Im going back home nina simone biography

ByS. Flannagan

"I want to be remembered as a diva from beginning to end who never compromised in what she felt about racism and how the world should be, and who to the end of her days consistently stayed the same."

So said Nina Simone in an interview with Details magazine, reflecting on her career before her death in 2003 at the age of 70.

The quote is notable in suggesting the depth with which one must approach the figure of Simone in retrospect; it was also, as we now know, prophetic. For anyone looking back at Nina Simone in the 21st century, it is obvious that she was always more than a brilliant singer.

As NPR's Michel Martin describes it: "Nina Simone was a gifted and prolific singer, songwriter and pianist who became a powerful presence in the civil rights movement and paid a professional price for it."

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