:00:00. > :00:16.She has been a singing star since the 1960s, a civil rights activist
:00:17. > :00:21.and a woman you don't mess with on or off stage. She has worked with
:00:22. > :00:26.Martin Luther King and has sung everywhere. Once she even shot at
:00:27. > :00:30.somebody. Still a huge star and as powerful as at all, she is a guest
:00:31. > :00:46.today on HARDtalk. -- as powerful as ever.
:00:47. > :00:57.# I love you, Porgy # Don't let him take me.
:00:58. > :01:16.# Don't let them handle me. # And drive me mad.
:01:17. > :01:28.# If you can keep me, I want to stay here with you forever, two days
:01:29. > :01:59.after forever, # With you forever...
:02:00. > :02:04.# 'Cause I got my man. Nina Simone, Doctor Simone, a very warm welcome
:02:05. > :02:12.to the programme. Thank you Tim Sebastian, you have the same name as
:02:13. > :02:20.my first love. I can't lose with that, can I? No, you can't. Tell me
:02:21. > :02:31.about music as a political weapon. Oh, now. That is a hard one. As a
:02:32. > :02:41.political weapon. It has helped me for 30 years defend the rights of
:02:42. > :02:49.American blacks and third world people all over the world and to
:02:50. > :02:55.defend them with protest songs. And it helps to change the world. When
:02:56. > :03:02.you get up on the stage and you sing what's in your mind, just the
:03:03. > :03:06.singing, or... No, to move the audience. To make them conscious of
:03:07. > :03:14.what has been done to my people around the world. So, you sing from
:03:15. > :03:23.anger? No, I sing from... Intelligence. A scene from letting
:03:24. > :03:27.them know that I know who they are --I sing. And what they have done to
:03:28. > :03:35.my people around the world. That's not anger. Anger, anger has its
:03:36. > :03:41.place. Anger has fire and fire moves things! But I think from
:03:42. > :03:50.intelligence, I don't want them to think that I don't know who they
:03:51. > :03:57.are, darling. Who are they? They are the white people around the world
:03:58. > :04:08.with exception of Nelson Mandela who I met this year. I went to his
:04:09. > :04:12.marriage and anniversary in 1998. And you were disappointed? No, he is
:04:13. > :04:17.a saint, the greatest person on the earth. How much does your success
:04:18. > :04:22.mean to you? It means a great deal to me and my stage presence and
:04:23. > :04:30.being on stage means a great deal to me. My music is first in my life.
:04:31. > :04:34.And what is a second? What do you sacrifice for your music? I don't
:04:35. > :04:39.sacrifice anything from my music but secondly, I would love to be
:04:40. > :04:47.married, you know, I think a married the --I would marry the cameraman
:04:48. > :04:53.over there. That is second to my music. My music, nothing takes its
:04:54. > :05:00.place, nothing. You have been married before. Twice. Unlucky in
:05:01. > :05:10.love? Unlucky in marriages. Not so unlucky at love. Lots of love, to
:05:11. > :05:15.marriages. Yes. Why didn't they work out? The music got in the way in the
:05:16. > :05:23.one where I married the crop from the United States. The music got in
:05:24. > :05:32.the way. --. And he treated me like horse. -- horse. A non-stop,
:05:33. > :05:38.workaholic. And the one in Tunisia, that was very hot like a volcano and
:05:39. > :05:44.his family didn't want him to move to France and France didn't want him
:05:45. > :05:49.because he is a North African. And the volcano didn't last? No but it
:05:50. > :05:55.lasted long enough for me never to forget it, I will tell you that.
:05:56. > :06:00.Among all the unforgettable things and people in your life, there was
:06:01. > :06:06.Martin Luther King, wasn't there? Yes, well I marched with him, I knew
:06:07. > :06:15.him, I composed a song for him, I knew his wife, all his children and
:06:16. > :06:27.I was in the march with him and the march on Alabama at the college and
:06:28. > :06:33.the march on Washington. I was right beside his side. We saw the public
:06:34. > :06:38.face, the public man. What was he like in the private moments?
:06:39. > :06:45.Darling, he was always on stage. His dedication was of such immense
:06:46. > :06:52.proportion that he never forgot for a minute that he was there to lead
:06:53. > :06:58.my people. He never forgot that for a minute. And when he was not on
:06:59. > :07:05.stage, he was still on stage. He was always talking about equal rights.
:07:06. > :07:09.You said in the past that you would have worked to try to get him the
:07:10. > :07:14.presidency. Do you think realistically that he could ever
:07:15. > :07:19.have had a shot? Yes, he could halve. Yet he could have, baby. It
:07:20. > :07:24.could have. If he hadn't gotten killed and we had a little bit more
:07:25. > :07:29.support. Do you really think America was ready for a black President?
:07:30. > :07:35.Yes, I do. Because even black politicians in Washington these days
:07:36. > :07:42.don't think it is the case. Not now! Jesse Johnson was no match for him.
:07:43. > :07:46.There has not been a man since then. And his dream came true with Nelson
:07:47. > :07:53.Mandela. Because Nelson got it done in South Africa. In South Africa. So
:07:54. > :07:57.the same thing that was done in South Africa could have... Could
:07:58. > :08:02.have been done in the United States, yes. I distinctly believe that. I
:08:03. > :08:14.need a cigarette. You are making the heart. Can I have a light? Please?
:08:15. > :08:23.Go ahead. How did you feel when he died? Oh, odd, man, I was
:08:24. > :08:31.devastated. I wrote a song called the King of Love is dead. I think I
:08:32. > :08:37.must have cried for two weeks. And it killed my inspiration for the
:08:38. > :08:45.civil rights movement. I am ready. And the United States and I moved
:08:46. > :08:50.away. You are also scared, weren't you? Because of all the killing
:08:51. > :08:55.going on... Robert Kennedy and Jack Kennedy were killed. Do you think
:08:56. > :09:06.they were coming after you? Not only that, the FBI was after the! They
:09:07. > :09:13.had a file on you. In Washington. You never saw it? I was told about
:09:14. > :09:30.it and I wrote a book called I put a cat Max Bell on You. I did --I Put A
:09:31. > :09:37.Spell on You. I was rejected for a scholarship from university and I
:09:38. > :09:41.was asked if I had ever been mixed up in the rebellion. He said they
:09:42. > :09:50.never found anything that they actually went to Curtis Institute
:09:51. > :09:57.and enquired about me. Doctor Simone, you were born in North
:09:58. > :10:05.Carolina. Very poor, your family. Yes, very poor. A lot of love. A lot
:10:06. > :10:10.of love. Not much to it? At times... My mother had a saying, she said
:10:11. > :10:14.well, we don't know what we're going to get dinner tonight but I will
:10:15. > :10:19.pray and it will come and sure enough, she prayed and it came. She
:10:20. > :10:25.had been a minister for 57 years. She is now 97 years old. You first
:10:26. > :10:32.sang in her church. What was that like? It was fun because I had never
:10:33. > :10:38.studied the piano. I was a child prodigy. So when they got up and
:10:39. > :10:43.started shouting, I started playing. Literally just sat down and started
:10:44. > :10:49.a... Started playing. The first song I played with God be with you. I
:10:50. > :10:55.play bad as three years old. And many went on to train as a classical
:10:56. > :11:01.pianist. That was your love, wasn't it? I'm not over it yet. Are you
:11:02. > :11:07.disappointed that you didn't, in the end, become what you and your
:11:08. > :11:14.parents... Yes, yes it! The first black concert pianist. Yes, we don't
:11:15. > :11:18.have any! All we have is Andre Watts and they don't except in very much
:11:19. > :11:22.because he is part German. The blacks didn't accept him but they
:11:23. > :11:29.would have accepted me. At the age of 12, you are playing in a library,
:11:30. > :11:37.were due? A music library. Yes, my first recital. -- weren't you. Sub
:11:38. > :11:41.-- somebody said something to your parents. They put me in a room to
:11:42. > :11:47.watch me and I got up briefly and I said if my parents don't sit in the
:11:48. > :11:52.front seat, I don't play. And they will put their web that -- they were
:11:53. > :11:58.put there because they were black. It was my first encounter with
:11:59. > :12:07.racism. My favourite record that I listen to now is Marianne Anderson
:12:08. > :12:11.who is the first, the world's first black, I listen to her every
:12:12. > :12:18.morning. She wakes me up and gives me inspiration to start the day. She
:12:19. > :12:24.sings the song of the Lord, wait patiently for him and he will give
:12:25. > :12:30.you your heart 's desire. And he will give you your heart 's desire.
:12:31. > :12:41.Religion is deeply ingrained. Deeply ingrained. All religions. I don't
:12:42. > :12:49.believe in any one religion. No, I don't believe in one religion. I
:12:50. > :12:54.believe in Allah, I believe in the Hindu religion because I studied
:12:55. > :12:59.yoga for years. I believe in bodies, I believe in all of them because
:13:00. > :13:04.they are necessary for the sheep, darling. The sheep have to have
:13:05. > :13:11.something to follow. And religion is necessary. I believe in all of them.
:13:12. > :13:16.So when you got turned down by the Curtis School in Philadelphia, you
:13:17. > :13:23.needed to make some money, didn't you? Yes. So you started playing in
:13:24. > :13:32.bars and supper parties... Yes, I did. What was that like? It was
:13:33. > :13:37.awful. But it got his money. It got me $900 a week. I gave 50 a week to
:13:38. > :13:42.my parents. And they came to Philadelphia to be close to you.
:13:43. > :13:53.Yes. What was your big break? Atlantic City. Playing in the supper
:13:54. > :14:02.club. Singing the song Porgy which was given to me by Assam, as
:14:03. > :14:10.student. --A fan. He liked Billie holiday. I can't stand her but he
:14:11. > :14:20.liked her. And he asked if I would sing it. So because I didn't have to
:14:21. > :14:24.practise my piano to work in Atlantic City, I learnt the song and
:14:25. > :14:27.first sang it there in a bar. An agent heard me and took me to New
:14:28. > :14:36.York and put it on our record. But something disappointed
:14:37. > :14:43.you because you wrote a letter You apparently wrote a letter
:14:44. > :14:52.to your parents saying "This is where you wanted me to play,
:14:53. > :14:56.but I should have been playing So this was your glorious occasion,
:14:57. > :15:03.but you were still disappointed. Well, I loved the audience,
:15:04. > :15:07.but I wasn't playing classical music, and I wanted to be,
:15:08. > :15:14.and so I wrote, and I quote again what you have just said, I wrote,
:15:15. > :15:18."Yes, I'm in Carnegie Hall, And then came "My Baby
:15:19. > :15:24.Just Cares For Me." Years later, but it
:15:25. > :15:28.was huge, wasn't it? It started out as a song
:15:29. > :15:35.for it an ad, didn't it? No, it started out as a piece
:15:36. > :15:49.of Play-Doh for children in England. It started out as a
:15:50. > :15:51.video for children. And then it, umm, it
:15:52. > :15:58.got bigger and bigger, and everybody started to hear it,
:15:59. > :16:01.and it became very famous, and it is the most famous
:16:02. > :16:04.song I have recorded. People say it turned
:16:05. > :16:06.you from cult into legend. So, you knew after that
:16:07. > :16:19.you are on your way. I was on my way before that because,
:16:20. > :16:24.let's face it, I had been playing, I was playing, around
:16:25. > :16:26.the world before then. When you left America in 1972,
:16:27. > :16:31.you left because you couldn't... You get races and
:16:32. > :16:44.crossing the street! It's in the very fabric
:16:45. > :16:59.of American society. And I worked in Newark,
:17:00. > :17:07.New Stadium, and Seattle, and they were so happy and surprised
:17:08. > :17:11.to see me because they had not This time they were more
:17:12. > :17:21.than happy to see me. They had not seen me in so long
:17:22. > :17:32.they thought I was dead. But you would not go
:17:33. > :17:37.back and live there? No way am I going to ever
:17:38. > :17:43.go back there again. Josephine Baker went back twice,
:17:44. > :17:48.and after her second time So you travel to
:17:49. > :17:51.Liberia, didn't you? And that was apparently
:17:52. > :17:54.the happiest time in your life. And, you remember that Liberia had
:17:55. > :18:00.a liaison with America, so it was known as a place
:18:01. > :18:06.for blacks whom they could not contain, and they were all rich,
:18:07. > :18:14.and lived on the beach. I had house servants
:18:15. > :18:17.and the President's daughter gave me I stayed on the beach
:18:18. > :18:20.every damn day. I was happier there,
:18:21. > :18:27.and what's more, I got engaged to the Foreign Minister's father,
:18:28. > :18:37.who was at that time 70 years old. Yes, he was killed,
:18:38. > :18:43.they killed 13 of them. Life seems to have
:18:44. > :18:50.gone wrong for you. My music has always lifted me,
:18:51. > :18:59.and I have had a few love affairs. No, I have no complaints
:19:00. > :19:06.about my life. But in 1978, in England,
:19:07. > :19:09.you told a newspaper "My personal life is a shambles, I'm black,
:19:10. > :19:12.and I've been struggling My personal life has been a shambles
:19:13. > :19:32.because everything has had to be But then there were reports
:19:33. > :19:40.in the late 70s of your drug I had enough money,
:19:41. > :19:52.I was never homeless, You also seem to have had a lot
:19:53. > :20:04.of problems with the music industry. I still have 60 albums being pirated
:20:05. > :20:14.in England right now! Nobody's actually
:20:15. > :20:16.paying you for these? I have a great lawyer
:20:17. > :20:20.from San Francisco, and he goes after as many pirates as he can,
:20:21. > :20:23.but you cannot catch them all. I've been pirated
:20:24. > :20:32.all over the world. When you get up on a stage now,
:20:33. > :20:36.and they said this in 1987, when you were at Ronnie Scott's
:20:37. > :20:39.Jazz Club in London... They said "You get the whole
:20:40. > :20:50.Nina Simone when she's up on stage. "You get her mood, you get
:20:51. > :20:53.the monologue, you get the music." Is this the whole
:20:54. > :20:55.Nina Simone experience? And you keep waiting
:20:56. > :20:58.until you're ready? Because I have to be composed,
:20:59. > :21:08.I have to be poised, I have to remember what my first
:21:09. > :21:11.piano teacher told me, "You do not touch that piano
:21:12. > :21:14.until you are ready, and until they are ready
:21:15. > :21:16.to listen to you." .from my head,
:21:17. > :21:32.and from my instincts. And then when it's ready,
:21:33. > :21:38.and when you're happy Is it always a buzz,
:21:39. > :21:46.is it always a huge kick for you? Do you happen to be travelling
:21:47. > :22:17.as much as you did? But I don't mind being
:22:18. > :22:36.on the road for my music. You were about to say
:22:37. > :22:44.something else weren't you? I dare say it was a record company
:22:45. > :22:48.that stole my albums and did not pay me and they came to Switzerland
:22:49. > :22:52.and I said where is my money, they said, we are not
:22:53. > :22:55.going to give you any money. It wasn't a knife, and I followed
:22:56. > :23:03.them to a restaurant and I tried I missed him and I went
:23:04. > :23:07.back to America. So now we have advertised
:23:08. > :23:22.that side of your life, you say that you are still
:23:23. > :23:25.looking for a lover... People, men, are going
:23:26. > :23:28.to be a bit nervous, They have to take me as I am
:23:29. > :23:48.and recognise that I'm a star as well as a woman, and they have
:23:49. > :23:53.to deal with the two. Nina Simone, Doctor Simone,
:23:54. > :24:01.it has been a pleasure having From Malcolm X
:24:02. > :24:11.University in Chicago. From Ambrose College
:24:12. > :24:16.in Ambrose Massachusetts. OK, thank you for setting
:24:17. > :24:18.the record straight. Cooler, cloudy weather
:24:19. > :24:33.is more likely as we head There was some sunshine
:24:34. > :24:36.around yesterday.