Jazz and blues diva Simone dies at 70

LEGENDARY jazz and blues singer Nina Simone died at her home in southern France last night, her manager said. She was 70.

Ms Simone, who was born in North Carolina in the USA, was best known for her interpretation of “My Baby Just Cares for Me” in 1966 and “One Night Stand” a year later.

Her manager Clifton Henderson, who was at Ms Simone's bedside at her death, said she had been ill for some time and had died in her sleep of “natural causes.”

“She inspired other singers to do what they believed in,” Mr Henderson said, saying the musician would also be remembered for her activism. “She’ll definitely be looked at as a civil rights movement leader.”

Ms Simone, whose real name was Eunice Waymon, was born in 1933 in North Carolina, the sixth of seven children in a poor family. She began playing the piano at age four.

In the late 1950s, Simone recorded her first tracks, including “Plain Gold Ring” and “Don’t Smoke In Bed.” She became involved in the American civil rights movement and captured the tragedy of the assassination of Martin Luther King in the song, “Why? The King of Love is Dead.”

Her songs have regularly been used in movies, including “Point of No Return” in 1993 and “Stealing Beauty.” She also sang versions of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” and interpreted several of classics by Bob Dylan and George Harrison.

However, Ms Simone eventually became disenchanted with life in the United States and moved to Barbados in 1974. She lived in the Netherlands and Paris before settling in the South of France.

Sometimes called “High Priestess of Soul”, Ms Simone stole the show at the Nice Jazz Festival in France in 1977 and also performed at the Thessalonica Jazz Festival in Greece in 1998. In 1999 she received a lifetime achievement in music award in Dublin.