The 10 Best Nina Simone Covers

As are many of the songs that Nina made famous, this track is a standardized folk tune that has been performed by countless people. No doubt, the song owes its prominence in part to Simone's own seminal version. But Feist's addition of rain sticks, weird sampled synths and of course her own guitar and vocals, turns this song into a witchcraft-like event -- it feels like a spell or an incantation by the end. Interestingly enough, the rendition that Simone made famous was spelled "See Line Woman" instead of the sea creature that Feist opts to fashion the song around. As is the case with most folk traditional tracks, each artist adds their own personal touch to the song, molding it in their own way. It honestly feels like this version is the most fully-formed realization of the song yet -- but it never could've come about without Simone's pioneering.

Well, John Legend could cover pretty much any song on earth and we'd all listen to it with bated breath because his voice is just so incredibly sexy. So, although the version that The Animals did of this song is probably more popular than either Simone's original or Legend's live cover, it really is John who captures the heart and soul of this track. Like many of her most powerful and popular tracks, the song carries subtexts of meaning for those involved with the then controversial Civil Rights movement. But as most excellent music contains a whole host of ambiguity, so too, is this song easily folded into the context of a relationship -- romantic or otherwise -- and the often impossible to communicate emotions that come into play within human interaction. Also, Legend delivers some improvised vocal scats at the tail-end of his version, and that in itself, is impossible to misunderstand.

Aretha's mighty pipes, accompanied by heaps of organ and back up vocalists, add an extra dimension to this moving gospel-sounding track. This song became an anthem for the Civil Rights movement, and though it was the single from Nina's record Black Gold in 1970, it's cultural weight was bolstered by Aretha including it on her record of the same name in 1972. Other artists to undertake covering the song are Donny Hathaway and Elton John -- both of whom deliver surprisingly great versions. But it's Aretha who takes the cake on covering this one, inspiring hope and confidence in all who hear it, no matter their race or age.

Chan Marshall aka Cat Power has dedicated an entire album to cover songs and not a single track on that record disappointed -- her cover of Nina's plaintiff, intimate "Wild as the Wind" is no different. Somehow, even though this song is a love song, it feels laden with sorrow. Marshall's rendition is spare, slowed down to the pace of a lover's affair. The lyric "You kiss me / With your kiss my life begins" is exactly the kind of hyperbolic claim that Chan herself would make, so it seems fitting that she delivers the lyrics with her own distinctively emotional performance.

Australian crooner Kimbra made her big debut as the featured artist on Gotye's breakout earworm hit "Somebody That I Used to Know" and continues to float above the current crop of bubblegum pop beauties with her serious vocal chops. Though few would claim that she is on pair with the soul goddess, there is a certain husky quality to Kimbra's voice that sets it apart, identifies it as unique. This feature combined with her penchant for drum loops and island sounding back-up vocalists and percussion elevates this song from a celebration of a wedding band to a meditation on the power of commitment itself.

Although known much more for their electronic pop-rock, even Muse manage to scrounge up some soul vibes to imbue this song with its proper weight. Possibly Simone's best-known track -- although she didn't pen it herself -- the sentiment in this song is powerful on its own accord. In this cover specifically, frontman Matthew Bellamy's voice trembles and peaks at the right moments and that bassline is sharp enough to cut to the bone. It's a testament to Simone that her version of this song was the one that rose to popularity, and that in his cover, Bellamy tries to mimic her vocal stylings and almost can't muster enough soul to fill her shoes. There's few songs that feel so exuberant and apocalyptic simultaneously, and even fewer that accomplish that almost solely through vocal tone, as the lyrics themselves are fairly simple. This song is the ultimate celebratory blues-ballad, and odds are if Nina was alive today this song would still reflect her mindset.

Another song used frequently as an anthem of sorts throughout the Civil Rights movement, Nina's version appeared on her 1967 album Silk & Soul. As Levon Helm and The Band were making music right around the same time as Simone, it makes sense that Helm would include a cover of this track on his 2009 comeback album Electric Dirt. What is a bit unexpected though is the way he turned the wistful track into a rip-roaring swaggering wish -- almost as if Helm is basking in the progress that has been made since the song's inception. Clearly, all the blues and soul elements are present in Nina's rendition, but the way these facets come to the forefront when infused with the country and folk facets that Helm brings to the song is really astounding.

Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, both members of Bob Marley and The Wailers, took the urgent, pressing narrative of "Sinner Man" and slowed it down to the pace of the islands. This track is another one of those songs that existed as a traditional folk track, but was made pressing by a Nina Simone rendition that marked it as her own track in a number of ways. Her version is over ten minutes and appears on her 1965 record Pastel Blues, and she would often use it to close out her live performances. The version that Tosh and Wailer offers turns Simone's urgent jazz rhythms into more a traditional reggae wailing song, part plea and part doomsday narrative. Another version called "Downpresser Man" which in Rastafarian vocabulary means "oppressor man," was recorded and released as a single for Tosh, and many give him songwriting credit for this, despite the track's origins.

Throughout her career, Simone tackled controversial themes of race and gender with an incisive grace rarely recaptured in music's history. Her combination of detailed poetry and a voice that sounds as if it has been through all of life's tempests makes for an almost inimitable brew. Consider, too, her penchant for genre-bending before such things were any sort of vogue, and re-imagining Simone's music becomes a daunting, unenviable task. For an iconoclastic multi-instrumentalist like Meshell Ndegeocello, whose career has hewn closely to the political and artistic blueprints Simone outlined, such challenges inspire and draw out great creation. Taken from her Simone tribute album, Nedgecello's "Four Women" is a skillful interpretation, maintaining the spirit (and, importantly, words) of the original while imbuing the arrangement with a moody slow burn that suits the melancholy observations of Simone's lyrics perfectly.

Blues standards were a staple for Nina, so though the "Queen of Rock and Roll" Janis Joplin covers the heartbreaking classic before Simone's seminal version was recorded, it still feels like a tribute to the soul icon. Although Joplin takes the track down a country road complete with throaty folk singer vibrato, harmonica and finger-picked guitar, the sentiment remains the same. This is one of those songs that nearly everyone has covered -- from Johnny Cash to Hank Williams Jr., Jeff Beck to Jerry Garcia. Yet, somehow Nina's version superseded them all. Joplin's rendition reveals the ways in which Nina took the country or down-home elements of the song and turned them royal, elegant and trembling.

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"I met up with aywy. on Twitter while listening to The Future Beats Show by Complexion, back in January 2014. We both had songs playing in the show that night, one after another. We liked each others music, linked up, collaborated and released the track “Lost” two weeks later. aywy. was starting Flow-Fi around the same time (along with subdaio., Fortune, and Tvne) and they asked me if I was keen to join the collective. I did it without any hesitation.

I would love to spread my music worldwide, I want it to be a sort of therapy that somehow helps people in the world.

"I would love to spread my music worldwide, I want it to be a sort of therapy that somehow helps people in the world. I’d also love be more involved in the music scene by doing shows. Being able to connect through music is very important to me, playing live show performances to a crowd is the most enjoyable thing, it gives you inspiration."