An amazing voice was silenced on this day in 2003 when Nina Simone passed away. She was a pianist, vocalist, and songwriter who went on to be a civil rights activist.
She was born Eunice Wayman in February of 1933. As a child, she showed promise on the piano and would go on to play at her church. At age 12, she would have her first concert, a classical recital. She would go on to play at various venues playing what her mom called “the devil’s music.” In order to keep this a secret, in 1954, she began using her stage name Nina Simone. In February of 1959 would release her first recording – Little Girl Blue.
One of Nina’s best known songs is Feeling Good. The song was written by ritish songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. They wrote this as part of their 1965 Broadway musical The Roar Of The Greasepaint – The Smell Of The Crowd. It had been recorded by a couple people before Nina. Songsfacts.com says: The message of joy and contentment after hard times translated well to Simone’s vocal stylings.
The song appeared on her 1965 album “I Put a Spell On You.” The song was never released as a single at that time. However, in 1994, Simone’s recording was used in a British TV ad for Volkswagen, and it became very popular. The song was then released and was a Top 40 hit in the UK.
Mary J. Blige sampled Nina’s version for her song “About You,” while Muse covered it in 2001. Michael Buble’ covered it on his It’s Time album and used the song to open his concerts during that tour.
Nina released her last album in 1993. The same year she moved to France. Nina suffered from breast cancer for several years and lost her battle against in on this day in 2003.
Tune Tuesday remembers – Nina Simone.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 