Press Play with Madeleine Brand
'What Happened, Miss Simone?'
Nina Simone’s voice is instantly identifiable, but her life story is less well known. She was a classically trained pianist in the south, a prodigy in fact, who became a hugely popular jazz performer. She was a civil rights activist and an iconoclast, who lived both a charmed and tortured life. Nina Simone died in 2003.
By Barbara Bogaev • • 1 min readNina Simone’s voice is instantly identifiable, but her life story is less well known. She was a classically trained pianist in the south, a prodigy in fact, who became a hugely popular jazz performer. She was a civil rights activist and an iconoclast, who lived both a charmed and tortured life. Nina Simone died in 2003. Now, a new documentary tells the story of her life and music with new archival footage and interviews with her only child, Lisa Simone Kelly. Madeleine Brand spoke with Liz Garbus, the director of the new film.
