Nina Simone
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Year:
2018
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Inducted by:
Mary J. Blige
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Category:
Performers
Introduction
Nina Simone’s unapologetic rage and accusatory voice named names and took no prisoners in the African-American struggle for equality in the early 1960s.
Her triumphant voice sang what it meant to be young, gifted and black in a sometimes unjust and troubled world.
Mary J Blige Inducts Nina Simone
Mary J Blige Inducts Nina Simone at the 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony-
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Mary J Blige Inducts Nina Simone00:06:26 -
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Sam Waymon Accepts on Behalf of Nina Simone00:12:08 -
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"Feeling Good"00:04:22 -
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"Ne Me Quitte Pas"00:06:03 -
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"Ain't Got No - I Got Life"00:04:34 -
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"I Put A Spell On You"00:04:25 -
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"Black Is the Color Of My True Love's Hair"00:04:33 -
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"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free"00:02:39
Hall of Fame Essay
2018
“Nina could sing anything, period," Mary J. Blige told Rolling Stone when the magazine named Nina Simone one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
And in some ways, that astonishing, unclassifiable range has made it especially difficult to assess Simone's legacy - she was often considered a jazz singer (particularly because of her masterful piano playing), but it was a label she deeply resented, seeing it only as a racial classification. She was classically trained, yet her nickname was "The High Priestess of Soul."
I put a spell on you Because you're mine
Photography: Getty/WireImage
