Nina Simone

Famed jazz/soul/R&B vocalist Nina Simone was born Eunice Waymon in February 1933 to a large family living in rural Tryon, N.C. Simone began singing and playing piano at her local church at an early age, and by age 17 earned the attention of wealthy benefactors, who sent her to study at the Julliard School of Music. In 1954 Waymon adopted the stage name Nina Simone and began singing in New York and Philadelphia nightclubs, where she soon gained a reputation for her raw talent.

In 1957 she signed to Bethlehem Records, for whom she recorded a string of singles, including the 1959 R&B hits "I Love You Porgy" and "He Needs Me." In 1959 she moved to Colpix Records, for whom she recorded several albums and soundtracks for several Columbia Pictures films. In 1961 Simone released a version of the traditional song "The House of the Rising Sun," inspiring Bob Dylan and The Animals to do the same; three years later she signed to Phillips, where she scored her 1965 hit "I Put a Spell on You."

During the mid-1960s Simone became increasingly politically active, recording the hit protest song "Mississippi Goddam!" following the death of Medgar Evers. Angered by continuing racism in the U.S., Simone left the country in 1969, living in Liberia and various parts of Europe, where she continued to record and perform, reaching the U.K. Top 10 with "To Love Somebody" and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" (later a hit for Aretha Franklin). In 1978 Simone returned to the U.S. and was promptly arrested - she had withheld several years of income tax as a protest against the Vietnam War. After languishing in obscurity for the next decade, Simone returned to the spotlight in 1987 when her hit "My Baby Just Cares For Me" was featured in a commercial campaign. In 1992 Simone recorded the soundtrack for the film Point of No Return, inspired by her life story.

Now a resident of France, Simone recently published an autobiography; she still performs and records for independent labels.

Discography: