Nina Simone

USA, 1954–2003

American singer and pianist (1933-2003), classically trained, who worked across jazz, blues, gospel and popular song and wrote directly about the civil rights movement in 'Mississippi Goddam' and 'Four Women'.

MusicRoots documents 4 artists who influenced Nina Simone and 6 artists Nina Simone influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Nina Simone?

• Johann Sebastian Bach — Bach was Simone's musical god — she trained to be a classical pianist, and Bach's counterpoint threads through her playing, from fugue-like passages to her chordal statements.
• Ludwig van Beethoven — Beethoven's music, alongside Bach's, captured Simone's imagination in her classical training and fed her expansive chordal style.
• Mahalia Jackson — Simone was a church pianist from age ten — the gospel of Mahalia Jackson's tradition was the sacred root beneath her classical and jazz training.
• Duke Ellington — Simone cited Ellington as a major model for combining jazz sophistication with personal expression and orchestral imagination.

Which artists did Nina Simone influence?

• Jeff Buckley — Nina Simone was among Buckley's cited influences; he covered her material and drew on her emotive, genre-spanning interpretive approach.
• David Bowie — Bowie recorded his version of 'Wild Is the Wind' under the impression of Nina Simone's reading.
• Lana Del Rey — Simone is a touchstone for Del Rey's smoky torch phrasing — she has covered Simone's 'The Other Woman' as an album closer.
• Cat Stevens — Nina Simone's expressive phrasing was among the influences Stevens named.
• Sade — Nina Simone is among the singers Sade Adu names as her own listening.
• Gil Scott-Heron — Named among his influences, and the closest precedent for what he did: politics stated outright inside a musical performance.