Feeling Good: The Nina Simone Story
The late Nina Simone's daughter Simone (she adopted the single name as her stage name, her birth name is Lisa Celeste Stroud) explores the life and career of her mother - the protest singer, jazz chanteuse, blues artist and live performer - sharing her personal thoughts and providing a glimpse of the real woman behind the distinctive voice.
This two-part documentary features unreleased concert tracks and contributions from some of Nina's closest friends. These include Nina's high school friend Hannah Ferguson; her niece Joyce Stroud; her close friend Verta Mae Grosvenor; concert promoter Ron Delsener; her friend and Elektra Records A&R man Michael Alago, singer Patti Smith; and her drummer for 18 years - Paul Robinson.
First broadcast 4 & 11 January 2011 on Radio 2
Repeated 21 & 28 March 2011 and 25 April & 2 May 2013
160/44; 129 MB total; sound quality excellent
Episode 1 of 2
First broadcast: Tuesday 04 January 2011
In part one, we hear about Nina's musical beginnings as Eunice Waymon, a 5-year old child protŽgŽ, learning classical piano with the help of people in her home town. She won a place at New York's famous Juilliard School but was turned down by the elite Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. This was an incredible blow to the young Eunice Waymon, who turned to teaching piano and playing in bars to make ends meet. At this point she took the stage name Nina Simone.
She moved to New York City and signed her first record deal [not reading the small print which would cost her dearly later in her career]. New York was the place to be and Nina became closely associated with the civil rights movement, connected with both the radical black playwright Lorraine Hansberry and Malcolm X. She wrote her first protest song, Mississippi Goddamn, in 1963 - an enraged reaction to the deaths of four children in the bombing of a Sunday school in Alabama.
She also met and married Andy Stroud, who became her manager [and Simone's father]. Throughout the 60s her output was prolific and she toured constantly in the US and Europe, always highlighting the civil rights message. When her marriage ended in the 70s, she left the US and became a global nomad, moving between Liberia, Switzerland, the Caribbean, the Netherlands, and finally France.
Episode 2 of 2
First broadcast: Tuesday 11 January 2011
In part two, Simone explores her mother's musical style and what she was like as a live performer. She began her performing career working as a singer-pianist in Atlantic City, taking her stage name from the French actress Simone Signoret. A commanding, if sometimes difficult, live performer, Nina often displayed an irrational temper but her shows were always an experience. Friends explain that this was due to her being bi-polar, a condition she refused to admit to during her lifetime.
A fluke UK hit of My Baby Just Cares For Me, a resurrected 50s master, pushed the singer, into the commercial spotlight when it reached number 5 in the 1987 UK charts, thanks to its use in a Chanel No 5. commercial. She also gave a series of mesmerising performances at Ronnie Scott's jazz club during this decade. She recorded the classic album Baltimore and her last album, A Single Woman, was released in 1993. We hear from A&R man Michael Alago about how he signed Nina and got her to record again.
Her musical style can only be described as fearless: she refused to be categorised and often sang soul, jazz, blues, gospel, and Broadway tunes over the course of an album or concert. An uncompromising personality, Nina Simone was one of popular music's great divas.
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Wow!!
Thanks!