R&B singer Mary J. Blige will portray "the high priestess of soul," Nina Simone, for an MTV Films biopic, it was announced Monday.
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Simone rose to fame in the '60s with jazz ballads and protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" and the civil rights anthem, "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," The Hollywood Reporter said.
She moved to Paris in 1974 and died there in 2003.
The film, which will chronicle Simone's ascent to stardom and her relationship with her Paris-based manager Clifton Henderson, The Reporter said.
