St John's C of E Primary School
"Use your God-given gifts to serve others." 1 Peter 4: 10
Nina Simone 14.10.24
Nina Simone
We have listened to Nina Simone before on our playlist – she is considered one of the greatest singers of all time however, she had to fight for her career. She always aspired to be a concert pianist but despite doing a good audition, she did not get a place at music school which she said was due to the colour of her skin.
Her daughter, Lisa Celeste ‘Simone’ Stroud, said: “Can you imagine putting in five hours of practising every day for five to seven years and you get to your audition and they reject you and it’s not because you weren’t good enough but because of how you look?”
In order to keep her music career going, she played in jazz bars and wrote and sang her songs. She became so successful that she went on to record over 40 songs and often used her songs to challenge racism and inequality. She was a civil rights activist who made a difference through the power of her music.
In 2003, just days before her death, the music school that she had not got into awarded her an honorary degree for her services to music.