Nina Simone

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Dr. Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was a singer, songwriter and pianist. She generally is classified as a jazz musician, but dislike

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Dr. Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was a singer, songwriter and pianist. She generally is classified as a jazz musician, but disliked that categorisation herself; and her work also has been described as covering the blues, rhythm and blues and soul. Her vocal style is characterized by passion, breathiness, and tremolo.

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon at 33 East Livingston Street in Tryon, North Carolina, one of eight children. Like a number of other African-American singers, she was inspired as a child by Marian Anderson and began singing at her local church, also showing prodigious talent as a pianist. When she debuted publicly at a piano recital at age ten, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for whites. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.