NINA SIMONE
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, the sixth of eight children, Nina Simone was an American singer, pianist, songwriter and civil rights activist. Early in her career, the future “High Priestess of Soul” changed her name to disguise herself from her family to earn a living playing “the devil’s music”—Nina (a nickname from a former boyfriend) and Simone (after the French actress Simone Signoret). Recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 2000 (as well as being nominated for four Grammys), and has been inducted into the Irish Music Hall of Fame (1999), North Carolina Music Hall of Fame (2009), National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2021), Library of Congress (2019), and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2018). The 2016 documentary Nina was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. After her acclaimed 1958 debut Little Girl Blue, Dr. Simone (The Curtis Institute of Music, which had rejected Simone back in 1950, named her an honorary doctor in music and humanities in 2003) released over 40 more albums during her lifetime and Rolling Stone named her as #21 of their 200 Greatest Singers of All Time (2023).
