Once I understood Bach’s music, I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world.
NINA SIMONEYou can’t be different if you look at it. Being gifted is different. I had that in my piano playing. I’m very thankful for that. I’m very aware of that. The style and what I fed is just me. I never worked at it. It just happened.
More Nina Simone Quotes
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If I want to take a particular form of blues somewhere else I have the equipment to do it but I never even thought of it.
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To be young, gifted and black!
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How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?
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I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat – a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.
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My singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That’s how I see my voice.
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What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.
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It is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules. It’s hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
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That’s a very high goal to have, study eight hours a day to be a concert pianist.
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I don’t like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.
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I would like you to know, I am a doctor of music.
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I don’t like drug addicts and she sounds like a cat.
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I believe in racial memory too. I’m sure I’ve got ancient African blood in me that has something to do with what I am.
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You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.
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I look forward to doing my own show, not someone else’s. That’s always been my dream.
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I play piano, by ear. Yes, I write songs and good ones.
NINA SIMONE