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NINA SIMONE   

“I LOVES YOU, PORGY“

(DuBose Heyward, Ira Gershwln, George Gershwin)

Bethlehem 11021

No. 18    October 5, 1959

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She’s a talented, bluesy woman with jazz influences, known the world over;  a political activist, a

pianist, a composer, a voice with a wallop.  Yet Nina Simone has only made the nation’s Top 40

once … and that was 40+ years ago.

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She was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, on Febru­ary 21, 1933, in Tryon, South Carolina.  Her parents

were Methodist ministers, and she was surrounded by seven other sibs all musical.  She attended the

Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School of Music, in New York; starting her

career as a piano accompanist.  Her interpretation of “I Love You Porgy” from Porgy and Bess was

one of her first recordings.

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Simone  has appeared at  countless festivals,  halls,  and nightclubs, and has charted on numerous

occasions on both the pop/rock and R & B listings.  Her best-known singles include “Nobody Knows

You When You’re Down and Out” (#93, 1960), “Trouble in Mind” (#92, 1962), “Do What You Gotta

Do” (#83, 1968), and “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” (#76, 1970).  Many other jazz LPs have crossed

over to the top pop albums listings:  Nina at Newport (1961), Nina Simone in Concert (1964), I Put a

Spell on You (1965), and Pastel Blues (1965).  During the ’70s, Simone turned her attention to political

issues.  Tired of  America that  she perceives as  uncaring,  she moved to  France in the 80s.  British

audiences granted her a lop Five hit in ’87 with the resistance of “My Baby Just Cares for Me.”  She

continues to record, but only sporadically.