Nina Simone Signed Away Her Music for $3,000. Here's What It's Worth Now.
Celebrity Investments
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In 1957, Nina Simone recorded 14 songs in a single night and signed away the rights for a flat 3,000 dollars. One of those songs went on to sell perfume across Europe, get sampled by Kanye West and Jay-Z, and generate lawsuits worth tens of millions. She never saw most of that money, and neither did her family.
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We traced the money behind one of the most important voices of the twentieth century, from a single Bethlehem Records contract to a husband who earned 100,000 dollars a year managing her, four record labels she never owned, a tax exile that made her a fugitive, and a will that routed her estate away from her own daughter. This is the forensic story of how ownership, not talent, decided what Nina Simone was actually worth.
📌 CHAPTERS
00:00 The $3,000 Signature
02:54 The Husband Who Earned $100,000 a Year
06:33 Five Companies and a Gun
10:32 Broke in Paris
13:17 The Estate Her Family Lost
SOURCES
Nadine Cohodas — Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone (Pantheon, 2010)
Nina Simone & Stephen Cleary — I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone (1991)
California Attorney General — Nina Simone estate / charitable trust settlement (oag.ca.gov)
#ninasimone #musicroyalties #musicbusiness #rnb #masters #recordlabels #celebritybusiness #investing #networth #entrepreneur #wealth #documentary
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Nina Simone Signed Away Her Music for $3,000. Here's What It's Worth Now.
Celebrity Investments
2,370 views
In 1957, Nina Simone recorded 14 songs in a single night and signed away the rights for a flat 3,000 dollars. One of those songs went on to sell perfume across Europe, get sampled by Kanye West and Jay-Z, and generate lawsuits worth tens of millions. She never saw most of that money, and neither did her family.
Subscribe to master the business behind the fame:
👉 Celebrity Investments: @celebrity-investments
We traced the money behind one of the most important voices of the twentieth century, from a single Bethlehem Records contract to a husband who earned 100,000 dollars a year managing her, four record labels she never owned, a tax exile that made her a fugitive, and a will that routed her estate away from her own daughter. This is the forensic story of how ownership, not talent, decided what Nina Simone was actually worth.
📌 CHAPTERS
00:00 The $3,000 Signature
02:54 The Husband Who Earned $100,000 a Year
06:33 Five Companies and a Gun
10:32 Broke in Paris
13:17 The Estate Her Family Lost
SOURCES
Nadine Cohodas — Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone (Pantheon, 2010)
Nina Simone & Stephen Cleary — I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone (1991)
California Attorney General — Nina Simone estate / charitable trust settlement (oag.ca.gov)
#ninasimone #musicroyalties #musicbusiness #rnb #masters #recordlabels #celebritybusiness #investing #networth #entrepreneur #wealth #documentary
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