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You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.
Nina Simone
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Nina Simone
Age: 75 †
Born: 1933
Born: February 21
Died: 2008
Died: April 21
Composer
Jazz Pianist
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Tryon
North Carolina
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
High Priestess of Soul
Reflect
Concerned
Duty
Help
Times
Artist
Helping
More quotes by Nina Simone
That's a very high goal to have, study eight hours a day to be a concert pianist.
Nina Simone
I love to travel to hear different kinds of music.
Nina Simone
I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
Nina Simone
Desegregation is a joke.
Nina Simone
I feel what they feel. And people who listen to me know that, and it makes them feel like they're not alone.
Nina Simone
There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
Nina Simone
I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.
Nina Simone
I made wine from the lilac tree/Put my heart in its recipe/It makes me see what I want to see/And be what I want to be
Nina Simone
Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.
Nina Simone
The Beatles are lucky, very lucky. But what has happened to them has nothing to do with them, in a sense. They came along at the right time. Attention was focused on them. They've had the chance to grow in almost any direction they wanted. Very lucky. They are not exceptionally talented.
Nina Simone
I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.
Nina Simone
Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.
Nina Simone
I love the classics but there are many new ideas to be made into reality. I'd rather be concerned with my own thing. There are many masters of classical piano so I'll leave it to them.
Nina Simone
It is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules...It's hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
Nina Simone
I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.
Nina Simone
To be young, gifted and black!
Nina Simone
Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
Nina Simone
To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.
Nina Simone
I don't like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.
Nina Simone
I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.
Nina Simone
