(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program Peoplein America. Today we tell about singer Nina Simone and play some ofher music. She was also active in the civil rights movement of thenineteen-sixties.

(CUT ONE – YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK – CDJ-3080)

VOICE ONE:

Nina Simone wrote and performedthe song you just heard. It is called “Young, Gifted and Black.” Inthe nineteen-sixties, a major black civil rights group declared itthe national song of black people in America.

Nina Simone was very young when her musical ability firstappeared. She could play songs on the piano when she was three yearsold. She learned by listening to music and then searching for thecorrect piano keys.

In a book about her life, Nina Simone wrote that everything thathappened to her as a child involved music. She said her first memorywas of her mother singing. She said her mother always sang Christiansongs around the house. That influence shows up years later in therecording of “If You Pray Right” on Mizz Simone’s album “Baltimore.”

(CUT TWO – IF YOU PRAY RIGHT – CDJ-3559)

VOICE TWO:

Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon innineteen-thirty-three in the southern town of Tryon, North Carolina.Her parents owned several businesses there. Her mother was also aMethodist minister. The family of ten lived in a big house and madegood earnings. However, difficult economic times in the UnitedStates hurt the family’s businesses. The family had to move tosmaller homes as their finances continued to shrink.

VOICE ONE:

In time, Eunice’s mother went to work cleaning house for a whitewoman in the town. The woman knew about Nina’s piano playing. Shesuggested that Missus Waymon send her daughter to a piano teacherfor lessons. When Missus Waymon said the family did not have themoney, her employer said she would pay for the girl’s first year oflessons.

Nina Simone wrote that she grew to love her first piano teacher,a white woman from England. In fact, the teacher helped set upfinancial assistance for Nina’s lessons. Nina Simone also wroteabout how much she liked her mother’s employer. She wrote that, as achild, she expected all white people to be as kind as they were.

VOICE TWO:

Eunice Waymon had her first public performance when she waseleven. Many people in the town had given money to help pay forlessons for the young pianist. Mizz Simone wrote that it wasexpected she would perform to show them what their money hadproduced.

The performance was at the town hall. Eunice was at the piano.She looked at her parents just before she was to play. She saw thembeing forced from their seats in the front. A white family wanted tosit in their place. Her parents did not resist.

The young girl stood up and spoke. She said no one would hear herplay if her parents were not returned to their seats. They were andthe concert began.

VOICE ONE:

Nina Simone wrote that her whole world changed in that moment.She said nothing was easy anymore. She wrote that racism became realfor her like the turning on of a light. Nina Simone continued tostand up and speak out. One of her most famous songs expressed heranger about the treatment of black people in America.

“Mississippi Goddam” was released in nineteen-sixty-three. MizzSimone wrote the song in reaction to extreme violence against blackAmericans. The incidents included the murder of a civil rightsactivist in Mississippi and the killings of four young girls inAlabama.

(CUT THREE – MISSISSIPPI GODDAM – CDJ-6572)

VOICE TWO:

Eunice Waymon graduated from high school at the top of her classin nineteen-fifty. She moved to New York City to attend the famousJuilliard School of Music. She had been awarded money to pay for oneyear at the school.

After that first year, Eunice had to support herself financially.For a while she worked as a piano player for people studyingsinging. Then she learned of summer jobs in Atlantic City, NewJersey, that paid more money.

She went to Atlantic City and got a job playing piano at adrinking place. On her second night, she was told had to sing also.Eunice had never sung in public before. Nina Simone later told areporter that she decided just to try to sound like the famoussinger Billie Holiday. She got the job.

Nina Simone recorded a number of songs made famous by BillieHoliday. Some of Mizz Simone’s versions also became popular, likethis song, “Don’t Explain.”

(CUT FOUR – DON’T EXPLAIN – CDJ-6572)

VOICE ONE:

Eunice Waymon became Nina Simone because of the job at thedrinking place. She said she changed her name because she did notwant her parents to know what she was doing.

But she could not hide her career for very long. Innineteen-fifty-eight, Nina Simone recorded her first album. It wascalled “Little Girl Blue.” One song became a top radio hit inAmerica. It is “I Loves You, Porgy” from George Gershwin’s opera,”Porgy and Bess.”

(CUT FIVE – I LOVES YOU, PORGY – CDJ-6572)

VOICE TWO:

Nina Simone became very active in the civil rights movement inthe nineteen-sixties. She came to be known as a protest singer. Shewas also called the “High Priestess of Soul.” But she did not likeeither description. Nina Simone often said she hated to be linkedwith any one kind of music or message. She sang it all – blues,jazz, Christian spirituals, rock and roll and pop.

Mizz Simone was married two times. She had a daughter, Lisa, whois also a singer. Nina Simone left the United States innineteen-seventy-three. She said she was angry about the treatmentof black people in America. She lived in the Caribbean and Africabefore settling in France. She died there at the age of seventy intwo-thousand-three.

One of Nina Simone’s most popular songs was “I Put a Spell OnYou.” She took the title for the book she wrote about her life,published in nineteen-ninety-two.

(INSTEAD OF THEME – CUT SIX – I PUT A SPELL ON YOU – CDJ-6572)

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written and produced by CatyWeaver. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another Peoplein America program on the Voice of America.