Of all the major singers of the late 20th century, Nina Simone was one of the hardest to label. She recorded extensively in soul, jazz, and pop and was also comfortable with blues, gospel, and Broadway. She has subsequently been labelled as a 'soul' singer in terms of emotion, rather than form. Her repertoire included jazz standards, gospel and spirituals, classical music, folk songs of diverse origin, blues, pop, songs from musicals and opera, African chants as well as her own compositions.

Nina Simone Piano Songbook Volume 1 contains authentic piano and vocal transcriptions of 15 of her best-known songs, including Feeling Good, I Put a Spell On You, Sinnerman and My Baby Just Cares For Me, with guitar chord boxes.