone? on Netflix
Using never-before-heard recordings, rare archival footage and her best-known songs, this is the story of legendary singer and activist Nina Simone. Watch here.
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Sources
Nina Simone official website, www.ninasimone.com
PBS Nina Simone Biography, www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/nina-simone-biographical-timeline/16664/
Nina Simone Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/Nina-Simone
Nina Simone Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone
I absolutely love Nina Simone!