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I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.
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
Black
Become
Firsts
First
Would
Pianist
Think
Happier
Thinking
Classic
World
Sorry
More quotes by Nina Simone
Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.
Nina Simone
How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
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Anything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music. You can take the same phrase from any song and cut it up so many different ways - it's infinite. It's like God... you know?
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
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I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.
Nina Simone
It's logical that people from bad times will reflect their feelings in their communication. Music is part of the communication. If you lived it, you can do it.
Nina Simone
This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet.
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
You can't be different if you look at it. Being gifted is different. I had that in my piano playing. I'm very thankful for that. I'm very aware of that. The style and what I fed is just me. I never worked at it. It just happened.
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
Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
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 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
You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.
Nina Simone
I do not believe in mixing of the races. You can quote me. I don't believe in it, and I never have. I've never changed. I've never changed my hair. I've never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I've always been. I married a white man one time, but he was a creep
Nina Simone
That's a very high goal to have, study eight hours a day to be a concert pianist.
Nina Simone
It's a good time for black people to be alive.
Nina Simone
From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman.
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
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
