8. Nina SimoneLittle Girl Blue

It’s her debut record. I bought it on vinyl in New York in a street market and took it home and she’s just… God, it’s really hard sometimes to describe music that you love without sounding like an arsehole.

I was listening to it the other day, and what I love about Nina Simone is the different influences she draws in from when she was growing up. She was trained as a classical pianist, and when you listen to the solo in ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’, it’s almost like Bach in places. I’ve actually had to learn that for a friend’s wedding and it was a nightmare. It’s really intricate and difficult.

Another example of someone who was completely screwed over in her lifetime: she made the album and signed some deal with management or record label and lost out on a million dollars in profit for making the record. She got paid $2000 or something. It’s another typical example of a black artist back in the day being completely fucked over by the industry.