by David Nathan
Nina Simone is relaxing in the living room of her Hollywood condominium. Aside from some great art, there are photos: Nina in concert, circa ’68; her mother, now in her nineties; Nina with friends, family, admirers; and a special book put together by Roger Nupie who runs Nina’s international fan club in Belgium which details some of the many highlights of her illustrious career. Just two days before her first interview with B&S in many a year, the lady who’s been called the ‘High Priestess of Soul’, had mesmerized audiences at the famous Hollywood Bowl with her distinctive mix of blues, jazz and unique music that can best be described as ‘Simonesque’.
For years, Nina drove critics and journalist and people in the music industry crazy because they couldn’t neatly categorize or pigeon-hole her. One minute, she was giving vent to her most deeply-felt convictions with anger and rage at the status quo (“Old Jim Crow”), the next she was signing a poignant torch song (“The Other Woman”). Somewhere in between, she’d squeeze a Beatles tune (“Here Comes the Sun”), a traditional spiritual (“Children Go Where I Send You”) or her own take on a composition by Jacques Brel (“Ne Me Quitte Pas”). At any Simone show, you might get R&B (“Ooh Child”), folk (“House Of The Rising Sun”)…or even Jonathan King (“Everyone’s Gone To The Moon”). She might be sassy (“The Laziest Gal In Town”) or sad (“You’ve Changed”), a profound storyteller (“Four Women”) or a comedienne (“Go Limp”).
At the Hollywood bowl, she continued covering the whole musical gamut, enchanting an enthusiastic audience who hadn’t seen her for a while with a range of material drawn from her many, many albums: her anthemic “I Put A Spell On You” (also the title of her autobiography); “See-Line Woman” (a rhythmic chant from one of her early Philips albums); “You Can Have Him” (a show-stopping torch song that she first recorded back in 1961); and “Buddy Bolden” (a little known Duke Ellington tune) were just some of the tunes a clearly joyful Nina Simon packed into a forty-minute set.
She confesses surprise at the extent to which the audience reacted: “It was definitely an inspiration to be here and to know that I’m not forgotten”, she notes.
Nina’s been greeted with a similar reaction during an eight-city US tour that has included stops in Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Saratoga and a triumphant appearance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. It was the latter show that inspired an executive at Elektra Records to contact her about signing with the label. At the time of writing, the deal is almost complete, marking Nina’s first contract with a major label since she ended her association with RCA Records in 1974.
“I’m very excited about it”, says Nina of the impending deal. “In fact, I can’t wait to start recording – if we could start tomorrow, that would be fine with me. We’ve already been discussing some of the songs and so far, I plan to do Prince’s “Sign O’ The Times”, “Poppa Can You Hear Me” (from Yentil), a traditional spiritual “I Know It Was The Blood” and “Wake Up Everybody” (the Harold Melvin & Blue Notes classic). I’m going to be meeting with some producers in October and, hopefully, we’ll start recording before the end of the year.”
Such is great news for Nina’s many fans the world over: her last album was “Let I Be Me”, released on Verve in 1987 and recorded live at the Vine Street Bar & Grill in Hollywood, although over the last few years, Nina’s older recording affiliations have been jumping on the bandwagon with several reissues.
Philips/Mercury repackaged six of Nina’s several albums for double-CD releases, with RCA came out with the “The Blues”, a compilation, and EMI found the tapes for Nina’s vintage “At The Village Gate” recording. Asked about her own personal favourites from the close-to-forty (and over one hundred compilations and ‘bootlegs’ that have appeared over the years) albums she’s recorded, Nina mentions “The Amazing Nina Simone”, her first LP for Colpix, and “Black Gold”, a live album she cut for RCA in 1970. “I also really enjoy the video I did at Ronnie Scott’s in London in 1985”, she adds, noting that her most recent UK visit was also triumphant. “I played at the Town & Country and the audience was so young! I mean, there were 15-year olds there and I loved it!”
Talk of Britain, which has long been supportive of Nina’s work since the early years in ’65 when she had one of the first active ‘fan clubs’ (or ‘appreciation society’ as it was more correctly known back then) for US black music artists in the UK, reminds Nina of a recent TV show she did which was a tribute to Paul McCartney: “I sang with a 102-piece orchestra and, although I’ve sung with orchestras before, that was the biggest. We did “Let It Be” and “The Long & Winding Road” and that was one of the happiest moments I’ve had musically for ten years”, she smiles.
With a career that spans just over thirty years, Nina’s life has been filled with quite a few special musical times but, she says, “I can’t seem to realize how much I’ve done sometimes. To be honest, I’m very happy about my career but sometimes it’s not real to me. I mean, God gave me a talent and I used it…and although there have been times when I’ve had a ‘love/hate’ relationship with music, I find that I do get excited about music when I’m onstage. In fact, although I’m interested in everyday living and doing everyday things like swimming and playing tennis, as I grow older I find myself wanting to be onstage more and more.”
Maybe because at different times in her career she found herself working too much, Nina says she now wants to create a balance “where I’m not working every night but enough to where I can enjoy it.” Since the beginning of the year, Nina’s done more than a little traveling, having performed in Australia, New Zealand and Japan (for the first time in twenty years). By the time the year ends, she’ll have been back to the UK, to Switzerland, Sweden and France, with a US tour planned for next year to coincide with the release of her next album.
With such a global itinerary, Nina’s decided to make her home on three continents: “I just bought a house in the South of France in Aix-en-Provence, near the mountains. I have some land I bought in Ghana in May and I’m building a beach house there, and I still have this place here in Hollywood. For a long time, I didn’t know where to live in the Western world because I found it would get boring…one of the wonderful things about living in Africa is that everyday is an adventure. It’s never boring…the days pass and you wonder where they went.”
Nina says she plans to spend “three months in Europe, three months in the US and six months in Ghana…that’s how I think I’d like to live for the rest of my life.”
Talk of her three residences is a reminder that Nina has lived in a number of countries over the years including Liberia, the West Indies, Switzerland, Holland and France, all of which was documented in “I Put A Spell On You”, her autobiography published in the UK last year. Nina recalls that the book took two years to write and was done “with tapes, computer and notebooks in Spain, Atlanta, Hollywood and Amsterdam. The reaction to it has been great”, says Nina, “although it hasn’t been advertised or promoted here in the US and I’m not happy about that. It’s done well in Germany, Holland and the UK and it’s been translated into French.
“In fact, a French company actually filmed a documentary based on the book and I went with the film crew to my birthplace, Tryon, North Carolina, to New York, to Hollywood. We revisited a lot of the places which have been a part of my life and, yes, some of it was painful for me – especially places associated with my (late) father. Now, I understand there’s some talk about doing a feature film, maybe with Whoopi Goldberg playing me…and I’d be in it too.”
With her career continuing to move forward, Nina reflects on what’s kept her going through the years. “Hmm, that’s an interesting question,” she pauses. “Let me see. Well, I’d say three things: I believe in Africa…and I’m dedicated to the liberation of my people around the world, wherever they are…whether they’re Maori, Aborigine, here in the States. I believe in music in love and relationships…in the loyalty of good people you keep around you…although I don’t know so much about romantic love anymore! I used to want to get married again…but”, Nina grins in a way only Nina can, “these days people don’t know what to do in bed!”
From the deep and profound to earthiness and wit, Nina Simone never fails to surprise even those who’ve known her for many years! Asked why she thinks people are still enjoying her music thirty years after she recorded songs like “I Loves You Porgy” and “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” she smiles broadly: “Well, my dear, I guess my music is timeless….” A statement that is indeed accurate and, more than anything else, the reason why Nina Simone music lovers the world over still clamor to see her unique performances and why Nina remains one of the world’s truly great artistes.
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