zzongs | Search | About | Donate

Nina Simone

Info:
Nina Simone, born as Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. She worked in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
The sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone said she later found out from an insider at Curtis that she was denied entry because she was black. So as to fund her continuing musical education and become a classical pianist, she began playing in a small club in Philadelphia where she was also required to sing. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendering of 'I Loves You, Porgy' was a hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958, when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue, and 1974.
Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic contralto voice. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience–performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years old.

Albums

At Carnegie Hall

Broadway - Blues - Ballads

Forbidden Fruit

Forbidden Fruit - At Newport

High Priestess of Soul

I Put a Spell on You

I Put a Spell on You (Originals)

In Concert (Live At Carnegie Hall, New York, 1964)

Little Girl Blue (2021 - Stereo Remaster)

New World Coming

Nina Simone & Piano

Nina Simone And Her Friends (2014 - Remaster)

Nina Simone And Her Friends (2021 - Stereo Remaster)

Nina Simone At Newport

Nina Simone At Town Hall

Nina Simone Sings Ellington

Nina Simone's Finest Hour

Nina With Strings

Remixed & Reimagined

To Love Somebody

To Love Somebody (Expanded Edition)

Wild Is the Wind

A Single Woman [Expanded] (International)

At the Village Gate

Fodder on Her Wings

Forever Young, Gifted and Black: Songs of Freedom And Spirit

Here Comes the Sun

Little Girl Blue (2013 Remastered Version)

Nina at Newport (60th Anniversary Edition) [Live]

Just Like a Woman: Nina Simone Sings Classic Songs Of The '60s

Miss Simone: The Hits

Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles

Nina At The Village Gate

Nina Simone Sings The Blues

Nina Simone: The Montreux Years (Live)

The Amazing Nina Simone

The Best Of - The Colpix Years

The Best Of Nina Simone

The Colpixingles (Mono) [Remastered]

The Very Best Of

The Very Best Of Nina Simone 1967-1972 - Sugar In My Bowl

Songs

(I Loves You) Porgy

A Cottage for Sale

A Mighty Fortress

African Mailman

After You've Gone

Ain't Got No Money

Ain't Got No, I Got Life

Ain't Got No, I Got Life / Do What You Gotta Do

Ain't No Good / I Got No Life

Alone Again Naturally

Anytime, Anywhere

Assignment Song

Ballad of Hollis Brown

Baseball Boogie

Baubles, Bangles and Beads

Black Is the Color

Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair

Blacklash Blues

Blue on Purpose

Blues for Porgy

Blues on Purpose

Born Under a Bad Sign

Break Down and Let It All Out

Brown Eyed Handsome Man

Bye Bye Blackbird

Can't Get Out of This Mood

Cat House Blues

Central Park Blues

Children Go Where I Send You

Chilly Winds Don't Blow

Color Is a Beautiful Thing

Com' by H'Yere – Good Lord

Come on Back, Jack

Cottage for Sale

Cotton Eyed Joe

Definition of an Artist

Devil's Workshop

Do Nothin' 'til You Hear From Me

Do What You Gotta Do

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Don't Smoke in Bed

Don't Take All Night

Don't You Pay Them No Mind

Dr. Nina Simone

Either Way I Lose

End of the Line

Erets Zavat Chalav

Eretz Zavat Chalav

Evening by the Moonlight

Everyone's Gone to the Moon

Everything Must Change

Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye

Exactly Like You

Falling in Love Again

Fine and Mellow

Fodder on Her Wings

Fodder on My Wings

For All We Know

Forbidden Fruit

Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter

Gimme a Pigfoot

Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)

Gin House Blues

Give Me a Pigfoot & A Bottle of Beer

Golden Earrings

Gun House Blues

He Ain't Comin' Home No More

He Was to Good to Me

He Was too Good to Me

Heaven Belongs to You

Here Comes the Sun

He's Got the Whole World in His Hand

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Hey, Buddy Bolden

House of the Rising Sun

How Can I Make Him Love Me

How Long Must I Wander?

Hush Little Baby

I Can't See Nobody

I Dont' Mean a Thing

I Don't Want Him

I Get Along without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)

I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)

I Hold No Grudge

I Just Sing to Know That I'm Alive

I Like the Sunrise

I Love You Lovin' Ways

I Love Your Lovin' Ways

I Loves You Porgy

I Loves You, Progy

I Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl

I Put a Spell on You

I Shall Be Released

I Sing Just Just to Know That I'm Alive

I Sing Just to Know I'm Alive

I Sing Just to Know That I Am Alive

I Sing Just to Know That I'm Alive

I Think It's Going to Rain Today

I Want a Little Sugar in My Bow

I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl

I Was Just a Stupid Dog to Them

I Wish I Knew How

I Wish I Knew How It Feels to Be Free

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free

If He Changed My Name

If He Changed My Name Macgimsey

If He Had Changed My Name

If I Should Lose You

If Only For Tonight

If You Knew / Let It Be Me

If You Knew / Let It Be Me: If You Knew / Let It Be Me

If You Pray Right

Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Il y a un baume à Gilead

I'll Like the Sunrise

I'll Look Around

I'm Feeling Good

I'm Going Back Home

I'm Gonna Leave You

I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter

In Love in Vain

In the Evening by the Moonlight

Intro and Devils Workshop

Isn't It a Pity

Israeli Folk Song in 5/4 Time

It Be's That Way Sometime

It Be's That Way Sometimes

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

It Might as Well Be Spring

It's Cold Out Here

It's Cold Out There

Just Call Me Angel

Just Like a Woman

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

Just Say I Love Him

Keeper of the Flame

Lass of the Low Country

Last Time for Love

Liberian Calypso

Little Girl Blue

Little Girl Blue II

Little Girl Blue, Pts. 1 and 2

Little Lisa Jane

Little Liza Jane

Lonesome Cities

Lonesome Valley

Love Me or Leave

Love Me or Leave Me

Love's Been Good to Me

Loves You Porgy

Man With a Horn

Marriage Is for Old Folks

Martin Luther King Suite: Mississippi Goddam

Martin Luther King Suite: Sunday in Savannah

Memphis in June

Mighty Lak a Rose

Mississippi Goddam

Mississippi Goddam / Moon Over Alabama

Mississippi Goddamn

Mississippi Goddawn

Mississippi Gooddam

Moon of Alabama

Moon Over Alabama

Music for Lovers

My Babe Just Cares for Me

My Baby Just Cares for Me

My Man's Gone Now

My Sweet Lord / Today Is a Killer

Ne me quitte pas

Nearer Blessed Lord

New World Coming

No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

No Oppurtunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

No Woman, No Cry

Nobody Knows When You're Down and Out

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out

Nobody's Fault but Mine

Nobody's Fault but My Own

Nowbody Knows You When You're Down and Out

Of This I'm Sure

One More Saturday in Savannah

One More Sunday in Savannah

One September Day

Our Love (Will See Us Through)

Papa, Can You Hear Me?

Percussion/Drums/Clapping/Dancing

Pigs Foot and a Bottle of Beer

Plain Gold Ring

Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Porgy and Bess Medley

Porgy, I Is Your Woman Now

Porgy, You Is My Woman Now

Rags and Old Iron

Seems I'm Never Tired Lovin' You

Sign 'o' the Times

Silver City Bound

Since I Fell for You

Since My Love Has Gone

Since My Lover Has Gone

Sing Just to Know I'm Alive