Nina Simone once said, “There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.” To make sure there is no excuse for ignorance, we’re dedicating our first celebrity post to one of our personal heroines and “High Priestess of Soul”, the glorious Nina Simone.

The unequivocal talent and passion shone bright at a young age when three year old Eunice Kathleen Waymon began playing the piano by ear. Raised in a black southern Methodist family, Eunice grew up in the world of gospel, playing music for church on Sundays. Through her piano studies she ultimately found the first love of her life, Johann Sebastian Bach. After playing the classical masterpieces of Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms, Eunice won a scholarship to Juilliard yet was unable to continue her education due to financial instability.

It was after Juilliard that Eunice experienced true oppression and prejudice based on the color of her skin when she was rejected from Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. To support herself, Eunice began teaching music as well as performing in the local bars. It was here that news of her powerfully smooth vocals and pristine piano skills began to spread. As she became more and more famous, Eunice changed her name to “Nina Simone”- “niña” meaning “girl” in Spanish and taken from the nickname her boyfriend fondly called her and “Simone” taken in respect to the French actress Simone Signoret.

Nina was more than just a powerhouse of musical talent, she became the voice (literally and musically) during the American Civil Rights Movement. Songs such as “Four Women”, “Young, Gifted, and Black”, “Mississippi Goddamn” (dedicated to the Birmingham bombings), “Why (The King of Love is Dead)” (dedicated to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.), captured the sadness, anger, and power of the rising African-American community.

Frustrated and exhausted by the racial divide in the United States, Nina became a globetrotter seeking out different cultures and musical styles, living in various countries around the world, before finally settling in the South of France in the early 1990’s.

It is rare to find such a personality as the great Nina Simone. A woman who commanded a room, sang and spoke of struggles others feared to approach, and consistently challenged herself personally and musically. In her obituary written by The Guardian, she is described as, “…an act to be handled like hot coals or priceless china”, which brings us to the final reason we are so in love with Nina Simone: her choice of dinnerware patterns!

Nina Simone is seen pictured at the Juan-Les-Pin hotel surrounded by Villeroy & Boch’s Basket dinnerware. I personally don’t believe I will ever be able to look at this pattern quite the same knowing that it was in the hands of such an impassioned revolutionary. This pattern features delicious fruit bordered by green basket/lattice designs against a white background.