Thinking about Nina Simone

 

Nina Simone occupies a unique cultural space that cannot be claimed by any other musical artist, dead or alive. She is the patron saint of the lover and the fighter; the musical touchstone for the heartbroken; and the survivor. She was a master singer of standards and love ballads, and songs of protest. Those protest songs- Mississippi Goddamn; Strange Fruit; To Be Young, Gifted, and Black- helped galvanize the cause for civil rights around the world.

"My job is to somehow make them curious enough or to persuade them by hook or by crook to get more aware of themselves and where they came from and what is there, just to bring it out. This is what compels me, to compel them. And I will do it by any means necessary."

- Nina Simone: That Blackness

The choice to stray from love songs and popular themes cost Ms. Simone her career. There were years of exile in Barbados, Ghana and Liberia. She finally returned to public life in France in the 1980’s. Ms. Simone conducted interviews that allowed her to frame her own history. She spoke openly and passionately about her career to that point: the dreams of classical piano dashed; her rise as a singer of love songs; becoming an icon of the Civil Rights Movement; and ultimately the swift rejection by the majority of her fans.

In an expansive interview with British journalist Mavis Nicholson, Ms. Simone spoke about the great disappointment in her career:

"It is only normal to want acceptance from one's country, for one's gifts God has given me. And I am tired of begging for it. It took me twenty years of playing clubs, nightclubs, to get a decent, real accurate review of my gifts from the New York Times. It was the first time I had been compared to Maria Callas as a diva. All before that I had been labelled a Jazz singer, a Blues singer, High Priestess of Soul; which I am not sure what that is and I have studied piano for eighteen years.  Yes, I am tired. I am too old, asking for love from the industry."

Ultimately, a 1987 Chanel No. 5 commercial featuring her hit song “My Baby Just Cares for Me” re-ignited interest in her music, garnering her the love she desired and deserved.

Eighty-two years after her birth, Nina Simone remains a beatified presence in the cultural consciousness. Every time a person discovers her music, an angel gets its wings.