What Happened, Miss Simone? Page #5

And Andrew was there.

He was sitting right there, and he said...

I said, "How's the baby?"

He says, "How's the mother?"

And I loved him for that.

I loved being a mother.

I was a good mother.

I was a goddamn good mother.

I remember our house

in Mount Vernon

like the back of my hand.

It was like a fairy tale.

I remember seeing

the paisley on the walls.

The walls were kind of like a...

They were hued in gold,

but it really wasn't gold.

It was more like a muted gold

but it felt like it was velvet.

So I'd always run my hands, like,

over the walls, because it was textured.

And my mom,

she had her cold storage

where she kept

her fur coats and her costumes.

So I was always in there.

These were the good, sweet days.

We were building and growing together.

I had an overall plan

to develop and create her as an artist.

I had set up an office

at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.

I had a publicist.

I had a guy who was a record-promotion man

that I got from Atlantic Records.

I had another fellow who did

the college radio station promotion,

and a photographer.

Dad was the original Puff Daddy.

I mean, he really had a vision,

and he was a very astute businessman.

And of course, she was burning

to get on to Carnegie Hall.

She had trained as a classical pianist

with the one thought in mind

of being the first

black female classical pianist

to appear in Carnegie Hall.

That was her prime objective.

However, none of

the New York City promoters

would undertake this project.

So, I took my own money

to promote the appearance.

She was ecstatic. I mean,

she was out of her mind with joy.

You apparently wrote

a letter to your parents saying,

"This is where you wanted me to play,

- but I should have been playing Bach."

- "Playing Bach."

So this was your glory occasion,

but you were still disappointed?

Well, I loved the audience,

but I wasn't playing classical music,

and I wanted to be,

and so I wrote,

"Yes, I'm in Carnegie Hall, finally,

but I'm not playing Bach."

After Carnegie Hall,

she was getting airplay

all over the country,

magazine pictures and stories.

She became highly successful

and recognized.

- Oh! Thank you very much!

- Meeting in Japan.

A young woman who's made

a very emphatic name for herself...

An accomplished pianist

and distinctive...

who's now become

a rather famous artist.

A remarkable blues-soul sound.

For the first time

on British television,

The High Priestess of Soul...

- Nina Simone.

- Nina Simone.

The great Nina Simone.

Miss Simone brings to her music

a kind of technique and discipline

we generally associate

with classical music.

She has introduced fugue and counterpoint

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