Nina Simone is regarded as one of the most influential recording artists of the 20th century. She was a pioneering musician whose career was characterized by “fits of outrage and improvisational genius”. In naming Simone the 29th greatest singer of all time, Rolling Stone wrote that “her honey-coated, slightly adenoidal cry was one of the most affecting voices of the civil rights movement”, while making note of her ability to “belt barroom blues, croon cabaret and explore jazz.”