In 1964, Nina changed record distributors, from the American, Colpix to the Dutch, Philips, which also meant a change in the contents of her recordings.

Angered that her parents may miss her recital based on Race, Nina refused to perform until her parents were reinstated at the front of the theatre. Here, her parents were moved to the back of the Church theatre in order to make space for White People. Simone’s inspiration to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s is due to an incident at her first ‘concert’ at the age of 12. This dedication to music is why Simone recorded more than forty albums, mostly between 1958, when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue, and 1974, and had a hit in the United States in 1958 with “I Loves You, Porgy”. Inspired by the names of “Nina” (from niña, meaning ‘little girl’ in Spanish), and “Simone” -taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the movie Casque d’or, Nina Simone would remain undetected by her parents as she rose to fame. However, despite the knoweldge that her studies could not be funded by her parents, she also knew that her parents would not approve of playing ‘the Devils music’, and thus adopted the name Nina Simone in 1951. Taking up studies in Music at Juilliard School of Music in New York would be expensive and Nina took a job playing as a pianist at Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City. Born to a Christian family on February 21st, 1933 Nina was the sixth child to a North Carolina preacher, Mary Kate Waymon and Handyman, John Divine Waymon.Įarly aspirations for the Civil Rights campaigner would be to become a concert pianist, which would lead her to audition at Curtis Institiute of Music in Philadelphia, but was sadly rejected a decision she felt was based on her Race.

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