7 things you may not know about Nina Simone
Updated | By Poelano Malema
Nina Simone's music touched many lives and influenced the politics of America during the time she was alive. She fought for the rights of people using her music. Here are seven interesting facts about the four-time Grammy nominee.
Nina Simone was born on 21 February 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA. She is famous for songs such as 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black', 'I Loves You, Porgy', and 'Mississippi Goddam'.
Simone was an all-rounder, singing classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
Her first album, 'Little Girl Blue', was released in February 1959 and her final album, 'A Single Woman,' was released in 1993.
Simone died on 21 April 2003 aged 70.
Interesting facts about the star:
- Her real name is Eunice Kathleen Waymon.
- Her mother, Mary Kate Waymon, was not in support of secular music and called it the devil's music, so Eunice changed her name to Nina Simone to disguise her identity.
- She studied music at Juilliard School of Music in New York City.
- Due to racial discrimination, she was denied a scholarship to study music further at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but the same institution awarded her an honorary degree.
- She started playing the piano at the age of four and the first songs she played were 'God Be With You' and 'Till We Meet Again'.
- Her first job as a musician was playing the piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City.
- The singer's ashes were scattered in several African countries.
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