How a fiery entertainer submerged her talent in self-pity

Biography; What Happened, ; Miss Simone?: A Biography; By Alan Light; Canongate, €20

If Nina Simone’s original career plan had worked out, she would never have sung a note. Growing up in a small and segregated North Carolina town, her early ambition was to be the world’s first great black concert pianist. At the age of 17, she applied to Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, and was so confident that her family ...