Nina Simone

Tempo

Author note:

My name is Kylie Rouspil. I’m 16 years old and I have been listening to Nina Simone for only a little bit. In history class we are learning about music around the 1950’s and her name was mentioned in the textbook. I recognized her name a little bit but I didn’t really know many of her songs. I thought it would be cool to research about her for the zine. My favorite songs that she sang were “ I put a Spell on you” and “ Feeling Good”. I hope you enjoy the first issue of ‘Tempo’ about Nina Simone.

History of Albums

Her second album she produced was “My baby Just cares For Me”, it only exploded in Europe. This song was featured in many perfume commercials and it brought Simone a new audience and allowed her to work only when she needed to until her death in 2003. It’s amazing that My Baby Just Cares for Me has managed to remain relatively obscure for so long considering how good it is, featuring a jaw dropping piano solo that seamlessly blends her classical training with jazz, and her brilliant tone.

Civil Rights Impact

Nina Simone was Born to a Christian Family on February 21st, 1933; she was the 6th child to a North Carolina preacher, Mary Kate Waymon and Handyman, John Divine Waymon. The Civil rights activist’s early aspiration was to become a concert pianist, which led her to an audition at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but was turned down. Her decision which she felt was based on her race.

Simone’s involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s was inspired by her rst “concerts”when she was 12 years old. Simone said that during this performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. She refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.

When she began to build her career in the music industry she avoided talking and singing about racism, sexism, and other optical topics. She seemed dismissive of the folks and protest music that had become the soundtrack to the early civil rights movement.

In 1964, on her debut album for Philips, Nina addressed racial inequality in the United States in the song “Mississippi Goddam”. This was a response to the June 12, murder of Medgar Evers, when he was shot in the back by a sniper hiding 150 feet away in a honeysuckle thicket and the september 15, bombing of 16th street baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four black young girls and partly blinded a fth. This song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in certain southern states. Promotional codes were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Philips. “ Mississippi Goddam'' as her rst civil rights song, this song challenged the beliefs that race relations could change gradually and called for more immediate developments.

Simone also performed and spoke at many Civil rights meets, such as the Selma to Montogomery marches. She supported black nationalism and advocated violent revolutions rather than Martin Luther King Jr. non - violent approach. Her civil rights song made white audiences uneasy, while African American applauded her for giving a voice to their pain and anguish.

TimeLine of Nina Simone

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What Do You Think

For my Guest content I interviewed about 6 of my friends and family. I told them to listen to “Sinnerman” , “Feeling Good” , “ I Put A Spell on You” , “Mississippi Goddam” , “Little Girl Blue” and “Brown Baby”, after they listened to each song to rate them from their favorite to least favorite song.

Zhanna Paredes favorite song was “Sinnerman” she said “ I liked the fast beat and piano in the background. The lyrics matched the speed of the song which made it more enjoyable to listen to”. While Zhannans least favorite song was “Feeling Good” she said “ I didn’t really like how it was sung. I like other covers of the song better and the way that this was sung felt off beat.”

Maysoon Alattiyat's favorite song was “ I Put a Spell On You” she said that “ She has heard the song before and it’s one of my favorite songs of Nina Sione because it’s a nice slow song to listen to”. He least favorite song was “Sinnerman” she said “ It was a good song but I didn’t really like how it sounds, it just wasn’t my favorite”

Tessa Young's favorite song was “ Feeling Good” she said “ This song is so good it has a really good beat. I like how the music is very bold and dramatic, a classic song” . Her least favorite song was “ Mississippi Goddam '' she said “god song faster beat, very southern wasn’t my favorite, lyrics aren’t the best, very repetitive.

Over all the top songs out of the ones I gave people to rate the first being “ I Put a Spell On You” , second “ Feeling Good” , third “ Little Girl Blue”, fourth “ Brown Baby”, fifth “Sinnerman”, and sixth “Mississippi Goddam” .

Nina Simone’s life in a Wordsearch

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