Nina Simone, a Wonderful American Musician.

Who went from success to bitterness.

A star is born.

Her full name at birth was Eunice Kathleen Waymon, but she is known professionally as Nina Simone. She was born in North Carolina, USA, in February 1933; and died in Bouches-du-Rhone, France, in April 2003. She was a songwriter, singer with a privileged voice, as well as an accomplished classical pianist. She was also a strong activist for human rights and the struggle of black people to achieve them.

Her music was a mixture of styles, from classical music (J. S. Bach, Chopin, etc.) to folk, plus gospel, blues, jazz, and pop.

From an early age she wanted to be a concert pianist and played at the local church in her small town. Her debut was at the age of 12 in a classical recital. She finished high school and as a teenager took classes at the prestigious “Juilliard School of Music” in New York. Once there she applied for a scholarship at the also famous “Curtis Institute of Music” in Philadelphia but was rejected. This was her first encounter with the racism of the United States. Nevertheless, she decided to pay for her music studies, and to afford them, she earned her living as a piano teacher and as an accompanist for singers in a vocal studio.

One day she wanted to be a student of a professor of the “Curtis Institute”, Vladimir Sokoloff, and then to pay for those private lessons, she started working as a pianist in a nightclub in Atlantic City (New Jersey). So that her family…