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
Turning Point
Nina Simone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She's as old as me
She looks just like chocolate
Oh mummy can't you see
We are both in first grade
She sits next to me
I took care of her mum
She sang a song so pretty
On the Jungle Jim
When Jimmy tried to hurt her
I punched him in the chin
Mom can she come over
To play dolls with me
We could have such fun mum
Oh mum what'd you say
Why noy oh why not
Oh I see
The song "The Turning Point" by Nina Simone is a poignant and powerful commentary on race and racial discrimination in America. The lyrics are based on a true story of a young Nina Simone befriending a young black girl in her first-grade class. Simone describes the little girl as a "little brown girl" who is "as old as me." Despite their obvious differences in skin color, Simone recognizes that the little girl looks "just like chocolate." Unfortunately, their society is not as accepting and knowledgeable as Simone, and this is where the true message of the song comes in. Simone is trying to convey that despite skin color, we all have the same value and worth.
Simone goes on to describe how she and the little girl are classmates in the first grade, and how she takes care of her when she skinned her knee. Simone also describes how she punched a boy named Jimmy in the chin when he tried to hurt the little girl. Simone's plea to her mother to allow the little girl to come over and play with her provides a subtle criticism of the racial discrimination that still existed in American society during Simone's lifetime. The song ultimately ends on a disheartening note, as it becomes clear that Simone's mother forbids the little girl from coming over to play. The final lyrics, "Why not, oh why not? Oh, I see," convey Simone's frustration and sadness at the ways in which racial discrimination has impacted her life.
Line by Line Meaning
See the little brown girl
Observing a young African-American girl
She's as old as me
The singer shares the same age with the little girl
She looks just like chocolate
The girl's skin color resembles that of chocolate
Oh mummy can't you see
The artist addresses her mother to show her the resemblance
We are both in first grade
Both the artist and the little girl are in their first year of primary school.
She sits next to me
The two girls are classmates who sit next to each other
I took care of her mum
The singer helped the little girl's mother when she injured herself
When she skinned her knee
The little girl's mother suffered a knee injury
She sang a song so pretty
The little girl sang a beautiful song
On the Jungle Jim
The singing occurred on a play structure for children called the Jungle Jim
When Jimmy tried to hurt her
A boy named Jimmy attempted to harm the little girl
I punched him in the chin
The artist physically defended the little girl by hitting Jimmy in the jaw
Mom can she come over
The singer requests that her new friend come over to her house
To play dolls with me
They intend to play with each other's dolls
We could have such fun mum
The singer is enthusiastic about spending time with her new friend
Oh mum what'd you say
The artist awaits her mother's response to her request
Why noy oh why not
The mother denies the request, and the artist questions the reason
Oh I see
The singer may or may not understand the reason for the denial, but accepts it nonetheless.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: M. HOLMES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jimmyheinz6
One of the greatest songs of all time.
@Alverno14
My mother, who died in 1971 used to sing this to me and my siblings. It makes me miss her so much.
@msevonn5
Love Nina Simone's music!
@eolandra
Listening to it on repeat today and feeling so many things.
@antonionetoalecrimfreire4006
Supreme voice divina beautiful
@teresalopes2900
This song 😍 . I wish that all our turning points make us stronger!
@studiomacleod
I’m at 40 old white guy and my eyes are full of tears how beautiful the song is. first time I’ve ever heard it
@davidhalchester6515
Deeply moving.
@JJKoester
Hey! What are you doing here? I was looking for this to send to a friend. I didn't expect to see a comment from you.
@joaolucas-og1fc
canta essa mulher