Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
Eunice Waymon changed her name to "Nina Simone", to hide from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or "cocktail piano" at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, and thus began her career as a jazz vocalist.
Simone recorded more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974. She made her debut with the album Little Girl Blue.
Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her hit recording of "I Loves You, Porgy" and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
Her friendship with playwright Lorraine Hansberry, best known for her hit play A Raisin in the Sun (1959), prompted her to embrace activism in her music.
She penned and performed many songs addressing racial inequality in the United States, including "Mississippi Goddam", "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black", and "I Wish I Knew How to Be Free". She also performed and spoke at many civil rights meetings.
Simone believed that her choice to sing about racial inequality, specifically the song "Mississippi Goddam", harmed her career. At the time of its release, the record was boycotted in many places because of the message. Frustrated she moved to Barbados in 1970, her husband and manager Andrew Stroud interpreted this as her wanting a divorce.
When Simone returned to the United States, she learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid taxes (unpaid as a protest against her country's involvement with the Vietnam War), and returned to Barbados to evade the authorities and prosecution. Simone stayed in Barbados for quite some time and had a lengthy affair with the Prime Minister, Errol Barrow.
Although her best-known relationships were with men, Nina Simone was bi.
Nina Simone's social commentary was not limited to the Civil Rights Movement; "Four Women" exposed the eurocentric beauty standards imposed on black women in America. Nina Simone explains in her autobiography I Put A Spell on You (1992), that the purpose of the song was to inspire black women to define beauty and identity for themselves without the influence of societal impositions.
Over the years she continued to perform, although she acquired a reputation for having a volatile (and sometimes violent) temper. Much of this was later attributed to her undiagnosed and untreated bipolar disorder. Towards the end of her life, her music was "rediscovered" and Simone's popularity and album sales soared. In 2003, after years of battling breast cancer, Nina Simone died in her sleep in her home in France.
Since her death, she has continued to inspire artists across genres including John Legend, Kanye West, and Lauryn Hill.
In 2015, the documentary What Happened Miss Simone was released. It was directed by Liz Garbus and Nina Simone's daughter, and Lisa Simone Kelly, who was the executive producer. It was released at Sundance and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary.