By BCNYC (64.12.97.7) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:02 pm:

30200-12293860%2C00.html,http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12293860,00.html

Oh man, I have had it with the news this week.

By BCNYC (64.12.97.7) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:07 pm:

ooops the link won't paste properly here
search Nina's name here and you'll find first report

http://www.sky.com/skynews

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:10 pm:

Thanks Brian, Nina Simone R.I.P.

[Click on Showbiz etc]

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:12 pm:

Dear God In Heaven, please make Nina's journey a peaceful one.
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By SisDetroit (68.42.209.170) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:23 pm:

Nina Simone was my girl. The quality of her singing is just another example of the great music we "had." I will bring out her LP's and have a "Nina Simone Day." I will miss her!

R.I.P Nina, God bless you, and thank you for sharing your talent.

By Common (205.188.209.16) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:39 pm:

I absolutely adored Nina's music. I wish I had the opportunity to see this marvelous chanteuse work her "spell". The music world has lost another giant. Long live the High Priestess of Soul!! Rest In Peace ((((Nina)))))!

Peace!

By Michael/cleoharvey (160.79.83.208) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 04:44 pm:

Can the news for the entertainment industry get any worse? Now we have lost the great Nina Simone. She was simply incredible. I saw her 20 years ago and although she was railing against Roberta Flack (which put a smile on my face) she was simply magnificent. She sang Rich Girl, Young Gifted & Black, Bob Dylan's Just Like a Woman, and Here Comes the Sun among other wonderful songs. Her low, throaty, and nuanced delivery was a lesson in singing. I have never forgotten that concert.

By Ralph (209.240.198.62) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 05:15 pm:

I have been a fan of hers for many years. She will be missed.

By Chancellor of Soul (63.78.189.114) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 05:23 pm:

Man this is a mind blower !! I was just playing
my favorite cut by her the other day, "Do What
You Gotta Do". Soul heaven has really been busy
for the past two months. Thanks for the wonderful
music you gave to the world, Nina.

Peaceful Journey,
Mike Boone
(Chancellor of Soul)

By Sly fan (67.115.72.126) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 05:27 pm:

I am really sad right now, I feel really numb like...I cannot believe this is true..

Nina demonstrated the words "DEPTH" and "EMOTION" in every song she touched which in turn touched our hearts and souls..I am sure her and Weldon Irvine are in a serious jam session right now creating new masterpieces...I love you Ms. Simone...Thank You for your dedication and your sincerity...


Rest In Peace.

By Sly fan (67.115.72.126) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 05:28 pm:

I can hear "See See Woman" right now...

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 06:15 pm:

This just in from Billboard magazine:
http://billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1870521
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By M.McLeanTech (66.218.40.142) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 06:22 pm:

There was a COLPIX LP (I can't find it at the moment) called "Nina At The Village Gate."

There is a song on that album which is saturation art for me.

I think the title is "Too Good To Be True."

"He was sweet to me....
now that's all messed up and wrong now...."

If I had a nickel for every time I drank a six-pack and cried listening to this song, I could buy StuBass a nice lunch at Dr. Hogly Woggly's Tyler Texas BBQ.

Swing low, sweet chariot
coming forth to carry me home....

She was the very best.

By Soul Sister (65.43.153.219) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 06:30 pm:

Yeah "Do What You Gotta Do"was bad! How Ya'doing MIke? Have you seen Steve N. lately? Nina will be missed around the world...May she rest in peace and love. "J&J"

By M.McLeanTech (66.218.40.142) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 07:00 pm:

Was "Do What You Gotta Do" on the COLPIX album of which I spoke?

I appreciate your interest. You must not have seen what a wild man I can be on the forum.

I have retired, and I am going through Hell over here, getting used to the new reality.

Who is Steve N.?

I have been sobbing for the last hour. I learned of her demise from the forum.

I have sweared off the forum over and over, but I always come back when I get drunk.

I must say that, actually, I am astonished at how DECENT the folks on the forum are, even if they can't seem to read and write. JUST KIDDING.

I love everyone on the forum.

Mikie

By Eli (64.12.97.7) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 07:24 pm:

Luckily, I have had the opportunity to have seen her live several times and all I can say is that she was definitely a class act!!
Once I saw her and Bill Withers on the same bill at the Academy of Music in Philly.

R.I.P. Nina!!!

By BCNYC (205.188.209.16) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 07:41 pm:

Young, gifted and black
Oh, how I long to know the truth...
There are times when I look back
And I am haunted by my youth

Oh, but my joy of today
Is that we can all be proud to say:
To be young, gifted and black
Is where it's at!

By STUBASS (64.12.97.7) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 09:06 pm:

ANOTHER SIGN OF THE USHERING OUT OF A BYGONE ERA...AND HOPING THAT SUCH TALENTED ARTISTS ARE THERE TO PICK UP THE SLACK FOR THE FUTURE!!!...NINA SIMONE...FINE ARTIST...RIP!!!...STUBASS

By SisDetroit (68.42.209.170) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 09:10 pm:

BCNYC - Do you know who backed Nina on that song?

By Soul Sister (65.43.153.219) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 09:31 pm:

M.McleanTech; Sorry the Mike I was speaking to was Mike Boone. But nice talking to you anyway. Sincerely, S.S.

By Soulpuss (24.102.217.36) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 10:34 pm:

Sleep on Nina.

Many thanks for such gems as:

"My baby just cares for me"
"To be young, gifted and black"
"Baltimore"

Remember Family, she also ran the Ninandy label which exposed the Swordmen and others.

By Russegal (165.247.217.142) on Monday, April 21, 2003 - 11:36 pm:

I will remember Nina best for "Four Women". I heard this for this first time on WCHD in the late sixties...I was floored...I almost forgot how to breathe...

My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is wooly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
inflicted again and again
What do they call me
My name is AUNT SARAH
My name is Aunt Sarah

My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one night
What do they call me
My name is SIFFRONIA
My name is Siffronia

My skin is tan
My is fine
My hips invite you
My lips are like wine
Whose little girl am I?
Anyone's who has money to buy
What do they call me
My name is SWEET THING
My name is Sweet Thing

My skin is brown
My manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
My life has been rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
because my parents were slaves
What do they call me
My
name
is
PEACHES


Rest In God's arms...true queen of soul!

By Vonnie (64.12.97.7) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 01:07 am:

I spent mansy a day in college listening to Nina's albums. What a great singer. RIP

By BankHouseDave (195.93.50.9) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 03:36 am:

There was a period in the sixties when Nina did a regular slot on a UK TV show - it might have been Bernie Braden's show. We'd never seen anything like her. She blew us away. She was also a fine classical pianist by all accounts.

Thanks for being a beacon in the world, Nina.

By Common (209.2.55.172) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 08:24 am:

Found this article on another board. Not sure of the online source though:

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY


NEW YORK (AP) - Like her husky, soulful voice, Nina Simone was hard to categorize.

She was a classically trained pianist, yet gained fame singing in a style reminiscent of Billie Holiday. She later became known as a protest singer for penning fiery songs that chronicled the pain, pride and hope of the U.S. civil rights movement.

Yet she refused to be restricted in the kind of material she performed, and channeled songs from artists as varied as Rodgers and Hart, Kurt Weill and the Bee Gees.

"She had incredible talent," said friend and jazz concert promoter George Wein. "She was different and creative, and there must have been a touch of genius in her mind."


"There was never anyone like Nina Simone, before or since," he said.

The multifaceted entertainer died at her home in the south of France on Monday at age 70. Her manager, Cliff Henderson, who was at Simone's bedside at her death, said she died of "natural causes" in her sleep after a long illness. He did not disclose the illness or provide the name of the town where she lived.

Simone influenced artists including Norah Jones, India.Arie, Peter Gabriel, Sade and Aretha Franklin. Franklin even rerecorded one of Simone's most famous songs, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black."

"I think she's probably one of the greatest black female singers of all time," said Rob Santos, and executive with BMG Heritage, which is putting out an anthology of Simone's this summer. "Nina Simone is hard to peg because she crosses so many boundaries ... anything you gave her she could sing."

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 in North Carolina, Simone was one of eight children in a poor family. She began playing the piano at age 4 and was classically trained, attending the Juilliard School in New York for one year. She had hoped to attend the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but was rejected - one of many disappointments she would attribute to racism.

She turned to singing jazz and popular music as a way to make money, performing in nightclubs. In the late 1950s Simone started recording songs, and gained fame in 1959 with her recording of "I Loves You Porgy," from the opera "Porgy & Bess."

Simone later wove the turbulent 1960s into her music. In 1963, after the church bombing that killed four young black girls in Birmingham, Ala., and the slaying of Medgar Evers, she wrote "Mississippi Goddam," with searing lyrics that included the lines: "Oh but this whole country is full of lies, You're all gonna die and die like flies."

"She had incredible guts, which I think that's why she never had the mass appeal that she should have had," said Santos. "She really was her own person, and she definitely didn't hold back."

After the killing of The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., she recorded "Why? The King of Love Is Dead."

"That's what separated Nina from the other singers," Wein said. "Nina took civil rights and the movement, the fight to another level, and made it part of her persona."

She left the United States in 1973 and lived in the Caribbean and Africa before settling in Europe. She didn't return to the United States until 1985 for a series of concerts.

In a 1998 interview, Simone blamed racism in the United States for her decision to live abroad, saying that as a black person, she had "paid a heavy price for fighting the establishment."

Wein said she was extremely bitter.

"She was a black woman who never could relate to the position of what it was to be black in America. She couldn't understand it," he said. "She was an unhappy person."

Simone enjoyed perhaps her greatest success in the 1960s and '70s, with songs such as "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and "Four Women." She took risks with her song choices, covering a range of popular tunes. She growled in "The Pirate Jenny" from "Threepenny Opera" and breezed through "New World Coming" and "My Way," turning both songs into anthems of the 1970s.

Folk and blues blended with tunes like "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair," and her jazz colorings on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" emphasized not only her keyboard manipulations but her ability to perform any song Simone-style.

In her last years, she remained a concert draw, though she was frail; at a 2001 concert at Carnegie Hall, she needed help to her piano, and was later seen sitting backstage in a wheelchair.

Yet, with an indelible mix of charm, whimsy and rage, she managed to work the crowd into a frenzy, commanding several standing ovations and a raucous demand for an encore, to which she tottered to the microphone and uttered: "Go Home!"

Simone, who was divorced twice, is survived by a daughter, Lisa - a singer who goes by Simone. She's starring in Broadway's "Aida" and has recorded with the group Liquid Soul.

By R&B (138.238.41.128) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 08:31 am:

R.I.P. NINA.

By Common (209.2.55.171) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 09:16 am:

Another article on Nina:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/903315.asp

By Common (209.2.55.171) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 10:13 am:

Hello Russegal,

That song has always been my favorite Nina song. The lyrics are powerful & the music hypnotic. It's hard to believe she is no longer with us. If only she got all these accolades when she was here.

Peace!

By Michael/cleoharvey (160.79.83.208) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 10:38 am:

Common:

I agree with you. She moved away to France because of racism and the tyranny of the business. Maybe things would have been different had she gotten "true" accolades while she was alive. From what I have read she felt that America extolled the pretty and the marginally talented and that still seems the case today.

She could still fill a hall when she announced a concert, which meant that she had devoted fans. In a way she was similar to Miles Davis in that you never knew what she was going to say or what was going to happen. But there was always the magic of her artistry. All I can say is "Mother God Damn."

By Common (209.2.55.172) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 11:47 am:

Hey Michael,

It's really sad day in music. We really need to treasure our musicial giants while they are here. Nina spoke to the heart & the head with her music. Unfortunately, the music industry itself is not interested in creating art but more concerned with generating $$$$$. It's a shame that Nina had a leave a country to find a place to express herself freely & artists, especially women,today should be thankful for the fact that Nina stood up to speak when some folks felt she should've been quiet. I've been playing her CD all morning & trying hard not cry at her passing. Love ya ((((((Nina)))))))!

Peace!

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 12:11 pm:

Nina Simone was probably one of the few singers who embraced the Civil Rights Movement through her music without compromise or sugar-coating. Songs like "Mississippi Goddam" and "Old Jim Crow" made listeners nervous as hell and that's the way Nina wanted it - she wanted others to feel what she and other people of color were experiencing at that time.

On another note, when I spoke to composer/arranger Horace Ott a few weeks ago, he told me about a songwriting assignment he was given in 1964 - he was commissioned to co-write a song for Nina but he had to write under an assumed name because he was signed to a competing publisher. That song was the classic "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

Rest peacefully, Nina - you fought the good fight and victory is yours.

Kevin Goins - KevGo

(PS - Her daugther Lisa, who performs under the name Simone to honor her mother, used to shop at the record store I managed and she shared with the me & the staff stories regarding her mother and the recordings she made. Lisa/Simone is a beautiful woman and is keeping the legacy going).

By SisDetroit (68.42.209.170) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 12:15 pm:

I enjoyed reading that article, very thorough. Another treasure, lost by the States because of the color of the skin. Listening to Brokaw brought the tears to my eyes. I've always loved Nina, Gloria, and Billie. Their voices were deep in emotion, bringing something that cannot be described or given justice with words.

"NINA SIMONE!"

By Common (209.2.55.171) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 12:34 pm:

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" should be my epitaph. Ha ha! The words spoke to my heart. Somehow, the song seemed almost personal as the music industry tried to put Nina in one category or the other. To me, she was a song stylist & accomplished pianist who could sing a simple song into something special. If I seem to go on & on about this woman, it's because her music truly touched my life. Here's another wonderful tribute by David Nathan who wrote "Soulful Divas", which included a chapter on Nina:

http://eurweb.com/articles/musicpages/04222003/musicpages959504222003.cfm

BTW, Nina also wrote her autobio called "I Put A Spell On You". Check it out. The book is hard to put down!

Peace!

By Common (209.2.55.171) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 12:35 pm:

Sorry! Meant to say "could make a simple song sound so special."

By SisDetroit (68.42.209.170) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 09:59 pm:

http://www.detnews.com/2003/entertainment/0304/22/f01-143578.htm

By Gabriel (80.182.201.74) on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - 05:19 am:

Nina,R.I.P.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Friday, April 25, 2003 - 02:52 pm:

This just in from Billboard - details on Nina's funeral.
Kevin Goins - KevGo

http://billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1874928

By MEL&THEN SOME (217.14.178.28) on Friday, April 25, 2003 - 03:22 pm:

Yet another very gifted and very talented artist leaves us.
But sad as these things always are,
at least they have blessed us with there great music to remember them by.
Nina Simone
R.I.P. Sister.
as you waxed lyrically in one of your many fine tunes Nina,
'It be's that way Sometime'.
mel.