November 1964, London

Avidly reading the UK music papers like New Musical Express, Record Mirror etc., I read an interview in which Dionne Warwick mentions Nina Simone as one of her favourite singers… Nina’s original of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is released in UK and I’m captivated by her voice and my teenage experience of being misunderstood… the Nina Simone spell has been forever cast… Little do I know that Nina will be part of my life from then on and that in the year that follows, I will actually meet her face-to-face….

Photo is from the recording session for ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ in New York in early 1964…