101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World by Louise Wright

Author:Louise Wright
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Biography
ISBN: 9781788886154
Publisher: Arcturus Digital Limited
Published: 2018-04-24T10:14:05+00:00

Leontyne Price

(b.1927)

Soprano singer Leontyne Price was the first African American to be a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, USA. She had to overcome many obstacles. Leontyne’s 1961 debut at the Met was greeted with more than 40 minutes of non-stop applause.

Nina Simone

Musician, Singer, and Activist

(1933–2003)

Nina Simone (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon) was from North Carolina, USA. Her mother was a Baptist minister and her father was a maintenance person and preacher. Nina was only three years old when she started playing songs on the organ in her mother’s church.

Recognizing her incredible talent, Nina’s parents sent her to piano lessons. She was a natural and decided to become the first black classical pianist. Her home town raised money to fund her time at high school and then Juilliard, New York City’s leading school for music and dance.

Nina grew up at a time of terrible racial discrimination. Slavery had been abolished in 1865, but many states, especially southern ones, had segregation. Black citizens weren’t allowed to share public spaces with white people. The civil rights movement in the 1960s worked to change this through peaceful protests and campaigning.

Being exposed to unfairness and racism throughout her life shaped Nina as an artist. When she was 12 years old, she gave her first-ever piano recital. Her parents, who were seated in the front row, were asked to move to make space for white audience members. Nina refused to play until her parents were given back their seats.

“You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.”

Nina gave up her hopes of becoming a classical pianist in 1951, when she was rejected by the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. It was a disappointment, but it led to Nina’s amazing career as one her century’s most celebrated musicians and singers.

In 1954 Nina started working as a musician in a bar. She adopted the stage name “Nina Simone” to keep her mother from finding out—she wouldn’t have approved! Nina’s rich voice and her soulful versions of much-loved songs made her a popular fixture.

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