Nina Simone
MUSICIAN (1933 - 2003)
Nina Simone was an American singer who
created urgent emotional intensity by singing
songs of love, protest, and Black
empowerment, with a dramatic, rough-edged
voice. She rocked the blues and jazz music
charts throughout her career. Over the 1960s,
she became one of the most popular female
music and fashion icons. Apart from creating
music, she also devoted her time to the 'Civil
Rights Movement.' Her personal experiences
with racism had her raising her voice against
such atrocities. She extensively protested the
Birmingham Church bombing that took the
lives of four young black girls. Her social
activism also infiltrated her music, and she
wrote many songs about racial injustice. HipHop
especially has taken a keen liking to Nina
Simone's often provocative lyrics.
Aretha Franklin
MUSICIAN (1942 - 2018)
Aretha Franklin was an American singer,
songwriter, and civil rights activist. Over 75
million copies of her albums have been sold.
In 2005 Franklin received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom for revolutionizing music
and "helping to shape our Nation's artistic and
cultural heritage." She is widely considered
today the "Queen of Soul." Although the song
"Respect" wasn't written by Franklin it was
adopted as a political protest anthem by both
the civil rights movement and the feminist
movement and was an electrifying call to
action. "I just lost my song," Otis Redding
famously said after hearing Franklin's feminist
cover. In 1987, Franklin became the first
woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame.
33