Feist even updates "Sea Lion Woman, " a song best known through Nina Simone's version.

NPR: Hearing a Breakthrough: Feist's 'Reminder'

Musician and writer David Was on a new retrospective of the work of Nina Simone, who died two years ago.

NPR: A Posthumous 'Soul of Nina Simone'

Then when she was 16, she gave reality TV a try by auditioning for Pop Idol, singing Nina Simone's Feeling Good.

BBC: Newsbeat - Music - Little Boots lives out her dreams

Anderson persisted, but many black would-be classical musicians have turned to other forms of music because of racial discrimination: Miles Davis and Nina Simone are two examples.

ECONOMIST: Essays by the New Yorker's music critic

So I was like the first to give the knowledge that jazz came from Africa, that the music evolved into jazz, which then Nina Simone epitomized in that jazz festival.

NPR: South African Singer Makeba Dies

And then Nina Simone came and did the jazz.

NPR: South African Singer Miriam Makeba Dies

Ms. NINA SIMONE: (Singing) And I'm feelin' blue.

NPR: A Posthumous 'Soul of Nina Simone'