Simone
November 2008
by Michael A. Gonzales
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Simone can remember the exact moment when she first shared the stage with her jazz superstar mother Nina. “Most people in the audience probably didn’t even know that Nina Simone had a daughter,” she laughs over the telephone from her home in Pennsylvania. “I had been watching mom from the wings since I was a kid, but when she agreed to accompany me on piano as I sang ‘Music for Lovers,’ it was a magical moment.”

Recorded that same night in Ireland, Simone has used the track as the opening song on her debut disc Simone on Simone, a loving tribute to her late mother. “We performed together twice afterwards, in Chicago and Los Angeles, but none of those times eclipsed that first time.” Though Simone’s given name is Lisa Celeste Stroud, she choose the stage name as a salute to her mom.

Known for her rough exterior, gruff voice and musical genius, Nina Simone’s material like “Feeling Good” and “Sinnerman” are still vibrant today. Used in various films and television shows including Point of No Return and Six Feet Under, her haunting music has proved itself eternal.

Exiled from America and living in France, she died in 2003 from breast cancer at the age of 70.

“My mother’s spirit is always with me, and that was especially true when I was working on this project,” Simone says. A stage actress and performer who in 2001 played the lead role in the touring company of Aida, the last thing Simone planned on doing was recording covers of her mother’s music.

“I had my own material that I wanted to get to, but when I started going through mom’s sheet music, I reconsidered. I realized these were some of my favorite songs.” Yet, anyone expecting Simone to be an aural Xerox of her mother will be greatly disappointed. Recording with a nineteen-piece big band, Simone’s voice has a honeyed, theatrical tone.

“I’ve never wanted to be a replica of my mom,” Simone explains. “I knew if I wanted to be accepted as a true artist, I would have to sing my own way.” Somewhere in jazz heaven, Nina Simone is smiling.

She was the first to play Aida on Broadway, which I had the pleasure of seeing.

I'm not sure how I feel about her, uhh...but I love Nina Simone

The disc is currently available on Amazon.com & iTunes.
Official site: simonesworld.com