Anthology

By Thomas Zizzi | examiner.com

Listening to Simone perform on her new CD “Simone on Simone,” and knowing she is the daughter of Nina Simone, one would never imagine that she was once a civil engineer in the U.S  Air Force.   “My wartime skill was identifying unexploded ordnance like in  “Hurt Locker”  and calling in coordinates to the command center, so planes could land and take off safely.  

She was born  Lisa Celeste Stroud, and she is the daughter of Nina Simone. She comes to San Diego’s Anthology as Simone  on Thursday, May 13. 

After 10 or so years in the military she was unsure of what direction her life was headed, but a night on the town in Frankfort, Germany seemed to offer a clue.  Simone found herself in a bistro with a talented and lively piano player who reminded her of music in church when she was growing up.  At the urging of the friend she was with. the piano player was happy to let her sit in.  Maybe it was the wine, but Simone remembers only that it felt good.  The next week (with behind-the-scenes help from that same girl friend) she received an offer to join a group and perform as a back up singer throughout Europe.  She said yes.

“I’m glad I did not ignore how good it made me feel – I didn’t want to look back twenty years later and wonder what might have been so I decided to give it a try. 

She joined the group “The Magic Platters,” performing hits like “Twilight Time, continuing  her travels on the continent, until she got an offer to do a solo show.  That was in Switzerland, and she did a song that was one of her mother’s favorites “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” and she was  “received so warmly and it felt so good that I decided to stick to this course, and it’s been about 18-19 years.”    

She toured South America with a Latin sensation, “Rafael” for a few years and then settled in Los Angeles.  She became part of a girl group, which didn’t work out.  That set her again on a solo course as El’ Simone, and she started making the rounds to  ‘open mike’ nights at the clubs.  Her talent got her noticed.  That led to auditions and roles for shows like “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Rent,” and her acclaimed role as ‘Aida’ in that show.  A producer decided she should be Simone when there were too many Lisa’s in the cast.  She says, “Broadway taught me to respect the stage and to take care of my instrument.”

She was last on Broadway in 2003, the year her mother, Nina, died of breast cancer. She likes to refer to her mother as Dr. Nina Simone, and the daughter stepped out of the spotlight at that time and allowed herself to grieve and handle matters associated with her mother’s estate.  During that time she found musical charts and notes related to Nina’s music that provided the inspiration for the new CD.  “My mother died alone … totally unaware of how much she was loved by the world.  It’s important that we let our great one know how much we love them while they’re alive.“

A lot of people don’t know who my mother was.  “She was a child prodigy, a musical genius, and an outspoken freedom fighter who stood up against the establishment, during the civil rights movement.”  And she entertained audiences throughout her career “with her prowess at the piano, and her power on stage.” 

Simone will be accompanied by four musicians “who sound like ten.”   And she adds, “Eighty percent of the songs I do, my mother performed.  I do them my own way…fans have told me there are many moments when you see my mother or hear my mother, and then there’s me.”