Simone, Daughter of Nina Simone, Wins Rave Reviews for Her Performance in 'Rent'

Jet
March 9, 1998

Talented singer-actress Simone is making her mother real proud with her starring role in the hit musical Rent in Chicago. Simone's mother is the world-famous jazz singer-pianist-composer Nina Simone who recently saw the musical and led the crowd in cheers for her talented daughter.

"She told me she was very proud of me," recalls Simone. "She looked me in my face and said, 'You can sing,' and that was a huge compliment. That was the world for me," exclaims Simone. "She saw the show twice and met everybody in the cast," she adds.

The new singer-actress Simone was born Lisa Celeste Stroud to Nina Simone and her then husband-and-manager Andrew Stroud. Lisa has changed her name to simply "Simone" and has become an overnight hit with critics and theatergoers with her performance as the vulnerable yet passionate Mimi in the national touring company of Rent, which is currently at Chicago's Shubert Theatre.

Rent is a bittersweet musical that celebrates a community of artists as they struggle with the soaring hopes and tough realities of today's world. Rent, which has won Tony Awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, opened on Broadway in 1996 and continues to play to standing room only audiences there. "Rent is a spiritual journey if you allow it to be," explains Simone. "It's about acceptance and overcoming some of life's challenges." She adds, the musical celebrates the belief that "everyone needs love, not just loving from each other, but loving of yourself."

Simone first won notice in 1995 in the touring company of Jesus Christ Superstar. She was an understudy for the Broadway production of Rent in 1996 before she joined Rent's national touring company.

Simone's mother, Nina Simone, has been a major force in American music ever since her 1958 hit recording of I Loves You Porgy. Nina went on to win an international following during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement with such hits as Why (The King Of Love Is Dead), a tribute to slain civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mississippi Goddam and To Be Young, Gifted and Black. Today, she lives in the south of France and continues to tour in Europe.

While Mrs. Simone's daughter, Simone, is carrying her famous name to theaters throughout the century, she is not resting on her mother's accomplishments. She has the talent and determination to make her career happen on her own terms. "I don't think my bloodline has opened any doors for me in this business" Simone points out. She explains she chose the name Simone because "I want to carry on the legacy. There are a lot of things that Mommy didn't get a chance to complete that journey for her, and hopefully, she will at least be able to travel a little bit of that journey with me."

She says her mother's career suffered after the movement. "Considering how vocal she was, how active she was in the type of songs that she wrote like Mississippi Goddam, she wasn't exactly the flavor of the month." She adds, "It was very hard for her. One day the Civil Rights Movement was a very viable force, and the next day after all these laws were passed, it was kind of deflated. For those people who were heavily involved in it, it was kind of hard to say, 'Okay it's over now.'"

Simone wrote a song in tribute to her courageous and talented mother titled The Child In Me, in which she says, "You sacrificed a normal life for the love of your people and their civil rights."

Looking ahead, Simone is planning to become a major recording star. She also looks forward to performing one day with her mother. "Who knows, maybe we will be on the same stage together. That has been a dream of mine."

© Jet