Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina. She was the sixth of eight children born into the Waymon home. Simone's father, John Divine Waymon, went through many jobs as a laborer in the South, on occasion running his own business. Simone's mother was a religious woman who later became an ordained minister in the Methodist church. Raised in this religious home, the church was a major influence in her musical direction. Her father, a former entertainer, was additionally a significant force in Simone's musical education. She recalled later that everything in her adolescence revolved around music and it is no surprise that beginning at an early age Simone's amazing talents as a pianist were recognizable. She was the accompanist at her mother's church and would travel to revivals where her music was used to draw in crowds. Her virtuosity soon required more precise instruction and was supplemented by formal training, which expanded her repertoire to included Johann Sebastian Bach and other classical composers. It was through this instruction that Simone invested in pursuing classical music as her career.

After leaving Tryon for a women's boarding high school in Asheville, NC, Simone focused her sights on New York City, receiving a year-long scholarship to study piano at Julliard. After Julliard she focused on the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. After being rejected by the Institute and recognizing that the rejection was motivated by race, Simone moved to Philadelphia to be with her transplanted family and study piano. In Philadelphia her schedule included individual lessons with a professor at Curtis as well as playing piano for local teachers and their students. To make more money, she soon took on students of her own and it was through one of her students that she made the career move that would change her life: playing Atlantic City.

Simone began playing at the Midtown Bar and Grill in Atlantic City in the 1950s and quickly changed her name in order to hide this career change from her religious family. At that point in time, Simone had never been in a bar but she quickly settled in as she lost herself in her music. In addition to playing the piano, Simone was encouraged by the owner to sing during her performances and it subsequently became a major component of her career. As word spread of her eclectic sets, which included classical, Broadway, and popular pieces mixed together, she gained a large following that was unprecedented for that venue. It was in this bar that she developed her performance style. With the utmost respect for her music, she demanded that her audience observe respect for her performance by sitting in silence during her sets. Although irregular and not always appreciated by patrons, this practice defined Simone's relationship with her audience in the years to come.

While continuing to play in Atlantic City during the summers, Simone began playing in clubs in Philadelphia in order to supplement her income for professional study. Through these events, she gained notice and was visited by promoters. She made a move back to New York in order to follow the promise of a recording career, starting with Bethlehem Records in 1958. Over the next few years, she would record and gain a mass following in the jazz and rhythm and blues scenes and be called upon to participate in the growing movement for Civil Rights within the United States and abroad. Her many friends in the movement, including Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes, Miriam Makeba, and James Baldwin encouraged her and helped her to find more meaning within her songs and performances.

Through her participation in social justice movements, she gained a heightened awareness of racial oppression and used this as the text for her many protest songs including her most famous, "Mississippi Goddamn" written in 1964. Her consciousness on issues of racial justice continued to gain global perspective. She found a community in Africa, beginning with a trip in 1961 and she ultimately would find home there after her exile. Starting with the Caribbean and moving to Africa and later Europe, Simone fled America to gain her freedom as a global citizen. With dozens of albums and millions of fans, she became an icon of musical integrity and righteous rebellion the world over. After decades dedicated to music and justice, she passed away in Paris in 2003.¹¹⁷