Nine Simone: The Biography
by David Brun-Lambert

Not quite putting a spell on us

Simone’s tale is so complex and fraught with inconsistencies in both character and recollections that the rise and fall of North Carolina-born Eunice Waymon is a mammoth task for any biographer, let alone one with a habit of undercutting himself. Acknowledging the faults with Simone’s own autobiography, Brun-Lambert often returns to it for quotes from his story’s tragic heroine; an over-reliance on rhetorical questions the likes of, “But what of the young girl who just wanted her mother’s love?” is a somewhat naïve narrative style to embrace, especially as the author seems keen to emphasise Simone’s potency in her role as civil rights ambassador.

Nevertheless, her tale is remarkable. All Eunice Waymon wanted to be was America’s first black classical concert pianist. Forced to play jazz and pop tunes for bar clientele, she invented Nina Simone and learned how to captivate with a dangerous charm that straddled contempt for her audience and a need to get on stage and live her tragedies through art. An increasingly consuming bipolar disorder exacerbated her midperiod erratic outbursts, which were, in turn, already well established thanks to being double-crossed or abandoned by the majority of her family and loved ones. Ultimately, Simone caused her own downfall, but that doesn’t overshadow her iconic status.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 9781845134303, 346 pages

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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