Nina Simonee Research Papers

Simone began recording her music in the 50s under the Bethlehem label, releasing her first full album in 1957, which featured "Plain Gold Ring" and the title track "Little Girl Blue." It also included her one and only Top 20 pop hit with her version of "I Loves You Porgy" from the George and Ira Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess. Under different labels, Simone released a bevy of albums from the late '50s throughout the '60s and early '70s, including records like The Amazing Nina Simone (1959), Nina Simone Sings Ellington! (1962), Wild Is the Wind (1966) and Silk and Soul (1967). She also made cover songs of popular music, eventually putting her own spin on such songs as Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun." she showed her sensual side with tracks like "Take Care of Business" on 1965's I Put a Spell on You and "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" on 1967's Nina Simone Sings the Blues.

In many ways, Simone's music defied standard definitions. Her classical training showed through, no matter what genre of song she played, and she used different sources that included gospel, pop and folk. She was called the "High Priestess of Soul," but she hated that nickname. She didn't like the label of "jazz singer," either. If I had to be called something, it should have

She wrote Mississippi Goddam in response to the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers and the Birmingham church bombing that killed four young African-American girls. She also penned "Four Women, chronicling the complex histories of a quartet of African-American female figures, and "Young, Gifted and Black," borrowing the title of a play by Hansberry, which became a popular anthem. After the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Simone's bassist Greg Taylor penned "Why (The King of Love Is Dead)," which was performed by the singer and her band at the Westbury Music