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Summary
Summary
The mesmerizing autobiography of one of the most revered soul, jazz, and blues divas of our time-the late Nina Simone
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Simone grew up during the Depression in a small North Carolina town where, thanks to a farsighted music teacher and caring neighbors who paid for her lessons, she was trained as a classical pianist. After attending Juilliard on a scholarship she was rejected by the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (a setback she attributes to the fact that she is black), and she became a nightclub entertainer, singing and accompanying herself on the piano and, with her skillful improvisations of popular songs in classical style, quickly becoming a star. In the 1960s she joined the civil rights movement and became well known as a protest singer. Then, in the 1970s and '80s, disillusioned with the U.S., she went into self-imposed exile in Africa and Europe. Unfortunately, written with freelancer Cleary, her account of these later years, in which she concentrates on personal problems and a number of tiresome love affairs, lacks the interest of the early part of the book, which describes her unusual childhood and remarkable rise to fame. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Well-written life of singer-pianist Simone, as notable for its clear, strong voice as for its events, which are pretty strong too. Despite some wild moments, Simone's is a life to be proud of and she tells it modestly but with an emotional accuracy of recall that makes her book stand out from other celebrity lives. Born Eunice Waymon and raised in South and North Carolina, Simone was the sixth child of a preacher mother. Early seen as a child prodigy of the piano, she practiced five hours a day for decades, intent on becoming the first black concert pianist. But after a year at Juilliard and despite her gifts, she was turned down by the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia--she thinks for being black. To make a living, she took a job in a Philadelphia dive, playing and singing for drunks. She played classical/folk/pop, giving huge, sweeping interpretations of pieces like ``I Loves You, Porgy'' that could last three hours. Recording dates followed. Her marriages were duds, the second being to a cop with a Jekyll/Hyde personality, who became her manager and landed her in deep water with the IRS. Meeting playwright Lorraine Hansberry led Simone into civil-rights activity. She was hit hard by the deaths of Hansberry, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, underwent some kind of mental breakdown, lost her home to the IRS, fled to Europe, and later, with Miriam Makeba, to Liberia. Liberia was paradise and, after a mad evening spent dancing stark-naked in a club for two hours, she was pursued by black millionaires. Trouble followed her, and she later wound up in Barbados as the mistress of the P.M. A failed suicide attempt was eventually followed by resolution of her tax problems and a comeback. Simone captures each person in her life with silverpoint outlines and never shies from baring the truth. A gripping life that rings true. (Sixteen b&w photographs--not seen.)
Booklist Review
This couldn't have been an easy book to write. Nina Simone had to have relived the loneliness, anger, and pain of her exhaustingly artistic and public life as she confronted her memories and sought to explain her feelings and actions. Simone's childhood reminiscences are particularly sharp and emotionally defined. Music ruled her life from the age of three when her family found her playing hymns on the piano. Determined to become the first black American concert pianist, Simone dedicated herself to lessons and practice. She poignantly describes the joy that music brought her as well as how it isolated her from normal life. Unable to continue her classical training, Simone happened upon nightclub singing and intuitively created her mesmerizing signature style. Her accelerated success paralleled the rise of the civil rights movement and the violent backlash of the late 1960s. Bitter and disillusioned, Simone walked away from her country and her manipulative manager-husband and undertook a series of adventures in Barbados, Liberia, and Europe. Candid about her wildness, naivete, and temper, Simone recounts the low points of her life with characteristic honesty and passion as well as the confidence of an artist on her way back to the top. A must for music and black-culture collections. ~--Donna Seaman
