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Nina Simone biographical timeline

Nina Simone reclining on the floor circa 1968.

1968 studio portrait of Nina Simone. Photo: Getty Images

1933

Nina Simone is born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21, 1933.

1933
1950

Simone graduates from Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina. She spends the summer at the Juilliard School as a student of Carl Friedberg, preparing for an audition at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her application was later denied, which Simone believed was due to racial discrimination.

1950
1955

Simone's first public performance under the name "Nina Simone" at the Midtown Bar and Grill in Atlantic City.

1955
1957

Simone records her first album, "Little Girl Blue," a mixture of jazz, blues and classical.

1957
1959

"Little Girl Blue" is released. After the album's success, Simone signs a contract with Colpix Records and records a number of studio and live albums, including live albums "Nina Simone at Town Hall" and "The Amazing Nina Simone."

1959
1960s

Simone’s music and voice become intertwined with the civil rights movement.

1960s
1960

Release of her album, "Nina at Newport."

1960
1961

Release of her studio album, "Forbidden Fruit," Simone's fifth album since "Little Girl Blue."

1961
1962

Release of albums "At the Village Gate" and "Nina Simone Sings Ellington."

1962
1963

“Mississippi Goddamn” is written and released in response to the assassination of Medgar Evers and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

1963
1964

Simone signs to Philips Records, a Dutch company that allows her to record songs that draw on her African American heritage. Release of her studio album, "Broadway - Blues - Ballads."

1964
1965

Release of her studio albums, "Let It All Out," "I Put a Spell on You" and "Pastel Blues."

1965
1966

Release of her studio album, "Wild Is the Wind."

1966
1967

Release of her studio albums, "High Priestess of Soul," "Nina Simone Sings the Blues" and "Silk & Soul."

1967
1968

Release of her studio and live album, "'Nuff Said!"

1968
1969

Release of her studio album, "Black Gold."

1969
1970

Release of her studio album, "Gifted & Black."

1970
1971

Release of her 13th studio album, "Here Comes the Sun."

1971
1973

Simone leaves the United States for Barbados. She relocates to Liberia, then to various places in Europe, where she spends the rest of her life.

1973
1978

Release of her 14th studio album, "Baltimore."

1978
1993

Release of her final album, "A Single Woman."

1993
April 21, 2003

Nina Simone dies at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France at the age of 70.

April 21, 2003
2018

Simone's childhood home in Tryon, North Carolina is designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

2018

 

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