In the grand hierarchy of the greatest African-American female vocalists of the 20th century - Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Aretha Franklin, among them - Nina Simone (1933-2003) holds a special position of honor for the fearless role she played as an uncompromising ambas¬sador of cultural pride at the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements from the late 1950s to the 1970s.
Under¬pinning her status as one of the outspoken voices of that tumultuous period in history was Nina Simone's fascinating and wide-ranging musical taste. Her palette ranged from the 1920s blues and jazz of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, to the standard songbook of Irving Berlin and the Gershwins, from traditional American balladry and the poetry of Langston Hughes, to the folk and folk rock of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, Richie Havens, Sandy Denny, Jimmy Webb (and many others). Her song choices further spanned the repertoire of the Beatles, the Byrds, the Bee Gees, and Hair, to Olatunji and the exciting new strains of Afro-pop and World Music before the genre even had a name - and much more.
All these musical roots and branches of Nina Simone's life are explored in depth on TO BE FREE: THE NINA SIMONE STORY, a deluxe new four-disc (three CDs + DVD) box set that is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging collection of Nina Simone's music ever compiled. Containing 51 audio tracks - eight of them previously unreleased - covering her recording years from 1957 to 1993 for the Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA (for whom she cut nine LPs that are considered the pinnacle of her output), CTI, and Elektra record labels, plus another nine performances on the 23-minute documentary DVD - the box set will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting September 30th through RCA/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAIN¬MENT.
Nina Simone - To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story
• 3 CD Career Retrospective (1957-1993) including her work for Bethelem, Colpix, Philips, RCA, CTI and Elektra
• PLUS a 30 minute never-before-released documentary on DVD
• 54 songs , 8 previously unreleased tracks (*see below) including some never recorded elsewhere
• Nearly 4 hours of music
• Includes all chart hits (U.S. and U.K.) and her most famous signature songs
• Many unique and rare live recordings of her classic repertoire and the greatest album tracks from her entire career
• Liner notes include track-by-track commentary from Simone biographer, David Nathan, and introduction by Ed Ward, NPR's "rock & roll historian" and Fresh Air correspondent
• Never-before-seen photos from her family archives, recording session and performances
This amazing Nina Simone Box set hits stores on Tuesday, September 30. For more information, go to
http://www.feature.legacyrecordings.com/ninasimone/
