“Feeling Good” (also known as “Feelin’ Good”) is a song written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1964 musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint—The Smell of the Crowd.”
While many artists, including Muse, Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Darin, Traffic, Michael Bublé, The Pussycat Dolls, George Michael, John Barrowman, and John Coltrane, recorded versions of the song, the most famous version was recorded by Nina Simone. It first appeared on her 1965 album “I Put A Spell On You.”
Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist. Although she disliked being categorized, Simone is most associated with jazz music.
Simone originally aspired to become a classical pianist, but her recorded work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles that include classical, jazz, blues, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
Her vocal style is characterized by intense passion, a loose vibrato, and a slightly androgynous timbre, in part due to her unusually low vocal range which veered between the alto and tenor ranges, occasionally even reaching baritone lows.
Also known as ‘The High Priestess of Soul’, she paid great attention to the musical expression of emotions. Within one album or concert she could fluctuate between exuberant happiness and tragic melancholy.
These fluctuations also characterized her own personality and personal life, amplified by bipolar disorder with which she was diagnosed in the mid-1960s, something not widely known until after her death in 2003, though she wrote of it openly in her autobiography published in 1992.
According to Nadine Cohodas, Simone’s biographer, Ms. Simone was first diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and later with schizophrenia. Simone recorded over 40 live and studio albums, the greatest body of her work released between 1958 and 1974.
Her music and message made a strong and lasting impact on musical culture, illustrated by the numerous contemporary artists who cite her as an important influence.