Maps of Music

A Single Woman (1993)

Where the lyrics of A Single Woman take you, and where it was really made.

Nina Simone's final studio album, released in 1993, has a cover photo in which she wears a Christian Dior dress.

Key places

Recorded at Ocean Way (1993)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Discogs lists Ocean Way Recording as the recording studio. The dot sits at Los Angeles city centre, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• A Single Woman is the final studio album by Nina Simone
• Released in 1993 via Elektra Records; release date 3 August 1993
• Credits include strings, woodwinds, French accordion and harp
• Produced by Andre Fischer; executive producer Michael Alago

Background

• Arrangements by Jeremy Lubbock, John Clayton, Richard Evans, Nina Simone and Andre Fischer
• Gerald Vinci is listed as concertmaster and violin
• The session players include bass, drums, percussion, tenor saxophone, trumpet, accordion and harp
• Simone plays piano and sings on the album

Recording

• Recorded at Ocean Way Recording, per the Discogs credits
• Mixed at Bill Schnee Studios, per the Discogs credits
• Mastered at The Mastering Lab, per the Discogs credits
• Mixing and recording are credited to Al Schmitt on the Wikipedia page
• Mastering is credited to Doug Sax in a separate listing

Cover

• Carol Friedman is credited for photography
• Simone wears a Christian Dior dress on the cover photo

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina; the sixth of eight children.
• Began playing piano at age three or four and gave a classical debut recital at age 12.
• Failed to gain admission to the Curtis Institute of Music, which she attributed to racism.
• Played piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City and adopted the stage name "Nina Simone" in 1954, after which she began singing as well.

Career

• Debut album Little Girl Blue (1958) included "I Loves You, Porgy", her only Billboard top 20 single in the US.
• Recorded more than 40 albums up to 1974; her 1960s protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" tied her to the civil rights movement.
• Left the US in 1970 and settled in Europe, later living in Liberia, Barbados, the Netherlands, and France.
• Autobiography I Put a Spell on You was published in 1991; she continued performing until her death on April 21, 2003.
• Known as the "High Priestess of Soul"; Rolling Stone ranked her No. 21 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Members

• Solo artist; she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist Al Schackman throughout most of her career.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The Times wrote that despite the strings, the woodwinds, the French accordions and the 'My Way' overtones of many of these songs, Simone speaks with bleak honesty and unashamed recalcitrance to many people who value such qualities above sham professionalism or artifice.

Records

• Copyright in 1993 belongs to Elektra Records for the US
• Copyright outside the US belongs to WEA International
• The album is Simone's final studio album, released in 1993 via Elektra Records.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Trivia

• The Folks Who Live on the Hill is dedicated to the prime minister of Barbados, with whom Simone had a romantic relationship in the late 1970s.
• Papa, Can You Hear Me? is generally better known in Barbra Streisand's version.
• No Woman No Cry is a cover of a Bob Marley song.
• Marry Me is a song written by Simone.
• The CD booklet photo, showing Simone seated in a golden turban, was often reused after her death in 2003 at age 70.

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org

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