The music world lost one of its most revered and unique voices of all time with the passing of Nina Simone on 21 April, 2003, aged 70.

Dubbed the ‘high priestess of soul’, Ms Simone released over thirty albums during a career that spanned almost five decades. She had her biggest hit with the song ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ and, despite the fraught racial climate of the 1960s, successfully rose through the years to become one of America’s most celebrated artists.

Although she built up something of a reputation for being temperamental, Ms Simone’s was a style of music which still inspires today a whole new generation of musicians.

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on 21 February, 1933, in North Carolina, she was one of eight children who grew up in relative poverty.

Her extraordinary talent for music became evident at a very early age. She was playing the piano at four and, by her teens, had successfully won a scholarship at the prestigious Julliard School of Music.

The family moved to Philadelphia in the mid-50s and with her studies completed, took a job at a bar in Atlantic City. It was here where she first adopted her famous stage name. Due in large part to the French actress Simone Signoret, whom Eunice greatly admired, and a pet name, ‘Nina’, given to her by an ex-boyfriend (‘little girl’ in Spanish), Nina Simone was thus born.

Thanks to a thriving fan base and further work at pianos in bars throughout New York, Ms Simone soon drew the attentions of Bethlehem Records.

In 1957 she recorded her first album, ‘Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side-Street Club.’ It met with immediate success in Philadelphia and local radio stations were quick to broadcast its charms to New York.

Two years later, in 1959, Ms Simone procured a nationwide hit with the single ‘I Loves You, Porgy’. Selling over a million copies, it was the first in a string of best-sellers including ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’ and ‘I Put a Spell on You.’

At the height of her success in 1971, Simone left the United States embittered by racism. She continued to record and release all over the world but eventually settled in France, where she died on 21 April, 2003.

During the 1960s, while in New York, she became closely associated with the civil rights movement. She released a number of political protest songs which later went on to become anthems for many.

It is a measure of her genius and spell-binding prowess that her songs continue to remain as popular today as they ever were. Hollywood still uses her music in blockbuster movies and artists such as The Beatles and David Bowie are believed to have been hugely influenced by her work.

To her dying day Ms Simone continued to champion civil rights, particularly the black rights movement. “You can see colours through music,” she once famously said. “Anything human can be felt through music, which means there is no limit to the creating that can be done.”