If you know anything about the American singer Nina Simone it is probably her deep rich voice singing jazz, blues, soul and popular songs. She often wrote and sang songs for, and about, the civil rights movement. But she also took old standards and popular songs of the day and managed to turn those into civil right anthems as well. But she never studied voice and she never really sang publicly until she turned professional and got her first gig playing piano in a casino-bar. 

Her wish was to became a classical pianist. She started playing and studying piano at a very early age and her teacher set up concerts of Simone and saved the money in a fund for her to study music in college once she finished high school. But when she didn't get a scholarship to study music any further she turned to jazz and the blues. 

Since Nina Simone from a very early age wanted to be a classical musician she would not have bothered to study voice in the same seriousness she took to playing the piano. Yet the only job she could get was as a singer. In the end she became much more well known for her voice than her piano playing. Which is a shame, because she was a first class pianist in any musical genera. But it would also be a shame to ignore her powerful voice which reflected the tumultuous era she emerged from.