Nina Simone - Silk & Soul 2 x 180g 45rpm Vinyl LPs

Originally released in 1967, Silk & Soul was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1968 for the song "You'll Go To Hell". This album contains the classics "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free", which would become a Civil Rights anthem and "It Be's That Way Sometimes", written by her brother Sam Waymon.

Besides the Grammy nominated tune, the album includes Simone's version of Bacharach's "The Look of Love" which was written for the 1967 movie Casino Royale.

Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Born the sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. When she began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education and become a classical pianist she was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendering of "I Loves You, Porgy" was a hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958— when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue —and 1974.

Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic contralto. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience–performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years old.

"After moving from the blues to soul for her second RCA album, Nina Simone's extroverted, confident delivery proved a natural match with the ranks of soul shouters working the crowds during the late '60s. ... the less familiar tunes, like the highlight "It Be's That Way Sometimes" (written by Simone's brother Sam Waymon), "Go to Hell," and "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free," a trio of songs Nina Simone has no trouble making her own." - John Bush, allmusic.com