Eunice Kathleen Waymon (21 February 1933 – 21 April 2003), better known by … Read Full Bio ↴Eunice Kathleen Waymon (21 February 1933 – 21 April 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone, was an American singer, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, soul, folk, rhythm and blues, gospel, and pop.
Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on 21st February 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA, one of eight children. Like a number of other black singers in the U.S., she was inspired as a child by Marian Anderson, and began singing at her local church, also showing great talent as a pianist. Her public debut, a piano recital, was made at the age of ten. Her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white audience members. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.
Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (who lived into her late nineties) was a strict Methodist minister; her father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman and sometime barber who suffered bouts of ill-health. Mrs Waymon worked as a maid, and her employer, hearing of Nina's talent, provided funds for piano lessons for the little girl. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Eunice's continued education.
At seventeen, Simone moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught piano and accompanied singers. She was able to begin studying piano at New York City's prestigious Juilliard School of Music but lack of funds meant that she was unable to fulfill her dream of becoming America's first Black classical pianist. She later had an interview to study piano at the Curtis Institute, but was rejected. Simone believed this rejection, which fueled her hatred of racism, was because she was black.
Simone turned to blues and jazz after getting her start at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, taking the name Nina Simone in 1954; "Nina" was her boyfriend's nickname for her, and "Simone" was after the French actress Simone Signoret. She first came to public notice in 1959 with her wrenching rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), her only Top-Forty hit in the United States. This was soon followed by the single "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (this was also a hit in the 1980s in the United Kingdom when used for television advertisements for Chanel No 5 perfume).
Throughout the 1960s, Simone was involved in the civil rights movement and recorded a number of political songs, including "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" (later covered by Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway), "Backlash Blues", "Mississippi Goddam" (a response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama killing four black children), "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", and Kurt Weill's "Pirate Jenny", from The Threepenny Opera, re-cast in a southern town.
In 1961, Simone recorded a version of the traditional song "House of the Rising Sun", which was then covered by folk-blues artist, Dave Van Ronk, and later recorded by Bob Dylan, where it was picked up by The Animals and became their signature hit. Other songs she is famous for include "I Put a Spell on You" (originally by Screamin' Jay Hawkins), The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun", "Four Women", Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released", the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", and "Ain't Got No (I Got Life)". The latter, from the musical Hair, was her debut in the UK charts, reaching number two in 1968, and a remixed version of the recording by Groovefinder was a UK Top Thirty hit in 2006.
Broadway musicals also supplied several hits for Simone: "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Feeling Good", and "Ne Me Quitte Pas". Also "You Can Have Him" on the LP Live at Town Hall recorded when she was twenty-six years old; at the end of this operatic performance, which displays her great skill as an actress as well as a musician, she whoops with joy. This single recording encapsulates her extraordinary power, wit, flexibility, sensuality and occasional menace.
In 1987 Nina experienced a resurgence in popularity when "My Baby Just Cares for Me", a track from her first Bethlehem Records album (1958) became a huge hit in the UK and elsewhere. Nina's versatility as an artist was evident in all her music, which often had a folk-music simplicity.
In a single concert, she moved easily from gospel-inspired tunes to blues and jazz and, in numbers like "For All We Know", to numbers infused with European classical stylings, and counterpoint fugues.
Throughout most of her career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Flemming and guitarist and musical director Al Shackman.
In 1971, Simone left the United States following disagreements with her agents, record labels, and the tax authorities, citing racism as the reason. She returned in 1978 and was arrested for tax evasion (she had withheld several years of income tax as a protest against the Vietnam War). She lived in various countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, continuing to perform into her 60s. In the 1980s, she performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. In 1995, Simone reportedly shot and wounded her neighbour's son with an air pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration.
She had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which Simone strenuously took issue.
Though her onstage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her adoring audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests. Simone's regal bearing and commanding stage presence earned her the title the "High Priestess of Soul."
In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. She had been ill with cancer for several years before she died on 21st April 2003 in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet.
Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her song "I Loves You Porgy." She has also received fifteen Grammy Award nominations. On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone. Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malcolm X College. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her. Only two days before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.
In 2002, the city of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) named a street after her, the Nina Simonestraat. Simone lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990.
Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 2010 a statue in her honor was erected in Trade Street, Tryon, North Carolina, her place of birth.
*Official site
Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on 21st February 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA, one of eight children. Like a number of other black singers in the U.S., she was inspired as a child by Marian Anderson, and began singing at her local church, also showing great talent as a pianist. Her public debut, a piano recital, was made at the age of ten. Her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white audience members. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.
Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (who lived into her late nineties) was a strict Methodist minister; her father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman and sometime barber who suffered bouts of ill-health. Mrs Waymon worked as a maid, and her employer, hearing of Nina's talent, provided funds for piano lessons for the little girl. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Eunice's continued education.
At seventeen, Simone moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught piano and accompanied singers. She was able to begin studying piano at New York City's prestigious Juilliard School of Music but lack of funds meant that she was unable to fulfill her dream of becoming America's first Black classical pianist. She later had an interview to study piano at the Curtis Institute, but was rejected. Simone believed this rejection, which fueled her hatred of racism, was because she was black.
Simone turned to blues and jazz after getting her start at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, taking the name Nina Simone in 1954; "Nina" was her boyfriend's nickname for her, and "Simone" was after the French actress Simone Signoret. She first came to public notice in 1959 with her wrenching rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), her only Top-Forty hit in the United States. This was soon followed by the single "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (this was also a hit in the 1980s in the United Kingdom when used for television advertisements for Chanel No 5 perfume).
Throughout the 1960s, Simone was involved in the civil rights movement and recorded a number of political songs, including "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" (later covered by Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway), "Backlash Blues", "Mississippi Goddam" (a response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama killing four black children), "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", and Kurt Weill's "Pirate Jenny", from The Threepenny Opera, re-cast in a southern town.
In 1961, Simone recorded a version of the traditional song "House of the Rising Sun", which was then covered by folk-blues artist, Dave Van Ronk, and later recorded by Bob Dylan, where it was picked up by The Animals and became their signature hit. Other songs she is famous for include "I Put a Spell on You" (originally by Screamin' Jay Hawkins), The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun", "Four Women", Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released", the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", and "Ain't Got No (I Got Life)". The latter, from the musical Hair, was her debut in the UK charts, reaching number two in 1968, and a remixed version of the recording by Groovefinder was a UK Top Thirty hit in 2006.
Broadway musicals also supplied several hits for Simone: "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Feeling Good", and "Ne Me Quitte Pas". Also "You Can Have Him" on the LP Live at Town Hall recorded when she was twenty-six years old; at the end of this operatic performance, which displays her great skill as an actress as well as a musician, she whoops with joy. This single recording encapsulates her extraordinary power, wit, flexibility, sensuality and occasional menace.
In 1987 Nina experienced a resurgence in popularity when "My Baby Just Cares for Me", a track from her first Bethlehem Records album (1958) became a huge hit in the UK and elsewhere. Nina's versatility as an artist was evident in all her music, which often had a folk-music simplicity.
In a single concert, she moved easily from gospel-inspired tunes to blues and jazz and, in numbers like "For All We Know", to numbers infused with European classical stylings, and counterpoint fugues.
Throughout most of her career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Flemming and guitarist and musical director Al Shackman.
In 1971, Simone left the United States following disagreements with her agents, record labels, and the tax authorities, citing racism as the reason. She returned in 1978 and was arrested for tax evasion (she had withheld several years of income tax as a protest against the Vietnam War). She lived in various countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, continuing to perform into her 60s. In the 1980s, she performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. In 1995, Simone reportedly shot and wounded her neighbour's son with an air pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration.
She had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which Simone strenuously took issue.
Though her onstage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her adoring audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests. Simone's regal bearing and commanding stage presence earned her the title the "High Priestess of Soul."
In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. She had been ill with cancer for several years before she died on 21st April 2003 in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet.
Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her song "I Loves You Porgy." She has also received fifteen Grammy Award nominations. On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone. Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malcolm X College. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her. Only two days before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.
In 2002, the city of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) named a street after her, the Nina Simonestraat. Simone lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990.
Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 2010 a statue in her honor was erected in Trade Street, Tryon, North Carolina, her place of birth.
*Official site
Lovin' Woman
Nina Simone Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Lovin' Woman' by these artists:
Black Label Society I'm kinda sick mama, kinda down Truckload of trouble, Lord …
Larry Santos The way you look can drive a man crazy Your knowing…
Pride Glory I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child …
Pride & Glory I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child Be…
Pride and Glory (Zakk Wylde) I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child Be…
pride and glory / zakk wylde I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child Be…
Zakk Wylde I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child Be…
Zakk Wylde - Pride And Glory I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child …
Zakk Wylde's Pride & Glory I'm kinda sick Mama Kinda down Truckload of trouble child Be…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Nina Simone:
'DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD' Baby, you understand me now? If sometimes you see that I'm…
.Do I Move You Do I move you, are you willin' Do I groove you,…
01.My Baby Just Cares For Me My baby don't care for shows My baby don't care for…
02 Feeling Good Birds flying high you know how I feel Sun in the…
02. Four Women My skin is black My arms are long My hair is woolly My…
02. House of the rising sun There is a house in New Orleans Call it the rising…
03. I Loves You Porgy I loves you, Porgy, Don't let him take me Don't let him…
04 Another Spring Old people talk to themselves When they sit all 'round all…
04. The look of love The look of love Is in your eyes A look your smile…
05. That's All I Ask Don't try to blow out the sun for me baby I'm…
06. Break Down And Let It All Out Break down and let it all out Break down and let…
09 Gin House Blues Stay away from me cos I'm in my sin Stay away…
09 Go To Hell Now if your mind lies in the Devil's workshop And evil-doin…
10 I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free I wish I knew how It would feel to be free I…
10 This Year's Kisses This year's crop of kisses Don't seem as sweet to me This…
11 Turning Point See the little brown girl She's as old as me She looks…
11.either way i lose If I stay, I know I'm that I'ma share your…
11Love me or leave me Love me or leave me and let me be lonely You…
12 Turn Me On Like a flower waiting to bloom like a light bulb in…
13. Feeling Good Birds flying high, you know how I feel Sun in the…
16. In The Morning In the morning when the moon is at it's rest, You…
16The Ballad Of Hollis Brown Hollis Brown He lived on the outside of town Hollis Brown …
17. Take Me To The Water Take me to the water Take me to the water Take me…
18. I'm Going Back Home I'm going back home where I was born First I planned…
19 Please Read Me Many years ago I was a simple man A simple man,…
19.I Got It Bad My baby never treats me Sweet and gentle The way he should I…
209-Plain Gold Ring Plain gold ring on his finger he wore It was where…
22nd Century There is no oxygen in the air Men and women have…
22To Love Somebody There' a light A certain kind of light It's never shown on…
4 Real real I say real real Our love is real to me It thrills…
45House Of The Rising Sun There is a house in New Orleans Call it the rising…
A Monster What's as big as a mountain And grows bigger everyday Until …
A Single Woman Artist: Nina Simone Album: Single Woman Song Title: Single W…
After You After you've gone and left me crying, After you've gone ther…
After You've Gone After you've gone and left me crying, After you've gone the…
Ain Ain't no use baby I'm leaving the scene Ain't no use baby …
AIN 'T GOT NO I GOT LIFE Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't Got No (I Got Life) [Groovefinder Remix] I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got…
Ain't Got No - I Got Life Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't Got No / I Got Life ) Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't Got No / I Got Life - Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't Got No / I Got Life (Groovefinder Remix [From the Broadway musical, "Hair"]) Heart, soul I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't…
Ain't Got No I Got Life Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't Got No Money I Got Lif Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't Got No, I Got Life (Nina Simone vs. Groovefinder remix) I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got…
Ain't Got No--I Got Life Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Ain't No Use Ain't no use baby I'm leaving the scene Ain't no use baby Yo…
Aint Got No Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
Aint Got No I Got Life Nina Simone Vs Groovefinder Remix Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no…
alone again I remember this afternoon When my sister came into the room …
Angel of the Morning There'll be no strings to bind your hands Not if my…
Another Spring Old people talk to themselves When they sit all 'round all…
Are You Ready Well once I lived the life of a millionaire Spending my…
Backlash Blues Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash Just who do think I am You raise…
Ballad of Hollis Brown Hollis Brown He lived on the outside of town Hollis Brown …
Balm In Gilead There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole There…
Baltimore Beat up little seagull On a marble stair Tryin' to find the…
Baubles Baubles bangles hear how they ring ching-a-lingle Baubles b…
Baubles Bangles And Beads Baubles bangles hear how they ring ching-a-lingle Baubles ba…
Baubles, Bangles and Beads Wright, Forrest Baubles bangles hear how they ring ching-a-…
Be My Husband Be my husband man I be your wife Be my husband…
Beautiful Land Red is the color of a lot of lollipops, Orange is…
Black Bird Herbert Sacker, Nina Simone Why you want to fly Blackbird…
Black Is the Color Traditional Black is the color of my true love's hair His f…
Black Is the Color of My Tr Black is the color of my true love's hair His face…
Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair Black is the color of my true love's hair His face…
Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair (Jaffa remix) Traditional Black is the color of my true love's hair His f…
Black Is the Color of My True Loves Hair Black is the color of my true love's hair His face…
Black Is The Colour Of My True Love Black is the colour of my true love's hair His face…
Black Swan The sun is falling and it lies in blood The moon…
Blackbird Herbert Sacker, Nina Simone Why you want to fly Blackbird…
Blue Prelude Let me sigh, let me cry when I'm blue, Let me…
Blue Prelude (Remastered) Gordon jenkins, joe bishop Let me sigh, let me cry when…
Blues Lady sing the blues She's got them bad She feels so sad And…
Blues for Mama Hey Lordy mama I heard you wasn't feeling' good They're spre…
Blues for Porgy This song talks about the same Porgy That we've talked about…
Body and Soul My days have grown so lonely For you I cry, for…
Break Down And et It All Out Break down and let it all out Break down and let…
Brown Baby Brown baby brown baby As you grow up I want you…
Brown Eyed Handsome Man Arrested on charges of unemployment, he was sitting in the w…
Buck You're a whole lot a man Just take a look At your…
buddy bolden Buddy Bolden tune up Blowing horn was his game Born with a…
But Beautiful Love is funny or it's sad It's quiet or it's mad It's…
Bye Bye Blackbird Pack up all my cares and woe, here I go,…
Can I don't want him you can have him He's not worth…
Can't Get Out Of The Mood All day long before my eyes come little visions of…
Central Park Blues [Instrumental]…
Chauffeur Won't you to be my chauffeur Be my chauffeur Won't you to…
Cherish Cherish is the word I use to describe All the feeling…
Children Go Where I Send You Children go where I send you, How shall I send you? I'm…
Chilly Winds Don Going where the willows weep no more, darlin' baby Going wh…
Chilly Winds Don't Blow Going where the willows weep no more, darlin' baby Going whe…
Color Is a Beautiful Thing BTS – Beautiful (Ooh oo-oo-ooh) Yeah (Ooh oo-oo-ooh) Beauti…
Com Traditional Come by here good lord Come by here Come by her…
Com' By H'Yere Good Lord I want a little sugar in my bowl I want a…
Come On Back Jack Now every woman is entitled to one mistake The Lord knows…
Come Ye Come ye ye who would have peace Hear me what I…
Compassion Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Nina Simone Because I have loved s…
Compassion (A.k.A. Compensation) Because I have loved so deeply Because I haved loved so…
Consummation And now we are one Let my soul rest in peace At…
Cotoon Eyed Joe [Repeat x2] If it hadn't been for cotton-eye Joe I'd been …
Cotton Eyed Joe If it hadn't been for cotton-eye Joe I'd been married long…
Cry Me A River Now you say you love me But you cry the whole…
Dambala Oh Dambala come Dambala Oh Dambala come Dambala Think of the…
Day & night Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom-tom When the jungle…
Day By Day I was a stranger in the city Out of town were…
Do I Move You Do I move you, are you willin' Do I groove you,…
Do I Move You (Version II) Nina Simone Do I move you, are you willin' Do I groove…
Do I Move You? Do I move you, are you willin' Do I groove you,…
Do Nothin Someone told someone and someone told you But they wouldn't …
Do Nothin Till You Hear From Me Someone told someone and someone told you But they wouldn't…
Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me Someone told someone and someone told you But they wouldn't …
Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me Someone told someone and someone told you But they wouldn't…
Do Nothing' Till You Hear from Me Someone told someone and someone told you But they wouldn't …
Do What You Gotta Do Do what you gotta do Come on back, see me when…
Don Hush now, don't explain Just say you'll remain Unless you'…
Don't Explain Hush now, don't explain There ain't nothin' to gain I'm glad…
Don't Let Me Baby, you understand me now? If sometimes you see that I'm…
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Stereo) Baby you understand me now If sometimes you see that I'm…
Don't Let Me Be Misundertood Baby, you understand me now? If sometimes you see that I'm…
Don't Smoke in Bed I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding…
Don't Splain Hush now, don't explain There ain't nothin' to gain I'm glad…
Don't Take All Night Don't take all night To tell me that you love me Don't…
Don't You Pay Them No Mind People laugh each time they see us walking by and…
Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood Baby, you understand me now? If sometimes you see that I'm…
Dont Smoke In My Bed I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding…
and many more tracks by Nina Simone.
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Peter Emmert
I first heard this on an LP issued on Premier Records titled "Soul" - I'm still trying to find the demo of "I Love(s) You Porgy" from the same session and from the same LP.
lynn Gertrude Clark
Beautiful x
rashidahsimon
love!