Nina Simone siblings: Meet Sam Waymon

Publish date: 2024-06-10

Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, was an American singer, composer, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her work was influenced by classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop music.

Her father, John Divine Waymon, ran a barbershop, a dry cleaner, and a nightclub, and her mother, Mary Kate Irvin, served as a Methodist minister. The sixth of eight children in an underprivileged environment, she began playing piano at the age of three or four; the first song she learned was “God Be With You, Till We Meet Again”.

She demonstrated her piano skills at the local church. Her first classical performance occurred when she was twelve years old. Simone later reported that her parents, who were sitting in the first row, were forced to move to the back of the hall during the performance to make room for white people.