Nina Simone – Pastel Blues

Vinyl LP pressing. Pastel Blues features “Be My Husband” and was written by Andrew Stroud, Simone's husband and manager at the time. She sings it a cappella with her handclapping and a hi-hat as her only accompaniment. The song was later retitled as “Be Your Husband” and covered by Jeff Buckley on Live at Sin-é (2003). The album also features covers of Billie Holiday songs, “Tell Me More and More and Then Some” and “Strange Fruit.” Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. Simone's musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.