Many music fans know that Nina Simone’s 1965 hit I Put a Spell on You helped establish the 32-year-old singer as the “High Priestess of Soul.”
Few probably realise that it was Langston Hughes – the pioneering poet and face of the Harlem Renaissance – who had encouraged Simone to record it.
As a Langston Hughes scholar, I’ve spent the past six years documenting Hughes’ largely overlooked friendship with Simone. I explore the creative bond they shared in my newest book, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power, which details how the two supported and inspired each other.
The seeds of this relationship were planted in 1949, when Hughes delivered a lecture featuring his own poetry at Simone’s high school in Asheville, North Carolina. Simone – then known by her birth name, Eunice Waymon – was just 16 years old.
As part of the programming, Simone played the piano. Hughes was impressed. Even though she was just a teenager, Hughes saw her as a “somebody” – a budding talent who would one day join figures such as classical singer Marian Anderson in the pantheon of legendary Black performance artists. Simone’s performance that day went on to inspire his poem To Be Somebody:
Little girl
Dreaming of a baby grand piano
(Not knowing there’s a Steinway bigger, bigger)
Dreaming of a baby grand to...