Variety reported that “Nina Simone’s younger brother Dr. Samuel Waymon and inductor Mary J. Blige gave beautiful speeches, with Blige saying Simone could “sing anything” and Waymon throwing down a gauntlet to other artists that if they are considering sampling his sister, “You better pay for it.”
Consequence of Sound reported that during her speech, Blige noted the relevance of the late singer’s work, specifically to the African American community. “Her songs about injustice, struggle, and black life resonate to this day,” Blige remarked (via Rolling Stone). They’re just as relevant to Ferguson or Baltimore or Mississippi as they were to the civil rights era. And, of course, hip-hop took notice, with artists such as Lauryn Hill, who took the stage with a medley of Simone covers. She and Andra Day split tribute duties, with Day going first, backed by The Roots as she performed “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” and “I Put a Spell on You”, the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ song Simone famously covered. For her part, Hill covered “Ne Me Quitte Pas”, “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair”, and “Feeling Good”.
“Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard brought down the house inducting and honoring Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singing from the gut on “That’s All.” Backstage, Sambora embraced Howard, giving her a big hug and telling her that nobody else could have been a better pick. Speaking to Variety, Howard said she wishes more people knew about Tharpe, and suggested that her story is ripe for a movie.”
WATCH NINA SIMONE’S INDUCTION HERE
From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nina Simone Bio
Nina Simone’s unapologetic rage and accusatory voice named names and took no prisoners in the African-American struggle for equality in the early 1960s.
Simone’s groundbreaking compositions like “Mississippi Goddam” and “Four Women” defined a songwriting voice that was proudly, defiantly black and female.
Her triumphant voice sang what it meant to be young, gifted and black in a sometimes unjust and troubled world.
“Nina could sing anything, period,” Mary J. Blige told Rolling Stone when the magazine named Nina Simone one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. And in some ways, that astonishing, unclassifiable range has made it especially difficult to assess Simone’s legacy – often considered a jazz singer (particularly because of her masterful piano playing), she was classically trained, yet her nickname was “The High Priestess of Soul.”
If anything, she claimed that she was a folk singer, and her dazzling repertoire – Israeli folk tunes, compositions by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, songs by the Bee Gees and Leonard Cohen and George Harrison, traditional ballads, spirituals, children’s songs – remains unparalleled.
Simone’s music provided the true soundtrack to the civil rights movement, and her inspiration as an artist and an activist has been celebrated by Lauryn Hill, Kanye West (who has frequently sampled her work), John Legend, Common, and Alicia Keys, who once wrote that “she made me want to live life, learn and experience it earnestly and use my voice to say SOMETHING!”
