Customer Reviews
A unique insight into a turbulent life - By: M. Shankland, 27 Aug 2008 
Perhaps one of the most angry books one will ever read: The incredible account of how one Eunice Kathleen Waymon, born to a Black familyin South Caroline, a piano playing child prodigy tried to become a professional classical pianist. As a student she began to playin night-clubs to fund her studies & changed her name to Nina Simone so that her mother wouldn`t find out. One night the manager told her to start singing as well or get fired. Nina started using her voice, got an increasing following, cut her own version of `I loves You Porgy' & began to gain an audience with the New York Beatniks, along with Bill Cosby, John Coltrane, & Bob Dylan. She married got divorced, re-married, her career was on the rise.
But Nina was not going to go to be assimilated easily. Her sense of duty towards Black Americans gave her an edgein an era where the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to have an impact, & the fact that she began to meet some of America's top Back Intellectuals such as Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Stokey Carmichael meant Nina couldn't remain neutral. In 1963 some white supremacists burned a church, killing four young Black girls. When the news broke Nina's husband & manager Andy found herin the garage looking for materials to assemble a zip gun. She was persuaded out of going to the Southern states to seek revenge, but to write `Mississippi Goddam', a show tune with an absolutely furious message.
Though friends with Martin Luther King junior, as the 1960's wore on, Nina didn't accept non-violence & was more accepting of Black Power. By 1968 Nina portrays the USA as being on the verge of civil war, & she remembers the activists who lost their livesin the struggle & begins to castigate the leadership of the movement for what she sees as its failures to carry on the fight.
Then the book seems becomes a procession of resentments. Nina leaves the United Statesin 1974 disgust at the political situation & abandons her marriage. Spellsin Barbados, Liberia ( with unsuccessful love affairs), Switzerland , Paris follow, but by 1978 her career isin disarray. Her ex husband & manager had not being sorting out taxes, her personal affairs & business concerns werein a sheer mess. A supposed promoter takes Nina to London to get her career going. It turns out he is a swindler, & leaves her beaten unconsciousin a hotel room with unpaid bills. Nina takes an overdose. Not surprisingly the Music Industry is savagely indicted throughout the biography.
After this point `I Put A Spell On You' seems to rush forward. Nina relocates to France, starts recording & touring. There are enough fans to re-kindle interestin her work . And by 1985 , `My Baby Just Cares For Me' an obscure LP track that Nina had first recordedin 1957 , used for commercial brings Nina back into the public eye. She has survived, though is never reconciled to the USA.
Now & then one longs for some more humour, such as the account of Nina, after a few gins, making a pass at Louis Farrakhan.
The book is short, 176 pages, & came outin 1991- Nina was to live for another twelve years -so is incomplete. The lack of datesin the text makes it hard to follow at times. But overall this autobiography gives an unique insight to one of the most versatile & interesting figuresin modern popular music.
Nina's own story - By: Richard Vernon, 24 Aug 2008 This book isn't all that long, but it is very interesting. It really does seem to have been mostly written by Nina with minimal help from the co-author Stephen Cleary, & there's quite a bit about her childhood, both the good & bad aspects, & also a fair bit about her love-life. I have to admit this surprised me, as I knew she was brought upin a very religious family, & there's even a bit about her mental health problems. It IS Nina Simone as seen by Nina Simone, but it is fairly honest. I can recommend this book to all of her many fans.
