主播大秀

by Bob Stanley

She came in, in a very, very black mood and gave me a rich two and a half minutes...

Brian Matthew

is a SOTS regular. Her original version of The Animals' Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, her cover of the Bee Gees' To Love Somebody, and the powerful Van McCoy song Either Way I Lose make her a strong sixties presence. Brian interviewed her a few times and realised she was "a bit quirky and peculiar because she felt, with a great deal of justification, that she'd been mistreated, mainly by record companies. So she had a great chip on her shoulder."

The last time he met her, Nina was promoting a residency at Ronnie Scott's club in Soho. Brian remembers it as "an absolute disaster. I was a great admirer of her work, saw her at Ronnie's (Ronnie Scott's) and thought she was really great. She was always a bit tight. We had her on Round Midnight (Brian's Radio 2 show), and Robin the producer was devoted to her, he was thrilled to be meeting her. She came up from Ronnie's with a crowd - I think they were related to her, at least some of them were. He went up to her and said 'Delighted to meet you Miss Simone, may I call you Nina?' And she said 'No! You may not!'. I thought wow, we're off to a flying start here!

"She sat with her crowd in the control room and eventually one of these guys came in and said 'I want you to tell me the questions you're going to ask Miss Simone'. I said 'I'm not going to tell you. That's down to me, not down to you, I'm sorry we don't work like that'. And he looked a bit put out. So he went back and told her, there was a bit of a hoo-ha... She came in, in a very, very black mood and gave me a rich two and a half minutes, it wasn't much, and then said she had to go back to Ronnie's. I said, fair enough.鈥�

The producer decided to call Miss Simone a cab to take her back to Ronnie Scott's. Brian, the production team, and Nina Simone's crowd "all stood on the steps outside with nothing to say to each other, not too pleased with each other. I remember Robin was holding the cab door open for them and said 'Thank you very much Miss Simone. F*** off" and slammed the door. I thought good for you, man! I never met her again, I'm happy to say. We were only promoting her appearance at the club. Dear God!鈥�