Gladys Knight & The Pips - Neither One Of Us(Wants To Be The First To Sa...

Maria Bethânia - Gente Humilde (DVD "Brasileirinho")

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A História de Gente Humilde: tortuosa parceria entre Garoto e Vinicius
com a contribuição de Chico Buarque

Gente Humilde

Música: Garoto - Letra: Vinicius de Morais

Tem certos dias
Em que eu penso em minha gente
E sinto assim
Todo o meu peito se apertar
Porque parece que acontece
De repente
Como um desejo de eu viver sem me notar
Igual a como quando eu passo
No subúrbio
Eu muito bem, vindo de trem
De algum lugar
Aí me dá uma inveja
Dessa gente
Que segue em frente
Sem nem ter com quem contar
São casas simples
Com cadeiras na calçada
E na fachada, escrito em cima
Que é um lar
Pela varanda, flores tristes
E baldias
Como a alegria que não tem
Onde encostar
E aí me dá uma tristeza
No meu peito
Feito um despeito de não ter
Como lutar
E eu que não creio
Peço a Deus por minha gente
É gente humilde
Que vontade de chorar

Cartomante - Elis Regina & Ivan Lins

Leandro Karnal: Quando um jovem defende a ditadura, dou uma aula de história

Comercial "Hitler". Produzido para a Folha de São Paulo. E considerações.

 

[Toque na foto para AMPLIAR]

A VERDADE: O comercial "Hitler" (veja 👇 abaixo) seria, pode ser (ou é), em si mesmo, e pelo final, uma demonstração cabal?? 

😔 Triste. Muito triste.. Mas há soluções que podem mudar nossa realidade espiritual (a seguir):

Mais e mais, vamos estudar e considerar, voltando lá atrás (pode ser ao livro de Gênesis, desde que muito bem refletido, pensado e meditado), para tentarmos entender e mudarmos o comportamento generalizado de animais bípedes que insistem em ser apenas binários e reativos.

Isso até funciona bem no setor inferior do corpo, se alternarmos habilmente a perna (ou asa) esquerda com a perna (ou asa) direita. Nesta parte da anatomia mamífera (para falar dos anatomicamente mais próximos), os quadrúpedes se encontram mais bem supridos do que nós: se falta 1 pata/pé, restam três; a nós, na falta de equilíbrio ou uso de 1 uma delas (por acidente, desequilíbrio, incapacidade ou imbecilidade), sem uma muleta ou sem amparo de alguém, vamos ao chão; ou, quando muito, ficamos pulando numa só perna. 

Ou seja: estritamente binários, seríamos pouco hábeis em usar melhor as mãos, graças a 10 dígitos bem mais móveis do que nos pés; o que - em tese - seria um enorme avanço propiciado/agraciado pela Divindade, em relação às habilidades dos quadrúpedes (que, como vimos, no setor mais inferior se encontram mais bem supridos); para não falar das centopéias..

Pior: seríamos - corriqueiramente - pouco hábeis no uso do cérebro, se nos limitássemos a ser estritamente racionais e desequilibradamente pouco sensoriais e pouco emocionais, já que a inteligência artificial (absolutamente racional) trabalha necessariamente no sistema binário (o mesmo dos computadores), e é limitada a trabalhar sobre estatísticas, memórias e dados passados (muitas vezes censurados), enquanto a criatividade e a imaginação de nossos cérebros é analógica (enxerga também o todo, as circunstâncias, o entorno, modula o tempo e, pense, faz muito mais); e, ao contrário, ainda mantemos (sim ou não?) a capacidade de sonhar.. quando nossos cérebros, mais desligados do corpo, dialogam com outras esferas e em outros termos.. 

A HISTÓRIA

Há 2.023 anos, veio um Grande Mestre e nos disse, reduzindo os 10 Mandamentos a 2, e - ao mesmo tempo - dizendo "Eu não vim revogar a Lei" (mas a Lei não basta, e acaba não se aplicando nas guerras ("assassinato coletivo legalizado": acaba sendo A Morte..):

Façam isso (é suficiente), disse o Mestre: 1. AMEM A DEUS SOBRE TODAS AS COISAS. 

E como, na prática, apenas pretender e declarar isso, sem fazer, não resolvia: 

2. AMEM ao próximo como a si mesmos. Só isso: comece por se amar; e distribuamos AMOR..

E deixou-nos outra frase lapidar e singular, resumindo a própria passagem por aqui e também o caminho para um possível futuro, emboramuitos há que preferem (e se esmeram em seguir e afrontar) a distopia da Revelação (o Apocalipse): "EU SOU O CAMINHO, A VERDADE E A VIDA". 

Séculos depois do Conselho de Adulto no Final da Vida (ainda muito jovem) do outrora menino nascido com pai e mãe foragidos na Galiléia (vejamos no Google Maps onde ficam hoje as cidades de Belém e Nazaré), passadas tantas gerações, com tantos avanços no conhecimento, nas ciências e tecnologias, o 'status quo' espiritual é muito parecido. 
Mentimos. Defensivamente ou no ataque, mentimos. E não nos enxergamos. Ou vemos - ainda - muito pouco..

Sim, Jesus (Ele mesmo) foi nascido em Belém ou em Nazaré (há controvérsias entre os historiadores, inclusive nos textos bíblicos; a certeza é que foi recenseado em Belém), na Galiléia, sendo Belém na região onde outrora foi a tribo de Judá, tribo do pai José e Nazaré sendo mais ao norte, território delimitado para outra das 12 (originais, dos 12 filhos de Jacó/13 tribos territoriais), sendo Belém localizada (um pouco mais ao Sul) próxima à região muitos anos antes delimitada para a Tribo de Benjamim, onde ficava Jerusalém; ambas as cidades situadas nos dias de hoje e no passado em regiões ocupadas também por árabes; como, aliás, sempre ocorreu nesta região do globo terrestre, compreensão dada a nós desde que se leia e se acompanhe com cuidado a história bíblica, somada à compreensão lógica dos estudiosos e dos historiadores: desde Noé (árabes e judeus são descendentes do filho Sem, constituindo-se portanto ambas as etnias em povos semitas; tendo os árabes como sua mãe Raja/Agar, escrava de Abrão, ela descendente de Cam, que tinha pele mais escura/negra, outro dos filhos de Noé. Sara, a mãe dos israelitas/judeus, era também semita. O patriarca Noé teve ainda outro filho, Jafé). A separação original dos filhos de Abraão tem, portanto, uma conotação racial (pretos e brancos; e outras características, como: senhores e escravos; judeus e não-judeus) e, assim, uma conotação de classe social [Isaac, o israelita, filho da Matriz, Sara e Ismael, o árabe, filho da Filial, a escrava Raja (na nossa Bíblia Agar)]. Na morte de Abraão, que era muitíssimo próspero, a briga subsequente: pela herança dos bens materiais. Subsequentemente, com a criação/evolução das religiões judaica, cristã e islâmica, também com cada grupo/povo (é justo, desde que com respeito) se apossando da Herança de Deus..

Gerações depois, pois, (pelo lado israelita) de Abraão e Sara, vieram Isaque, Jacó/Israel, José do Egito, Moisés, Davi, até chegarmos a Jesus, o Cristo. Genealogia contada na nossa Bíblia, quase toda de origem judaica. Já a história dos árabes aparece pouco na nossa Bíblia; está relatada muito mais no Alcorão e em outros livros originários destes povos (num passado recente) daqueles desertos.

Jesus foi, assim, um quase expatriado judeu nascido (ou criado) galileu (hoje terras palestinas, segundo delimitado em 1947, com o subsequente estado de guerra entre os dois povos), de família claramente israelita (explicando o que não costumam saber ou explicar: a mãe, Maria, era da Tribo de Levi e o pai da tribo de Judá: na época, não se aceitavam casamentos intertribais; assim, passaram os pais de Jesus a ser perseguidos e ter uma condição próxima à de párias dentro sociedade judaica: legalmente, não foram casados. A seguir, como se sabe, ela ficou grávida; e ambos, como também o menino Jesus, estariam assim sem tribo; ela, grávida e difamada; ele, o pai, idem. E o filho? Quem registraria??).

Nascido o nenê, já desde o ventre rejeitado pela "sociedade local dominante" (numa sociedade patriarcal e teocrática, comandada pelo Sinédrio de fariseus e saduceus e sob o Império Romano) - e agora com o nascituro ameaçado de morte pelo rei local (que governava com chancela romana) - foi o menino obrigatoriamente levado fugido junto com os pais em longa viagem para o Egito; já que - antes ameaçado por uns já no ventre - era agora ameaçado pelo poder constituído, que mandou recensear e matar os nascituros, já que o zumzumzum popular espalhava que havia nascido "o novo Rei de Israel", da linhagem de Davi (por parte de José) e da linhagem religiosa/levítica (de Maria). Foi assim que, ainda na primeira infância, escapou de ser alcançado (depois de recenseado) e - certamente - morto; ou "desaparecido"..  

MAPA das 12 tribos 

[clique/toque no Mapa 

para AMPLIAR] 

Procure situar-se no Mapa Atual

Ainda agora, continuamos vivendo em tribos, e sob um império dominante e seus associados. Perseguindo os inimigos e amigos dos inimigos (reais ou imaginários) e praticando "assassinatos coletivos legalizados". Sim, uma Declaração de Guerra é isso: "assassinato coletivo legalizado". E assim, seguimos oprimidos e opressores (esses, também oprimidos na alma), na mesma dança macabra secular. Tragicamente, nos matamos.

Viver em tribos, se respeitássemos a beleza e a dor de cada um ser o que é (todos, filhos do mesmo Pai), ou seja, a diversidade, e os direitos dos vizinhos (existe isso??), até aí tudo bem e "normal".. 

GOOGLE MAPS 

O Mapa Atual da Região 

[Clique/Toque no Mapa 

para AMPLIAR]

Excessivas vezes, seguindo um comportamento normalizado, excessivamente limitado, respeita-se e ama-se (no máximo) a própria família, a própria igreja e a própria tribo (o que é bom; mas não basta).. e diz-se amar a Deus (que é Pai de todos). Bom,"falar é fácil".. Pior: escolhemos, muitas e muitas vezes, com a maior naturalidade, seriais killers como líderes..

Agora PENSE BEM: o Messias (ou Jesus) não voltará enquanto não estivermos preparados para VIVER EM PAZ.. 

A hipocrisia e a ganância dos poderes armados até os dentes e chafurdando na lama não O suportariam.

Perdoem-me pois o óbvio ululante..
Ou não é isso?? Será que O receberíamos - na totalidade - com flores, mandadas por "seriais killers" e súditos arrependidos?.. Ou alguém da paz e desarmado seria lenta e meticulosamente antagonizado até a morte? 
E se fosse coroado? Serviria de algo a coroa em sua cabeça? Ou se tornaria mais um servindo à máquina de moer carne?
A não ser que se recolhesse à sua humildade a um só tempo obsequiosa e magnânima e (pacientemente) esperasse "o tempo de Deus"; com quem - evidentemente - o "Filho Amado" tem e sempre terá (ou terão, se mais de um) sintonia.. Sem coroas, sem cetros, medalhas ou honrarias. 

Só Deus Sabe. E "só Deus salva"..

Uma outra hipótese é que, como Deus trabalha semeando (inclusive a Paz), joga em cada geração com diversos Messias (ocultos). Geração após Geração.. Até que possa vir o Messias para nos encontrar preparados, e ser apenas um de nós, Humilde: O Regente.. 

Sabemos pouco.

Por enquanto, Geração após Geração, matamos lentamente. Brutalmente, assassinamos. Uma sucessão de assassinatos individuais ou coletivos. Aos poucos. Ou aos milhares. Ou aos milhões. Assim, com grande galhardia (e até Prêmios Nobel) poderemos até chegar aos bilhões..
Afinal, temos armas cada vez mais mortíferas e com o suporte adicional da Inteligência Artificial e de nossa avançada Robótica. Atuando, de preferência, como se fosse tudo um vídeo game (de Nós contra Eles ou Eu x Tu).. É a Morte nos vencendo; e ajudada por nós mesmos..

Assim, se quisermos nos destruir, a escolha é nossa. Prossigamos no nosso insano festival de iniquidades.

Quanto a ELE, o Messias, só virá para reger a Orquestra; aí, já será uma Orquestra preparada (por nós mesmos, da Paz) para ser (com as bênçãos de Deus) Eterna. É isso/é essa ou é assim a explicação lógica do "Final dos Tempos".. E - com certeza, nascerá como ser humano no local que (junto com Deus) bem escolher aqui no planeta.. E não adianta querer adivinhar at´e mesmo isso (tem gente que até já diz onde vai nascer): "O futuro pertence a Deus".. 

CQD? 
Quanto às narrativas, bem, para serem reais, precisam ter pelo menos um mínimo de verdades comprovadas; ou, na falta das provas, pelo menos LÓGICA.

E o PÓ? E o APOCALIPSE?
O Apocalipse foi uma Distopia e um Alerta/uma Revelação escrita por cristãos sendo crucificados pelo Império Romano. Era isso que ocorria na época. Um mundo de trevas e ameaças para os cristãos nos subterrâneos em que viveram em Roma ou, respirando em ambientes menos hostis, nas periferias e colônias do império (foram séculos até a Queda do Império). 

Pessoalmente, cada um de nós vive o seu Apocalipse, Revelação ou Morte. Um Final muito Pessoal. 
"Tu és Pó e ao Pó retornarás".. Depois, cada um (a Lógica é essa) se explica. Afinal, deve existir (pelo menos) um Julgamento Soberano de Deus, já que - aqui - tudo é permitido e as escolhas são infinitas, difíceis e quase que totalmente liberadas para cada indivíduo (dentro da condição em que já foi colocado ao nascer somada ao imponderável do mundo e da história de vida vivida)..

Desculpem a irreverência, "parças", sejam os prezados leitores judeus, muçulmanos ou cristãos; budistas, taoístas, hindus, espíritas, xintoístas, ateus e demais: Assim Ele não volta! ELE NÃO É BURRO OU IMBECIL.. E o sacrifício necessário já foi feito. Foi o sacrifício final.
Deu.

Agora, é conosco. A ESCOLHA É NOSSA. Bem entendido?? 

Repetindo: "Tu és Pó e ao Pó retornarás".. 
"Preparai a vinda do Senhor"...

Voltando ao início 👆 (lá em cima): é esse o "comercial" produzido em 1987 para a FSP - Folha de São Paulo. É interessante e criativo: 

Toque no VíDEO, no 

local indicado [  ], para AMPLIAR  

 "Hitler" foi produzido pela W/Brasil em 1987. O dono da agência, Washington Olivetto, fez a direção de criação. O publicitário Nizan Guanaes (que hoje tem a sua DM9/DDB) foi o redator, com Gabriel Zellmeister na direção de arte e Andrés Bukowinski na direção do filme.

Paulinho da Viola - Foi um Rio que passou em Minha Vida

TRISTEZA PÉ NO CHÃO - CLARA NUNES

Bob Fernandes: Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Brasil: Ausência de Regulação Econômica da Mídia e Simulacro de Democracia

NINA SIMONE. MY FATHER.

Nina Simone - My Way

Nina Simone: Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)

Nina Simone: Why (The King of Love Is Dead)

Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy Live 9/11/1960

NINA SIMONE on DAVID BOWIE, JANIS JOPLIN and singing STARS (Live at Montreux, 1976)

Nina Simone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nina Simone
Simone in 1965
Background information
Birth name	Eunice Kathleen Waymon
Born	February 21, 1933 Tryon, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	April 21, 2003 (aged 70) Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Genres	R&B jazz blues folk Soul gospel
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter arranger activist composer
Years active	1954–2003
Labels	Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips,RCA Victor, CTI, Legacy Recordings
Website	Website www.NinaSimone.com

Nina Simone (/ˈniːnə sᵻˈmoʊn/; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues,folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Born in North Carolina, the sixth child of a preacher, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist.^[1] With the help of her supporters in Tryon, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York but was unable to continue because of the high fees.^[2]

She was later denied a scholarship to study at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone became fully convinced her rejection had been entirely due to her race. [It later emerged that the Institute had already accepted and successfully trained two other black students, which casts doubt on her accusation, the real reason perhaps having been the fact that there were only a few places for a large number of candidates.]

To make a living, she was forced to play "cocktail piano" at a night club in Atlantic City, where she was told she had to sing to her own accompaniment, effectively launching her career as a jazz vocalist.

Simone recorded more than forty albums, mostly between 1958, when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue, and 1974, and had a hit in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy".^[1]

Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach,^[3] and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.^[4][5]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1Biography
  • 1.1Youth (1933–54)
  • 1.2Early success (1954–59)
  • 1.3Becoming popular (1959–64)
  • 1.4Civil Rights Era (1964–74)
  • 1.5Later life (1974–1993)
  • 1.6Illness and death
  • 1.7Reputation
• 2Musical style
  • 2.1Simone standards
  • 2.2Performing style
• 3Legacy and influence
  • 3.1Music
  • 3.2Film
  • 3.3Honors
• 4Discography
  • 4.1Albums
  • 4.2Chart singles
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7Bibliography
• 8External links

Biography[edit]

Youth (1933–54)[edit]

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina. The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at age three; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the instrument, she performed at her local church, but her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was 12. Simone later 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. Simone said she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front,^[6][7] and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.

Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon, was a Methodist minister and a housemaid. Simone's father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman who at one time owned a dry cleaning business, but also suffered bouts of ill health. Simone's music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for Simone's education.^[8] Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Simone's continued education. With the help of this scholarship money she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina.

After high school, she studied for an interview with the help of a private tutor to study piano further at the Curtis Institute, but was rejected. Fully convinced that she had been turned down due to her race, she then moved to New York City, where she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music.

Early success (1954–59)[edit]

To fund her private lessons, she performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano which increased her weekly income to $90 a week. In 1954, she adopted the stage name Nina Simone. "Nina" (from niña, meaning 'little girl' in Spanish) was a nickname a boyfriend had given to her, and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the movie Casque d'or.^[9] Knowing her mother would not approve of playing the "Devil's Music" she used her new stage name to remain undetected. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small, but loyal, fan base.^[10]

In 1958, she befriended and married Don Ross, a beatnik who worked as a fairground barker, but quickly regretted their marriage.^[11] Playing in small clubs in the same year she recorded George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), which she learned from a Billie Holiday album and performed as a favor to a friend. It became her onlyBillboard top 20 success in the United States, and her debut album Little Girl Blue soon followed on Bethlehem Records. Simone lost more than $1 million in royalties (notably for the 1980s re-release of My Baby Just Cares for Me) and never benefited financially from the album's sales because she had sold her rights outright for $3,000.^[12]

Becoming popular (1959–64)[edit]

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records, and recorded a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich Village.^[13] By this point, Simone only performed pop music to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.^[14]

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in 1961; Stroud later became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa and was allegedly abusive to Simone.^[15]

Civil Rights Era (1964–74)[edit]

Nina Simone in 1969

In 1964, she changed record distributors, from the American Colpix to the Dutch Philips, which also meant a change in the contents of her recordings. Simone had always included songs in her repertoire that drew upon her African-American origins (such as "Brown Baby" byOscar Brown and "Zungo" by Michael Olatunji in her album Nina at the Village Gate in 1962). On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone in Concert (live recording, 1964), however, Simone for the first time openly addressed the racial inequality that was prevalent in the United States with the song "Mississippi Goddam", her response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four pre-teen black girls and partially blinded a fifth girl who survived. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in certain southern states.^[16][17] Specifically, promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Simone's record label.^[18] "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow laws.

From then on, a civil rights message was standard in Simone's recording repertoire, becoming a part of her live performances. Simone performed and spoke at many civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches.^[19] Simone advocated violent revolution during the civil rights period, rather than Martin Luther King's non-violent approach,^[20] and she hoped that African Americans could, by armed combat, form a separate state. Nevertheless, she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.^[21]

Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor during 1967. She sang "Backlash Blues", written by her friend Langston Hughes on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contains live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair, April 7, 1968, three days after the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. She dedicated the whole performance to him and sang "Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player,Gene Taylor, directly after the news of King's death had reached them.^[22] In the summer of 1969 she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Together with Weldon Irvine, Simone turned the late Lorraine Hansberry's unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black into a civil rights song. Hansberry had been a personal friend whom Simone credited with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black) and by Donny Hathaway.^[16][21]

Later life (1974–1993)[edit]

Simone at a concert in Morlaix, France, May 1982

Disappointed that she was not producing the mega-hits that she'd hoped for, Simone left the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting Stroud to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of a desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

When Simone returned to the United States, she learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid taxes (as a protestagainst her country's involvement with the Vietnam War), and returned to Barbados to evade the authorities and prosecution.^[23] Simone stayed in Barbados for quite some time and she had a lengthy affair with the Prime Minister, Errol Barrow.^[24][25] A close friend, singerMiriam Makeba, then persuaded her to go to Liberia. Later, she lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands, before settling in France in 1992. Since Ms. Simone toured the USA in 1992 and 2000, it is apparent that her problems with the US Internal Revenue Service were settled as some point.^[26]

She recorded her last album for RCA, It Is Finished, during 1974. Simone did not make another record until 1978, when she was persuaded to go into the recording studio by CTI Records owner Creed Taylor. The result was the album Baltimore, which, while not a commercial success, was fairly well received critically and marked a quiet artistic renaissance in Simone's recording output.^[27] Her choice of material retained its eclecticism, ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl". Four years later Simone recorded Fodder on My Wings on a French label. During the 1980s, Simone performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, where she recorded the album Live at Ronnie Scott's in 1984. Although her early on-stage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her audiences sometimes by recounting humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and by soliciting requests. In 1987, the original 1958 recording of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" was used in a commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume in Britain. This led to a rerelease of the recording, which stormed to number 4 on the UK's NME singles chart, giving her a brief surge in popularity in the UK. Her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, was published in 1992. She recorded her last album, A Single Woman, in 1993, where she depicted herself as such "single woman". This album reflected her solitude and pain. She continued to tour through the 1990s but rarely travelled without an entourage. During the last decade of her life Simone had sold more than one million records making her a global catalog best-seller. This was accompanied by the CD revolution, global exposure through media television and the novelty of the Internet.

Illness and death[edit]

In 1993, Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She had suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, on April 21, 2003. In addition, Simone received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in the late 1980s.^[28] Her funeral service was attended by singersMiriam Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis, and hundreds of others. Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and has appeared on Broadway in Aida.^[29]

Reputation[edit]

Simone was known for her temper and frequent anger management issues. In 1985, she fired a gun at a record company executive, whom she accused of stealing royalties. Simone said she "tried to kill him" but "missed".^[30] In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with an air gun after the boy's laughter disturbed her concentration.^[31]According to a biographer, Simone took medication for a condition from the mid-1960s on.^[32] All this was only known to a small group of intimates, and kept out of public view for many years, until the biography Break Down and Let It All Out written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan revealed this in 2004, after her death. Singer-songwriter Janis Ian, a one-time friend of Simone's, related in her own autobiography, Society's Child: My Autobiography, two incidents to illustrate Simone's volatility: One incident in which she forced a shoe store cashier, at gunpoint, to take back a pair of sandals she'd already worn; and another in which Simone demanded a royalty payment from Ian herself as an exchange for having recorded one of Ian's songs, and then ripped a pay telephone out of its wall when she was refused.^[33]

Musical style[edit]

Simone standards[edit]

Throughout her career, Simone assembled a collection of songs that would later become standards in her repertoire. Some were songs that she wrote herself, while others were new arrangements of other standards, and others had been written especially for the singer. Her first hit song in America was her rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (1958). It peaked at number 18 in the pop singles chart and number 2 on the black singles chart.^[34] During that same period Simone recorded "My Baby Just Cares for Me", which would become her biggest success years later, in 1987, after it was featured in a 1986 Chanel No. 5 perfume commercial.^[35] A music video was also created byAardman Studios.^[36] Well known songs from her Philips albums include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964), "I Put a Spell on You", "Ne me quitte pas" (a rendition of a Jacques Brel song) and "Feeling Good" on I Put a Spell On You (1965), "Lilac Wine" and "Wild Is the Wind" on Wild is the Wind (1966).^[37]

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Feeling Good", and "Sinner Man" (Pastel Blues, 1965) have remained popular in terms of cover versions (most notably a version of the former song by The Animals), sample usage, and its use on soundtracks for various movies, TV-series, and video games. "Sinner Man" has been featured in the TV series Scrubs,Person of Interest, The Blacklist, and Sherlock, and on movies such as The Thomas Crown Affair, Miami Vice, and Inland Empire, and sampled by artists such as Talib Kweli andTimbaland. The song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was sampled by Devo Springsteen on "Misunderstood" from Common's 2007 album Finding Forever, and by little-known producers Rodnae and Mousa for the song "Don't Get It" on Lil Wayne's 2008 album Tha Carter III. "See-Line Woman" was sampled by Kanye West for "Bad News" on his album808s & Heartbreak. The 1965 rendition of "Strange Fruit" originally by Billie Holiday was sampled by Kanye West for "Blood on the Leaves" on his album Yeezus.

Simone's years at RCA-Victor spawned a number of singles and album tracks that were popular, particularly in Europe. In 1968, it was "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", a medley from the musical Hair from the album 'Nuff Said! (1968) that became a surprise hit for Simone, reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and introducing her to a younger audience.^[38] In 2006, it returned to the UK Top 30 in a remixed version by Groovefinder.

The following single, a rendition of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", also reached the UK Top 10 in 1969. "The House of the Rising Sun" was featured on Nina Simone Sings the Blues in 1967, but Simone had recorded the song in 1961 and it was featured on Nina at the Village Gate (1962), predating the versions by Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan.^[39][40] It was later covered by The Animals, for whom it became a signature hit.

Performing style[edit]

Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title "High Priestess of Soul".^[41] She was a piano player, singer and performer, "separately and simultaneously".^[15] As a composer and arranger, Simone moved from gospel to blues, jazz, and folk, and to numbers with European classical styling. Besides using Bach-style counterpoint, she called upon the particular virtuosity of the 19th-century Romantic piano repertoire—Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and others. Onstage, she incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element.^[42] She compared it to "mass hypnosis. I use it all the time".^[21] Throughout most of her life and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist and musical director Al Schackman.^[43]

Legacy and influence[edit]

Music[edit]

Musicians who have cited Simone as important for their own musical upbringing include Elton John (who named one of his pianos after her), Adele, David Bowie, Emeli Sandé,Antony and the Johnsons, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Christina Aguilera, Elkie Brooks, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Kanye West, Lena Horne, Bono, John Legend, Elizabeth Fraser, Cat Stevens, Anna Calvi, Lykke Li, Peter Gabriel, Maynard James Keenan, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Mary J. Blige, Fantasia Barrino, Michael Gira, Angela McCluskey, Lauryn Hill, Patrice Babatunde, Alicia Keys, Lana Del Rey, Hozier, Matt Bellamy, Ian MacKaye, Kerry Brothers, Jr., Krucial, Amanda Palmer, Steve Adey and Jeff Buckley.^{[16][44][45][46][47][48]} John Lennon cited Simone's version of "I Put a Spell on You" as a source of inspiration for the Beatles' song "Michelle".^[48]

Simone's music has been featured in soundtracks of various motion pictures and video games, including but not limited to, La Femme Nikita (1990), Point of No Return (1993),The Big Lebowski (1998), Notting Hill (1999), Any Given Sunday (1999), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Disappearing Acts (2000), Six Feet Under (2001), The Dancer Upstairs (2002), Before Sunset (2004), Cellular (2004), Inland Empire (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Sex and the City (2008), The World Unseen (2008), Revolutionary Road (2008),Watchmen (2009), The Saboteur (2009), Repo Men (2010), and Beyond the Lights (2014). Frequently her music is used in remixes, commercials, and TV series including "Feeling Good", which featured prominently in the Season Four Promo of Six Feet Under (2004). Simone's "Take Care of Business" is the closing theme of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (2015)

Film[edit]

The documentary Nina Simone: La légende (The Legend) was made in the 1990s by French filmmakers,^[21] based on her autobiography I Put a Spell on You. It features live footage from different periods of her career, interviews with friends and family, various interviews with Simone then living in the Netherlands, and while on a trip to her birthplace. A portion of footage from The Legend was taken from an earlier 26-minute biographical documentary by Peter Rodis, released in 1969 and entitled simply, Nina. Her filmed 1976 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival is available on video courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment and is screened annually in New York City at an event called "The Rise and Fall of Nina Simone: Montreux, 1976" which is curated by Tom Blunt.^[49]

Footage of Simone singing "Mississippi Goddamn" for 40,000 marchers at the end of the Selma to Montgomery marches can be seen in the 1970 documentary King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis.

Plans for a Simone biographical film were released at the end of 2005, to be based on Simone's autobiography I Put a Spell on You (1992) and to focus on her relationship in later life with her assistant, Clifton Henderson, who died in 2006; Simone's daughter, Simone Kelly, has since refuted the existence of a romantic relationship between Simone and Henderson on account of his sexuality.^[50] Cynthia Mort, screenwriter of Will & Grace and Roseanne, has written the screenplay and directed the film, Nina, which stars Zoe Saldana in the title role.^[51][52][53] In May 2014, the film was shown to potential distributors at the Cannes film festival, but has, as of August 2014, not been seen by reviewers.^[54][55]

In 2015, two documentary features about Simone's life and music were released. The first, directed by Liz Garbus, What Happened, Miss Simone? was produced in cooperation with Simone's estate and her daughter, who also served as the film's executive producer. The film was produced as a counterpoint to the unauthorized Cynthia Mort film, and featured previously unreleased archival footage. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015 and was distributed by Netflix on June 26, 2015.^[56] It was nominated on January 14, 2016 for a 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.^[57] The Amazing Nina Simone is an independent film directed by Jeff L. Lieberman and is also scheduled for release in 2015. The director initially consulted with Simone's daughter before going the independent route and instead worked closely with her siblings, predominantly Sam Waymon.^[58][59]

Honors[edit]

Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her interpretation of "I Loves You, Porgy." She has also received fifteen Grammy Award nominations. OnHuman Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone.^[60][61] Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malcolm X College.^[62] She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her.^[63]

Two days before her death, Nina Simone was awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.^[64]

In 2002, the city of Nijmegen, Netherlands, named a street after her, the Nina Simone straat; she had lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990. On August 29, 2005, the city of Nijmegen, concert hall De Vereeniging, and more than fifty artists (amongst whom were Frank Boeijen, Rood Adeo, and Fay Claassen)^[65][66] honoured Simone with the tribute concert Greetings From Nijmegen.

Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.^[67]

In 2010 a statue in her honor was erected in Trade Street in her native Tryon, North Carolina.^[68]