NEW YORK (AP) – Nina Simone, the jazz great whose raspy, forceful voice helped define the civil rights movement, died Monday at her home in France, according to her U.S. booking agent. She was 70.
Damn.
I have quite a few of her albums and CDs. The reissue of Pastel Blues and Let It All Out is my favourite.
She was truly something original.
Damn, indeed. Just the other night, I was trying to get my under-cultured boyfriend to appreciate her unique, sultry jazz stylings on “My Baby Just Cares For Me.”
Very saddened to hear of her passing; the world has lost one of the truly greats in jazz. I had the privledge of seeing her in concert back in 1981 at the Warner Theatre in DC–what a lady! She did a great concert too, btw.
My very favorite Nina Simone song is “Baltimore.” Will be giving it a listen this evening, in her memory. RIP Nina.
Sad news.
I was fortunate enough to see her in concert less than two years ago, and she didn’t seem well even then–she didn’t spend much time onstage. She did about four songs and then left the stage for the drummer and percussionist to play a duet. (I joked to my friend that “Space” would come next.) Then the full band played an instrumental. This was followed by some discussion among the band members–obviously this interlude was not planned. They began another instrumental, but after one chorus Nina was led back onstage. She did four or five more songs, and the show was over. After at least 15 minutes of applause, during which the stage lights remained on, the house lights came up. There was a little booing, and people began to leave. But after another minute, the lights went back down and Nina and the band returned–but only for Nina to come to the microphone and declare, “I have no more to give. Goodnight.”
In 1996, soon after I moved to Oregon, I found a copy of her autobiography in the local library.
For three days, I Put A Spell On You took me from a new life that was mostly impovrished with little of possessions or furniture to her world of music, adventure, and yes… some heartbreak.
I discovered Nina in 1993 via one of the most pretentious men I have ever dated. Even for him calling me petit bourgoisie(he called himself a communist), I still appreciate him dearly for introducing me to Nina.
This is sad news indeed. She was one of a select few who could cover a Lady Blue song, Strange Fruit, and do it justice. Feeling Good sends chills down my spine. I guess she’s Goin’ Back Home. She was an amazing talent.
Oh no.
She was great…she will be missed.
Her “I Loves You Porgy” remains quite probably my favorite Gershwin cover by anyone ever. And “Sinnerman” is a song I could listen to over and over and over, ad infinitum. A genuine one-of-a-kind.
I just recently started listening to Jazz, and I absolutely loved her voice. She will be missed.
Aye, that’s sad. We’ll not see another voice like that any time soon.
Oh, bummer…
“I lost myself on a cool damp night
Gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree”
She sang it better than anyone. RIP.
*She does not know
Her beauty,
She thinks her brown body
Has no glory.
If she could dance
Naked,
Under palm trees
And see her image in the river
She would know.
But there are no palm trees
On the street,
And dishwater gives back no images. *
A marvelous website about this great artist: The Nina Simone Web
I’m crying as I write this - I didn’t see the story until just now. What a loss. I will never forget the first time I heard her; I had just met a guy and gone home with him and on his stereo he was playing “Four Women.” Which I’d heard in Sandra Bernhard’s satire - I had no idea it was a real song. I was entranced.
I keep thinking of Jacques Brel, to whose words she gave life:
Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler…
Oh, what sadness. I never had the opportunity to see her live, but have been a young fan for years. What a strong voice, what a strong personality and what a beautiful woman.
RIP
Sad.
I remember hearing her for the first time when I was in college - a guy down the hall turned us on to her.
Man, now I feel sad AND old.
I used to own a very early record of hers called “Forbidden Fruit” which contained the delightfully naughty title song
Go on and eat
[Forbidden fruit]
It’s quite a treat
[Forbidden Fruit]
It’s mighty sweet
[Forbidden Fruit]
Oh go ahead and taste it -
you don’ wanna waste it!
Go on and bite it
Betcha be delighted…
but which was otherwise not memorable. Definitely a product put together by the suits at the record company, to please the middle class white audience.
I think as the black market grew she found the freedom to be herself, and often to share the anger she felt (about life and its injustices) with her audience, powerfully and memorably through her music.
Another favourite album was “Nuff said” (I think?) which was recorded live and contained a song she’d written about Martin Luther Kings assasination, which had occurred only days before.
What’s gonna happen
Now the King of Love is dead?
There are stories of her on tour here in Australia where this anger found a less welcoming reflection and where she ended up cursing the audience and leaving the stage. Sometimes these stories get exaggerated, but Biffy’s account seems to add credibility to the local tales.
I saw her here on her last visit, and she was an old lady, and not a sweet old lady. Certainly her performance only showed glimpses of the arresting and powerful performer she had been. Even her wonderful piano playing seemed almost too much of an effort. She spent at least ten minutes telling us the names of the stores where you could buy her records and book.
I bought yet another compliation CD of hers the other day, and enjoyed it greatly. I wonder however, why is she never named as a significant figure in the histories of popular music? I find far more reward in her work than in any of the the output of Sarah Vaughan, for example. To me, Nina always seemed committed to the stories in her songs, whereas for Sarah a song was an opportunity to show off how cleverly she could doodle with it.
Perhaps it’s that dramatist in her that I respond to? Thank God for records, so we can hear that deep smooth voice again and again.
When all we need
Is so hard to find,
Is some peace…
Peace of mind
The High priestess of Soul - Miss Nina Simone!
Redboss
After looking over this thread again, I was wondering what it is about her that GLBT folk respond to. Is it merely coincidence that at least half of the posters in this thread are GLBT?
I don’t think it’s any Judy-Garland-ish tragedy in this case - I suspect it’s just because gay men are more likely both to find out about great female vocalists, and to like them openly when they do. At least in the U.S. - and I suspect this holds for other anglophone countries - it’s self-reinforcing, a holdover from the JudyLizaBarbra tradition of 70s and before. Since then, saying you like a woman singer known for standards has become tantamount to outing yourself, so straight guys are even less likely either to learn about these artists or to admit to enjoying their music. The exceptions I can think of are all male vocalists, and hyperbutch ones at that - Sinatra and Bennett come to mind.