”The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it”
Nina Simone 1933 – 2003

“The High Priestess of Soul” wrote those words in 1963 in response to the bombing of a church in Birmingham in which four black children were killed. She sang the blues, protest songs and jazz all with her dark and moving voice. It was probably her rendition of “I Loves You Porgy” that brought the opera to the mainstream.
Embittered by racism, Nina Simone renounced her homeland in 1969 and became a wanderer, roaming the world. She lived in Liberia, in Barbados, Switzerland, France, Trinidad, the Netherlands, Belgium and UK at various times. Her “peregrination” led her to France like so many other black musicians.
She died yesterday at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France.