Nina Simone, R.I.P.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

...

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

OH SHIT! When?

― H (Heruy), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I honestly didn't even know she was still alive. I just got into her, in a backwards way, through Talib Kweli.
That almost makes it sadder.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't find a link to this.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not finding anything on any of the news sites.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

same here

― H (Heruy), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

same here...anyone got a link?
m.

― msp, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

nothing at ninasimone.com

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

NINA LIVES!

― SplendidMullet (iamamonkey), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Pretty damn sad if true. I credit Bowie for turning me on to her, given his cover of "Wild is the Wind" -- and good as his take is, no question who owned that song from the start.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Can anyone confirm or deny this? Bad, bad news if true.

― ArfArf, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/ram/news_bulletin.ram

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

that's DOCTOR nina simone, motherfuckers

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

"mississippi goddam" on "Nina Simone in Concert" is my favorite tune of hers. it's live. she starts off in this "show tune" that's very light-hearted and before you know it, she's singing about civil rights and you know everyone's smiles have faded and gone. it's as gutsy and real as you could imagine for 1964.

― msp, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

OK BBC website now running this on its news homepage. Very sad.

― ArfArf, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

and good as his take is, no question who owned that song from the start.

Johnny Mathis?

Just kidding--but he was identified with the song before Nina.

She must have been fairly young--in her early 70s perhaps?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

70 according to BBC.

― ArfArf, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Just kidding--but he was identified with the song before Nina.

Damn you with your facts. *beats Amateurist, then hugs him*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

That's really too bad. :( I've heard stories from musicians that she was pretty awful to work for during the 60s, but I really love a lot of her music.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

oh how i remember the tune of "My babe cares for me", it was stuck in my head for years, one of my earliest recollections.

― rex jr., Monday, 21 April 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Her Juliard-trained classicism coupled with an avant garde knack for improvisation will never recieve its due credit. Rest in peace, Miss Simone.

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Her lifelong bitterness that she was prevented from having a "legit" musical career because of her colour always resonated with me. Perhaps more than it should have, given that she was so successful anyway. It wouldn't be hard to come up with more brutal examples of promise stifled by racism. But still, she symbolised something.

― ArfArf, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah but she was quite able to maintain a career that was truly sui generis--there really has never been an equivalent, and musicians from all genres, times and places have taken things from her. Even when her records were below par there was nothing about them that didn't accounce their uniqueness. Her voice, for one thing.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:53 (twenty-two years ago)

rest her soul.

going to stop home over lunch to pick up her Philips albums.

― milton, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

wait there's a box set of her complete philips recodings coming out in a matter on months. sad that she won't be around to see it.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Amateurist OTM = no equivalent. I've always been amazed when I read negative reviews of her records, or even career summaries. I mean the music is so beautiful, moving and right there in front of you. It has gotten me through a couple rough periods.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

you can really hear her holding her head ('scuse the unintentional alliteration) high while she sings too. She was a tremendously proud woman and rightly so.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

The UK edition of the BBC site gives greater prominence to the news of S Club splitting. Hmm.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:03 (twenty-two years ago)

F*ck -- another artist I "intended to check out" is gone.

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:03 (twenty-two years ago)

that blows.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw her live two years ago. She made me cry. Now she's going to make me cry again. Damn you, Nina. You were an incredible woman.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:12 (twenty-two years ago)

a fairly recent biography from the local paper at Tryon, her home town in the US

― Nik (Nik), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

its always weird when someone famous dies and it upsets you more than you would have thought it would
very sad news

― robin (robin), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

This is no good at all. I've only heard a song here and there but they were all great. :(

― original bgm, Monday, 21 April 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Damn. I can't say she was one of my top favourites, but I have several of her albums, and I've always really liked her. Amateurist is right that she was a genuinely distinctive performer. RIP.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Nina's version of 'Tom Thumb's Blues' = best Dylan cover evah.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

very sad indeed. remember a couple of years ago when she got busted for shooting at two french teenagers who were trespassing on her territory? GANGSTA ALL THE WAY.

my favorite is the two-fer with Forbidden Fruit and Live at Newport both on 'em. her live improvs on "Flo-Me-La" and "Nina's Blues" are just unfuckwithable.

― Neudonym, Monday, 21 April 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Shit, that is really sad and a great shock. I saw her in Dublin a few years ago and she was as passionate as ever, she encored with a perfunctory 30-second version of 'My Baby just cares for me' and then stormed off. Her album 'Baltimore' is one of the most beautiful records I've ever heard, especially 'My father' which is devastatingly sad. I can't think of anyone who has remained quite so committed and cantankerous throughout her career, her interviewsalways made for an exciting read.

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

this is terrible. just terrible. if you have yet to experience nina, I HIGHLY recommend the "Sugar In My Bowl" 2CD on RCA. Absolutely Essential.

Label: RCA
ASIN: B000009HRC
Catalogue Number: 78636763521

― david day (winslow), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

She pulled a gun on a record exec once, too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/302438.stm

My hero.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey everybody there's a commercial in the U.S. (maybe for sneakers?) with her voice over the top of some breakbeatish thing, anybody know what it is?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Terrible, terrible news. A true original with a unigue voice which couldn't be defined by narrow categories like jazz, soul or blues. A voice you'd think couldn't be extinguished, fizzing with life and every emotion within. Rage and tenderness especially bleeding out in her peerless performances. Special props for her interpretations of those late 60's pop hits which she gave a gravitas which they scarcely merited. A sad,sad day.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

was listening to 'wild is the wind' last night, which - as always - raised goose bumps. this is sad, indeed.

*places 'ne me quitte pas' on repeat

good to see the thread grow so quickly, however, as it is testement to her genuis.

― j.a.e., Monday, 21 April 2003 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

She also bared her breasts to the 60's head of Phillips records.

I adore her. Luckily I saw her live 3 times. A prickly, headstrong, individual, gifted artist. I don't want to think about how she's gone; I'm shocked. Please do seek out "Silk and Soul" and "Nina Simone and Piano", both fine RCA releases. Pick up everything else while you're at it.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 21 April 2003 20:14 (twenty-two years ago)

(Sigh)

― Jerry (Jerry), Monday, 21 April 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I've got round about 45 Nina Simone albums here, I don't even know where to start...

― Jerry (Jerry), Monday, 21 April 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

(Sigh)

― Jerry (Jerry), Monday, 21 April 2003 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

You could start with that sneaker commercial, it's been driving me crazy! lyrics something like

"listen to me, while i say...
[something something etc]
[something something]
can't stop my aching heart...."

(it's hard to make out!)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 April 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer, it's not the version of 'Feeling Good' from the Verve Remixed alb, is it? That has a 'breakbeat'.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 21 April 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Bye Nina.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 21 April 2003 21:43 (twenty-two years ago)

funkier than a mosquiters tweeter! (though she was sadly crap when i saw her)

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 21 April 2003 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

This is sad, definitely. If you have listened to her cover of "The Pusher", DO SO NOW.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 21 April 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

(er, I mean have not. Though whether you have or haven't, just listen to it anyways.)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 21 April 2003 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't think so, Andrew.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 00:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a really crackly 30 year old vinyl copy of her version of "To Love Somebody". It sounds fucking fantastic. My housemate has it on CD, but it's the crackles and pops that make it for me. It's a good song to curl up in the dark with your baby to.

Also, I took it out to DJ with at a Valentine's Day ball a couple of years back. It was the first song I ever played out that made some a couple kiss.

I think that says it all.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 00:53 (twenty-two years ago)

RIP. She was so great. "Lilac Wine" is probably my favorite, or "Here Comes The Sun" or "Come Ye" or "My Sweet Lord" or "Four Women."

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

does anyone else not want to listen to someone's music when they die. i mean everyone here says they just pulled out a nina simone record (and good on them) but i can't think of anything else i'd want to do less at the moment, it'd be too sad.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Well I just finished listening to the Pastel Blues / Let it All Out two-fer cd and it made me admire her even more. Didn't make me any more sadder at her passing however. It made me anxious about the fact that I would like to sit here and listen to the rest of her records, but probably won't get to it tonight.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Amateurist, do you ever catch Terry Callier's set at the Green Mill on Monday nights? I know Simone had a big impact on him, and was thinking of venturing up there tonight to see if he'd do anything in tribute, but in the end I had too much crap to do here. Maybe I'll try to make it next week, it's been about five months since I saw him.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 02:03 (twenty-two years ago)

in what city mr diamond?
i think when someone like nina simone dies,it reminds you of her records and how much you like them
i mean,its probably been a month or two since i listened to her,and the news,sad and all as it is,brought her back into my consciousness...

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah maybe we can check on of those out. i'll have to wait until my monday-night class is over.

i've liked some of mr. callier's records with reservations. my friends who have seen him live say his backing band is very bland but i should probably decide for myself.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 02:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Chicago, robin. It's a really beautiful old club that unfortunately tends to get overrun with Yuppies on the weekends, but to it's credit it continues to program pretty good music. And the Callier sets are quite good, nice vibe, attentive audience, beautiful music.

I'll tell you what makes me sad listening to Simone just now, that in this world someone was compelled to sing about "them big bulging eyes / and a twisted mouth".

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Blast remove that stupid superfluous apostrophe please.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

i was hoping it was new york,where i'll be visiting soon
oh well...

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

MTV.com just posted a very good article on Simone: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1471410/20030421/simone_nina.jhtml?headlines=true. The article says she died in her sleep.

I succumbed: I'm listening to In Concert right now. Nina, God bless.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 04:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Her live version of "Wild is the Wind" on the fantastic live album At Town Hall is perhaps the most beautiful song I've ever heard. Much better than her studio versions (that I know of, anyway): much shorter, faster, more sparse and just super beautiful.

― Orange, Tuesday, 22 April 2003 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Ach. RIP Nina, you were fucking genius. (...sorry, ma'am).

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)

"Yeah but she was quite able to maintain a career that was truly sui generis"

I'm not disagreeing Amateurist but I was looking at things from her p of v not mine. I too would rather have Nina Simone being Nina Simone than yet another interpreter of Bach and Mozart. But she would not have agreed: she wouldn't have got much consolation from pop fans finding her career "sui generis" - she would just have thought we had frivolous taste. Given her talent and intelligence I think we must concede the possibility that she's right and we're wrong. But even if she isn't, she lived with the feeling that racism prevented her from having the career SHE felt her talent deserved.

― ArfArf, Tuesday, 22 April 2003 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

There are very few artists whose tyre tracks, if you open up your shirt, you find permanently visible across your chest. Nina Simone has left hers on me. One completely unerasable tape is my video of Nina in concert at Ronnie Scott's. There's something fabulously musical there, but something that, by going beyond music, takes music beyond itself. And I think you'd have to call it 'personality'.

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 11:51 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

her version of "i put a spell on you" really is great, isn't it? but i think the crazy sax makes it as much as nina. who plays that thing anyhow?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 02:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Last time I got musical chills up my spine was listening to "Sinnerman".

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.