We chat with Lisa Simone before she returns to New York to perform at both Top Of The Standard and SummerStage on Tuesday, June 28th.
THE STANDARD: You’ve been touring a lot recently. What can we expect from your performances in New York?
LISA SIMONE: A good time!
LISA SIMONE: A good time!
With your latest album titled My World, do you feel you've striked a balance between your personal life and career?
"All is Well" in My World at this stage of my life.
How would you say music helped you find that balance?
Music is my family's legacy and an integral part of who I am.
Lisa Simone's "All Is Well"
You started your music career on Broadway and became very successful here. Three years ago, you moved to the south of France. What is the first thing you want to do when you're back in NY?
See my family.
Your first career move was to enroll in the US Air Force and you served in Iraq. What was the trigger that made you change your career path to music?
I hated my job and couldn't imagine doing civil engineering for the rest of my life.
Could you share one uplifting memory you have from your time in the Air Force?
It lead me back to who I truly am: an artist.
As a child, you followed your mother, Nina Simone, around the world. You both left the US in the mid ’70s to live in the Barbados, Liberia, and the south of France. That's not an easy thing to do as a kid. How did you create your own comfort zone?
I read a lot and many say I was always singing and dancing.
You’re an American citizen who spent most of her life abroad. Do you consider yourself as a citizen of the world, or are you American first and foremost?Lisa Simone singing her mother's "Work Song"
at Jazz in Marciac (summer 2015)
I am a human being.
After being a civil rights activist in the ’60s, your mother was very unhappy with the state of American politics in the ’70s. Do you think she would have enjoyed seeing President Obama elected in 2008?
Absolutely!
What’s your view of Obama’s presidency now that it's coming to an end?
He will be missed.
On Tuesday, June 28th, Lisa Simone will perform at Top Of The Standard following the SummerStage screening of What Happened Miss Simone? in Herbert Von King Park, as part of the Francerocks Summerfest.
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