Miss Nina Simone
The first time I was introduced to Nina Simone’s music was through my little sister. I can’t remember the specific song, but one thing about Miss Nina’s singing, you hear it once and its engrained in your memory. Her voice is distinctive, compelling, and captivating. If this was not enough, her piano skills were out of this world. A musician, singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist, Miss Nina Simone left an indelible mark in this world.
There is a Netflix documentary called “What Happened Miss Simone?”, this entire entry is based off what I learned from it so keep this in mind. I do not want to offend any of her fans out there, I know there is much more to this women than what this documentary encapsulated. I also studied a couple of her interviews that were not part of the documentary to really understand who she was as a person.
Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, was from a humble, hardworking family in Tryon, North Carolina. She was the sixth of eight children. As a little girl, she aspired to be first Black classical pianist. She began playing piano at three or four and growing up would play at her local church. Her first concert recital was at the age of 12. Simone’s music teacher was the catalyst behind the fund that was established to help pay for her education. This fund allowed her to attend the Allen High School for girls in Asheville, North Carolina. After graduation, she spent a summer at the famous Julliard School in New York City. She auditioned at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philly, but was denied. Simone attributed her rejection to racial prejudice.
The extraordinary thing about Miss Simone’s success is that singing was not even something that she ever intended on doing. In 1954, she began performing at the Midtown Bar & Grill in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to help fund private piano lessons with Vladimir Sokoloff. The owner of the bar demanded that she sing to accompany her piano playing. It was at this moment that she adopted the stage name “Nina Simone”'; Nina is derived from niña which was a nickname a boyfriend gave her. Simone, on the other hand, was inspired from French actress Simone Signoret. Knowing her mother would not approve of playing “The Devil’s music”, Simone chose to remain anonymous by using her stage name.
The documentary highlights her tumutlous marriage to former NYPD detective, Andrew Stroud. This man had a vision with her career, an ambitious vision that ironically did more harm to Simone than good. He became her manager and the father of her only daughter Lisa. Stroud was very demanding with Simone and psychologically and physically abused her. She recounts in her journals that he would beat her drunk and later act like nothing had happened. He was very possessive and as she states “he protected me from everyone except himself”. Though she was a very confident women, she lacked the emotional intelligence to foresee the manipulative behavior in her husband.
For Simone, “Mississippi Goddamn”, was a turning point in her career. It set off a series of events that tethered her to the civil rights movement. She was for the use of any means necessary to protect Black people. It was after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, that she felt compelled to write this protest song. Four young black girls died that day in that vile white supremacist terror attack. Simone addressed the tortoise pace of justice in America. In an interview, she was presented the question what an artist’s duty was. To which she replied:
“An artist's duty, as far as I’m concerned. is to reflect the times. That to me is my duty.. and at this crucial time in our lives when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don’t think that you can help but to be involved.”
Not many people know about her mental health struggles. She suffered burn out because of her career and as a result her mental health suffered severely. I also believe that the social fabric (bombings in Birmingham, MLK, Malcolm X, Medgar Evans assassinations) of the country contributed to her mental health struggles. After relocating to France in the early 1980’s, Nina Simone’s erratic behavior prompted close friends get help. With the intervention of a close friend, Gerrit Bruin, a physician evaluated her and diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. According to her band members, close friends, and daughter, she was known to have a short temper and mood swings. In addition to her bipolar disorder, she had problems with alcohol. After her diagnosis, the medication she was prescribed caused side effects in the form of slurred speech and reduced motor skills. Unfortunately, the side effects outweighed the danger of her harming herself if she was not taking the Trilafon.
Today, almost twenty years since her passing, her legacy continues. Nina Simone was a force to be reckoned with, she was musically gifted, had the ability to play one song but sing another. She moved people with her music. She embodied what it meant “to be young, gifted and Black”. Her music will continue to inspire generations to come. I will end this using a line from a video I watched on her evolution:
“The best way to face the heartbreaking personal details of Simone’s life is with deep appreciation for the fearlessness with which she approached life, the music that flowed from her fingers, and the voice that uplifted millions in song and spirit”.
“An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned is to reflect the times. That to me is my duty.. and at this crucial time in our lives when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don’t think that you can help but to be involved.”
The title of this song speaks for itself.
