[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 30, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF NINA SIMONE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 2003

  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to honor a jazz artist who 
was truly inspiration both on stage and off
  Nina Simone was a consummate artist who defied classification. A jazz 
singer, a pianist, a jazz-rock-pop-folk-black musician, an arranger, a 
composer and a protest singer--she was all of these and more.
  She was a social activist, unafraid to speak out or sing out against 
the social ills of racism and war.
  One of eight children, Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on 
February 21, 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina. Early on, she demonstrated 
prodigious talent as a pianist and singer. She played and sang with her 
sisters in their mother's choir in the local church. It was not until 
the age of six that Eunice began formal training on the piano.
  By the time she was 10, she had given her first recital in her 
hometown. This recital at the town library produced her first applause 
and her first encounter with racism. Her parents were forced to move 
from the first row to make room for whites to be seated. This incident 
formed the basis of her commitment to the fight for civil rights.
  Eunice left North Carolina in 1950 to continue her musical education 
at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, after which, her family 
moved to Philadelphia. She applied for a scholarship at the prestigious 
Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, but was rejected. Her talent was 
cited as the reason for the rejection, but the Juilliard graduate 
believed it had more to do with her color than her musical skill.
  Discouraged, she became an accompanist for a singing teacher and 
then, in 1954, she went to work as a singer-pianist in an Atlantic 
City, New Jersey bar. It was there she adopted the name Nina Simone: 
Nina, her boyfriend's pet name for her; and Simone, after French 
actress Simone Signoret, for its dignified sound. Three years later, in 
1957, she had her first recording contract.
  In 1958, her first album produced her first hit, George Gershwin's 
``I Love You Porgy,'' a song that made her an international star and 
has been synonymous with the name Nina Simone ever since. Her star 
continued to shine through the `60s and `70s, as did her commitment to 
the civil rights struggle.
  She performed in concert at the world's most prestigious houses of 
music, with a repertoire ranging from jazz, gospel, blues, folk and 
classical music to songs of protest against the injustice of racism.
  She became a strong voice in the civil rights movement with her song 
``Mississippi Goddam,'' which she wrote and performed in protest of the 
murders of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and four black schoolchildren in 
Alabama. Later, she wrote and performed the inspirational ``To Be 
Young, Gifted and Black.''
  Like many American jazz artists before her, Nina Simone found a 
greater appreciation for her music and more freedom abroad than at 
home. Embittered by racism, she renounced the United States in 1969 and 
became a ``Citizen of the world.'' She left the United States in 1973 
and lived in Liberia, Barbados, Switzerland, Africa, Trinidad, the 
Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom before finally settling in 
France. In 1978, Nina Simone was arrested abroad for failing to pay 
taxes from 1971 to 1973 in protest of the war in Vietnam, but she was 
quickly released.
  Nina Simone remained a top recording artist and concert draw 
throughout her life and performed at Carnegie Hall just two years ago 
in 2001. Nina Simone will always be remembered for her talent and her 
passion, her sultry, yet forceful voice, her incomparable style and a 
regal presence on stage.
  Nina Simone, whose inimitable voice helped define the civil rights 
movement, died April 21, 2003 at her home in France at the age of 70. 
She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud.

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