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ARTIST OF THE WEEK
NINA SIMONE
Mr. Newell,
Ms. Mistretta,
Ms. Brancato,
Mr. Kurzyna,
Ms. Lester
Teaching Point &
Directions
READ THIS FIRST
Today we are learning:
- The history and cultural impact of an artist, as we transition from Women's History Month, into Jazz Appreciation Month: Nina Simone
- How to take in details from a presentation or a video, and answer questions about what you see and hear.
Use the arrow keys to move through this presentation, or click on the section you want to view.
There will be a google form assessment at the end. You can go back through the presentation as you fill it out.
BIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY
Nina Simone was more than just an artist. She was also known for her work as an Author, Singer, Pianist, and a Civil Rights Activist.
EARLY LIFE
EARLY LIFE
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone took to music at an early age, learning to play piano at the age of 3 by ear. She played the piano for her church's choir. Her musical training over the years emphasized classical repertory along the lines of Beethoven and Brahms. It later became her dream to be recognized as the first major African-American concert pianist. After graduating high school at the top of her class, the community raised money for a scholarship, used to send Nina to New York City's famed Juilliard School of Music to train.
CAREER
BEGINNINGS
CAREER BEGINNINGS
Simone taught piano and worked as an accompanist for other performers while at Juilliard, to make ends meet. She moved to Philadelphia, to audition for the Curtis Institute of Music, but was unfortunately denied. To the end, she herself would claim that racism was the reason she did not attend.
Turning away from classical music, she started playing American standards, jazz and blues in Atlantic City clubs in the 1950s. Before long, she started singing along with her music. She took the stage name Nina Simone—"Nina," derived from the Spanish word "niña," (meaning "litte one", while "Simone" was inspired by French actress Simone Signoret. The performer eventually won over such fans as writers Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin.
TIMELINE
After Nina left RCA, she spent a good deal of the 1970’s and early 1980’s living in Liberia, Barbados, England, Belgium, France, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
With two marriages behind her in 1993 she settled in Carry-le-Rout, near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She would continue to tour through the 1990’s and became very much ‘the single woman’ she sang about on her last label recording.
- 1959 - Nina Simone signed with Colpix Records
- After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, became popular in Greenwich Village.
- By this time, Simone performed pop music only to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.
- Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in 1961. He later became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but he abused Simone psychologically and physically.
BORN February 21st, 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina.
TIMELINE
1974-1993: LATER YEARS
1959 - 1964: BECOMING POPULAR
1954 - 1959: EARLY BEGINNINGS
1964-1974: CIVIL RIGHTS ERA
- In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from Colpix, an American company, to the Dutch Philips Records, which meant a change in the content of her recordings.
- She released music that talked about racial inequality in the US.
- She responded to murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four young black girls and partially blinded a fifth.
- She spoke against the Jim Crow laws of the south and her music became more about civil rights.
Nina Simone died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rout, Bouches-du-Rhone on April 21, 2003. Elton John sent a floral tribute with the message, “You were the greatest and I love you”. And the legacy continues…
- In 1954, she adopted the stage name "Nina Simone".
- She recorded George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), which she learned from a Billie Holiday album. It became her only Billboard top 20 success in the United States, and her debut album Little Girl Blue followed in February 1959 on Bethlehem Records.
In 1967, Simone went from Philips to RCA Victor. She sang "Backlash Blues" written by her friend, Harlem Renaissance leader Langston Hughes, on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967).
On Silk & Soul (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point".
The album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contained live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair of April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She dedicated the performance to him and sang "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor.[34] In 1969, she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.
OTHER
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ACTIVISM
ACTIVISM
The song "Four Women" exposed and explored the internalized dilemma of beauty that is experienced between four black women with skin tones ranging from light to dark. She explains in her autobiography I Put a Spell on You (p. 117) that the purpose of the song was to inspire black women to define beauty and identity for themselves without the influence of society.
HONORS & AWARDS
HONORS & AWARDS
Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her interpretation of "I Loves You, Porgy." 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 Amherst College and Malcolm X College.[76][77] She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her.[78]
She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.[79]
Two days before her death, Simone learned she would be awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute of Music, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.[4]
GUIDED LISTENING
Listen to the song in the video below.
Fill out the Google Form. (You can look for the exact minute and second on the video!) Some questions will refer to other slides as well. Take your time!