By making reissues and compilations available, music platforms have the ability to maintain or revive certain artists who have disappeared, such as Nina Simone and Klaus Nomi.
Complete 1957-62 for Nina Simone, who died 20 years ago, and appearance of the discography of Klaus Nomi, who died 40 years ago: musical platforms maintain myths or bring them back to life. Among all the reissues and compilations to mark 2023, the approach of the French start-up Diggers Factory, specialized in the production and distribution of vinyls, detonates.
“In a society that favors immediacy and speed, the opposite is proposed, by publishing on music streaming platforms an integral of Nina Simone 1957-62 (first period of the artist, period fallen into the public domain), i.e. 4h51 of listening“, explains to AFP its manager Cyril Roux. This structure had already joined forces with the publisher BD Music to offer a vinyl and comic book package, now out of print, around the life of this major artist.
“There is an undeniable fascination over the years for this musician and singer“, comments for AFP Frédéric Adrian, author of Nina Simone (editions The word and the rest). His music – with his standards, feeling good Or My baby just cares for me – can serve as a gateway for a young streaming consumer audience, who will then discover the life of a woman who has everything of a novel.
Cultivate legends
Nina Simone is a classical pianist destiny killed in theœuf by racist prejudices in the segregationist United States of the 1950s-60s, a career as a jazz-soul singer which took off in the clubs of Atlantic City then a dented life between success and personal torment. “With her, we can project ourselves into the fight for civil rights, the fight of a woman to assert herself, to be autonomous, and in questions about mental health.“, develops Frédéric Adrian.
Music streaming platforms don’t just keep legends alive, they can also bring forgotten figures back into the spotlight. This is the case of Klaus Nomi, nicknamed the “Castafiore of rock” or “The singing mutant” during his short career broken by AIDS, from which he died in 1983 at the age of 39.
After having finally found the rights holders of the artist, the Legacy label (Sony) will make available for the first time all of his discography digitally on April 28, before physical reissues on June 16 (with CDs /vinyls/cassettes, etc.).
The rebirth of Klaus Nomi
Klaus Nomi is an inimitable style between opera and rock, with his lyrical qualities (a voice that ranges from bass baritone to countertenor) in the service of retro-futuristic music. It’s also a look: that of a being from elsewhere, half-human half-robot, which he had the idea after having been a backing vocalist for David Bowie for a performance on the famous American TV show Saturday Night Live in 1979.
“It was someone who came from the planet New York. It was his voice, his vision of the stage and his enigmatic character that attracted us“, remembers for AFP Jean-Pierre Bommel, one of the decision-makers behind his first record contract in France (at RCA) for the eponymous disc Klaus Nomi in 1981. Will follow Single Man (studio album during his lifetime, 1982) and a live album In Concert (published after his death, 1986), never republished since either.
“One would have thought that the pop side would seduce people but it was his reinterpretation of classic works that pleased“, rewinds Jean-Pierre Bommel. On the occasion of this rebirth on the musical platforms, photos and videos of Klaus Nomi will reappear, testifying to his influence on pop-culture. His outfit will refer to certain costumes at Jean Paul Gaultier, Lady Gaga or one of the characters from the American Horror Story series.