WARREN ELLIS // NINA SIMONE’S GUM

The unexpected and inspiring story of a piece of chewing gum ‘Warren has turned this memento, snatched from his idol’s piano in a moment of rapture, into a genuine religious artifact. On July 1, 1999, Dr. Nina Simone gave a rare performance, fated to be one of her last in Britain. After the show, in a state of transcendent awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage and took Simone’s piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and placed it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with Ellis for twenty years – a sacred totem, his creative muse – until 2019, when Nick Cave, his collaborator and great friend, asked him if he had anything he could contribute to Cave’s Stranger Than Kindness exhibition.   published by Faber Press // Author Warren Ellis