WEBVTT - Conversations with Cornesy - Lisa Simone 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.640 Can everyone welcome to conversations. Last year at the La 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.640 Cabaret Festival, Lisa Simone was a huge hit with Adelaide. 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:10.120 But I think Adelaide was a huge hit with Lisa, 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.639 so much so that she's asked to come back, and 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:16.520 she will be performing at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in July, 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.640 the twenty six of you. I actually at Her Majesty's Theater, 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.200 that wonderful venue. Lisa Samione, Welcome to the program. 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.319 It's good to be here with you today. Thank you 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:26.880 for having me. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:28.920 From. Where are we speaking to you? 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.600 I am currently in Scottsdale, Arizona in the United States 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:34.280 and America. 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:35.360 Is that home? 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.600 Ah, for the moment. Yes, I'm kind of parapatetic, so 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.519 here I'm in the Southwest and we'll see what happens 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:43.320 in the monster come. 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:46.040 So why are you so mobile? 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.560 Why am I say mobile? I'm a woman of the world. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.559 What can I say? You know, I hope to put 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:55.639 some roots down at some point, but we'll see what 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.920 that looks like. But most of my life I've been traveling, 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.760 I mean since I was born. So you could think 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.920 you could say that that's my home. A suitcases, my home. 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.720 Well, indeed, Aman, your mother was nameless and mine a 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:16.039 huge star indeed, and I think you repraise some of 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.600 her legacy in your in your show. But it's more 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:21.400 than just about your mother. 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.320 Is it not. Absolutely, the legacy lives on. So I 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:30.000 am the walking embodiment of the Simone legacy, and so 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.360 I stand on her shoulders. So while I turned back 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:37.600 and give a wave, pay homage and celebrate the great 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:41.040 one who walk before me, I also do it in 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.959 my own way. That song My Way comes to mind. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.880 And so far I've been able to walk that fine 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:52.880 line quite successfully with audiences, so that the experience that 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.040 I bring to the stage is not only one that 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.200 audiences have found to be quite thrilling and enjoyable, but 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.560 I have as well. And it's very important to me 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:07.800 that everybody, the musicians, the crew, myself, and the audience 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:12.639 have a good time, a participative kind of experience when 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:13.800 I get on the stage. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.280 You exposed your earlier life and your mother's life, and 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.760 your mother's trials and tribulations in the recent Netflix documentary. 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:22.920 We are happy with it very much. 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.200 So I promised my mother on her deathbed that I 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.600 would make sure she was not forgotten. I had no 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.760 idea how I would go about doing that. However, the 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.720 impetus behind that promise was because she had spent many 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:43.640 years swirling away tapes and dats at the time, remember dats, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.840 they don't even use those anymore, in case she lost 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.000 her voice. My mother battles cancer for six years and 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.400 so she was in chemo and radiation regularly, which is 0:02:53.919 --> 0:03:00.200 not exactly information that the public was aware of. So 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.800 she was squirreling away these items in case she couldn't 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.400 sing anymore. And for a long period of time, Mommy 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.000 didn't feel appreciated. Let's just face it, she wasn't really 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:13.519 appreciated the way she is now. It took her dying, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.200 which seems to be the case for many artists, before 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:22.000 she really reached her zenus. So it took twelve years 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.040 for the right team to come along, and that came 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.720 in the form of Netflix. And it was wonderful to 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:32.679 work with the people who were fearless enough to approach 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:40.040 my mother's story honestly, openly and in a manner that 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.320 she would want to be remembered like. And so the 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:49.600 first time I saw the first version of it, much 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.280 to my surprise, I thought I would cry. I actually 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.760 danced around the room. It felt good to release a 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.520 weight I didn't know that I had been carrying. I 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.920 didn't feel like I had to defend or justify or 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.400 educate anyone anymore. And now her story lives large, and 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.800 it's timeless, and it's in her voice, and we're all 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:12.320 on the same page. 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.560 But I thought you were quite fearless in your own 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:20.360 way to allow your mother's demons to be exposed. And 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.000 of most thoughts were recorded in the die entries, and 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.400 I mean, did you have any doubts at all about 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.160 some of the graphic stuff that was exposed? 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:35.040 No, that was really it's interesting to use the word graphic. 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.080 There's a lot more to the story. There's a lot 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.719 more to Mom's journey. What Liz Garbus, the director, was 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:47.320 able to do was to put the various elements together 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.840 in a way that it fit into less than an 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:54.800 hour and a half, and it flows and it gives people. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.480 What I wanted people to walk away from that documentary 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:04.600 with was a sense of compassion for Mom and also saying, wow, 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:09.280 I didn't know that. And both of those desires on 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:14.960 my part were fulfilled. So I think that you know, 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.400 the truth is the truth. The truth is not always 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.120 going to be bells and whistles and flowers. It can 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.560 be quite ugly, but that's what enables us to appreciate 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.719 it and to learn from it and to grow because 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:28.080 of it. 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.440 I struggled with it, to be quite honest, because the 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.800 issues of domestic violence. Both your father and your mother 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:39.080 were so open about the episodes of domestic violence which 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.600 she suffered. Yes, how did you feel. Did you find 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:44.240 that confronting? 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:50.400 Well, I lived a lot of it, and as it's 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:54.600 left its scars, I've healed from many of those scars. 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.560 I have found my own path within my heart and 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:05.120 assized the gift and the power of forgiveness in order 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:10.960 to heal my own heart and not pass down tendencies 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.320 to the next generation. But I wanted my mother's story 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:19.839 to be told truthfully, and as the elders have always said, 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:24.080 especially in the South and in church, the truth shall 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:28.640 set you free. And so it's important that there's been 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.559 enough lies, there's been enough tall tales. I mean, before 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.720 the documentary came out, I was amazed at the number 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:43.120 of assumptions and just additions to my mother's story that 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:48.000 seemed to pass as truth, and I feel like I 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.000 got a lesson on how myths and legends are born. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:52.719 You take a kernel of truth and then you just 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.880 add everything else that you want to it to turn 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:56.640 it into something that it never was. 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:03.279 It was about everybody being feeling and experiencing what Mom's 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.440 truth was in the first person, so that there could 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:12.800 be a real deeper understanding of the person, the daughter, 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:18.760 the artist, the black revolutionary, the wife, the mother, and 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:19.520 the human being. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.400 But you touch on that point about the black litt revolutionary, 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:26.280 I mean her activism and her espousing of the civil 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.960 rights movement. That was a fascinating part of it. You know, 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:34.160 the people you were mixing with them, your little girl. Yeah, 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.800 and there's these names. There's there's mountin Lutha. King is 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:42.160 Malcolm X. You know, there's Stukeley Comichael. 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:49.120 Benny Shabbaz, Betty Shabbaz, Length and Hughes, James Baldwin, Ferdievy Grovener. 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.720 Lorraine Hansberry was my ordained godmother. I mean the list 0:07:54.040 --> 0:08:01.680 of who's who in Black history, I mean Rock Peters 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.520 and I can't think of anybody else right now. There 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.480 are others, you know, you had secutuas His Highness Secutua 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:12.080 who was a president of Guinea, Mary Mackayba. So all 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.280 of these are my aunts and uncles. And as I 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:20.600 reflect now back on my life, boy, it was rich. 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.240 But you didn't the same debate such an activist. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:30.480 There's no need. My mother did enough of that and 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:36.200 my family. I shared my mother with our people. I 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.160 shared my mother with the civil rights movement, and she 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.120 suffered mightily because of the choices that she made to 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:48.680 stand up for our people, to use the stage as 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.680 a podium, to speak out in a manner that so 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.920 many others were not able to. This was her mission, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:00.840 her ministry, it was her heart and her passion. And 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:06.120 as her child, there was conflict. There was conflict between 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.840 you know, when you're a fighter like that, a warrior, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.360 a gladiator, and then you come home and you deal 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.280 with your child, and you know your sword and your 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.760 butler and your armor is not needed. Sometimes you don't 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.400 know how to do that. Sometimes you don't know how 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:25.800 to separate the two. So I have made a conscious 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.040 decision in my career to not mix the two. And 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.840 music is for everybody, the protagonists and the antagonists, and 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.960 some people might have an issue with that, but this 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.920 is my personal choice, my political views. My political position 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.640 is personal. It's no one's business but mine. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.320 Lisa's in mind is my guest, folks. She will be 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.040 in Adelaide on the twenty sixth of July at Her 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.400 Majesty's Theater. So much more to come, such an interesting life, 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.280 such an interesting family. Will hope to uncover that back shortly. 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.840 Welcome back, everybody you just churned in. We're chatting with 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.199 Lisa's to mine and Lisa will be here in Adelaide 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.160 on the twenty sixth of July about her majesty seat 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.280 a part of the Adelaide Cabareet Festival. Demanded to come 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.480 back to Adelaide after loving it so much. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:15.880 Yes, I can't wait. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.680 We can't help but talk about your mom in depth, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.559 Nina's and mine. There were so many things I learned 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.000 in that Netflix documentary. I mean, I didn't know she 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:30.400 was such a brilliant pianist. She must have been a prodigy. 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:31.960 How did that happen? 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.760 She was a prodigy. She's a child prodigy and she 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.760 trained for many years. Her dream not only just her dream, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.600 but when you watch a documentary, I think you remember 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.520 that it was in there. The town of Tryon, where 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.880 she was born in Tryon, North Carolina, came together and 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.280 created a Eunice Kathleen Weyman, which is her maiden name. 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:59.840 It created a fund to support the financing of her lessons. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.320 She had that much talent and she was gifted, and 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.800 so they planted in her brain the possibility that she 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:14.760 could become the first black female classical pianist to grace 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.080 the classical music world. Her dream was not only to 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:24.240 attend the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but it 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.400 was also to grace the stage of Carnegie Hall playing 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:33.560 classical music. So that was never her going to the 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.520 Curtis Institute. That dream was never realized. However, she did 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.320 grace the stage of Carnegie Hall many times. 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:46.720 But she studied on at Julia, that prestigious in New 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:47.319 York City. 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.439 In New York City, she was there for a few months, yes, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.880 but her dream was to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.959 The sentiment is she was rejected because she was black. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:03.040 This is the wound that she carried in her heart 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.240 until a few days before she died. A few days 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:11.280 before she died, well unbeknownst to her, about maybe a 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:16.360 year prior to her death, she had performed in Philadelphia, 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:22.960 and while she was on stage, she recounted the experience 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.760 of being rejected and how she'd always carried that with her. 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.040 And there were a group of women, the title of 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.600 their affiliation is so long, I can never remember it. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.680 But they took it upon themselves, unbeknownst to my mother, 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:41.319 to go to the Curtis Institute to see if they 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:45.959 could get the Institute to award my mother something. Now, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:50.080 at this time, mommy had two honorary doctorates. She's a 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.319 doctorate of Humanities from the Malcolm X University as well 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:58.800 as Amherst. It's either Amherst College or Amherst University, I'm 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:03.360 not sure which one. So she was already doctor Nina Simone. 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.760 So when they went to the Curtis Institute to prevail 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:10.440 upon them, you know, let's do the right thing. A 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.440 few days before mommy died, she found out that the 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.920 Curtis Institute, and I have to be very specific here 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.800 because many journalists had gotten it wrong, they gave her 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:26.600 an honorary diploma, not a doctorate, not a degree. They 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.280 gave her a diploma which I accepted on her behalf, 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:35.320 because by the time it was ready, she was already dead. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:41.000 And I read from the speech that she had started 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:46.319 to dictate to her team. But I'd have to say this, 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.160 I was told because I wasn't with Mom when she died. Unfortunately, 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.560 that at a time when she had lost all her 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.400 mobile skills, and she was not very responsive. When she 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.240 heard that the Curtis Institute had agreed to give her 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.960 a diploma, that she smiled, And in my heart that 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.760 means that that part of her that had been open 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.679 and painful for so long was finally able to heal. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.640 I wonder about that, though, I mean, if I didn't 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:24.080 want you, then why should she accept them? Now? You know, 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.440 you know you didn't want me? Did jump onto my farme? Now? 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:30.800 Did you not think that? 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.360 That's interesting? That's an interesting way of putting it. I mean, 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:37.760 I can only answer you as me. Well, all my 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:43.080 answers are as me. But looking at it from the 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.440 perspective in which I lived my life at this time, 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.040 I think there comes a time when when you're fighting 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:53.480 all the time, it's exhausting. It's exhausting, and there comes 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:58.960 a time when, especially on your deathbed, when acceptance begins 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:04.760 to overshadow and eclipse a lot of the other areas 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.800 that you've been fighting against and trying to control. So 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.080 this is just me putting my perspective on there. And 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.520 you know, they hadn't given her anything. I mean, let's 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.760 think about it. They had never given her anything much 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:23.280 less any kind of throughout all those years, no acknowledgment whatsoever. 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.760 So I'm happy that she was in a place within 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:34.360 her heart where she was able to recognize the grace 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:39.320 in that gesture and take that with her when she 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:40.040 left this world. 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.400 We talked about your dad because he's an interesting Oh. 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:45.440 My dad, I love him. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:51.280 Yes, he was a complex character, as they both were, 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:53.080 as I would understand it. 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.440 But they both were complex. 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.200 We would describe him here in Australia in old fashioned 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:00.360 terms as a man. 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:04.520 I think I think he would like that title. Yes, absolutely, 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.720 he was very much that Mommy was attracted to Medle 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.720 likea so she you know, I always said that. I 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.760 think I might have said this in a documentary. I 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:18.400 don't remember that. You know, if you told mom don't 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.640 push that button because you might blow off your finger, 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.600 she pushed it. That's that's just what she did, so 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.680 she You know, I am not defending anyone. As I 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.040 said in the documentary, I think they were both crazy 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.400 because you know, he allowed her to push her button, 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.840 but push his buttons, excuse me, And she pushed the 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.640 buttons he told her not to push. So there were 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.480 options that both of them could have taken to prevent 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:54.040 a lot of the dysfunction and toxic violence and conflict 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.160 that was so much a part of their relationship. But 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:02.360 now that I'm a woman and a grandmother, some people 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.360 thrive on that kind of step in their relationships. So 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.960 who's who can really say? None of us were in 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.679 their bed, were in their bedroom, None of us really know. 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.840 All we're doing is looking through a people, and we 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:21.320 are judging and placing our own labels on what we 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.320 think their relationship was, Like are we not? 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:24.879 But you did live it? 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.119 I did? I did, and I got through it. 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.840 We would actually tell us a bit more. It could 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.760 be he was he had music, he had a musical sense. 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:37.479 Oh yeah. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.440 Then he joined the military towards the end of World 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.080 War Two and then had a career as a police 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.240 officer in New York. Now suggests to me he's a 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:47.800 tough man. 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.680 My father was brilliant. First of all, he was the 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.280 fifth son of a fifth son. My grandfather on Dad's 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.920 side is from Holland, so he had a white father 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.840 and a black mother, and he was born in Virginia, 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.320 in the Bible Belt of the United States of America 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:09.480 in nineteen twenty eight. That should tell you something, absolutely okay. 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.200 So when babies are born, as we all know, they're 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.240 pure as a tabla rosa. Everything is learned after that. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.800 I've often wondered what happened to him in his life 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.840 that made him get to the point where he was 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.280 that guy who you didn't want to mess with. Obviously, 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.560 he was hurt, so he went into the navy. While 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.919 he was in the navy, one of the things that 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.320 he played was the trumpet. I don't know if that 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:34.359 was his job. I don't think that was his job, 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.960 but he did play in a naval band. So Dad's 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.399 instrument of choice was a trumpet. And for everybody who 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:44.760 are need a simone fans listener right now, if you 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.080 go to the High Pricess of Soul album and listen 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.160 to take Me to the Water, which is a song 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.040 that precedes going back Home, you're going to hear her 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.840 singing this gospel tune, and you're gonna hear a bunch 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.679 of people in the background backing her up. And the 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:05.040 loudest voice is this incredible tenor, this male tenor. And 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.600 I remember asking my dad, is that you? He was 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.399 like yes. I was like, wow, you should have been 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.480 an opera singer. Give me the story and he said 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.280 that when mom was recording that song, she wanted some backgrounds. 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:20.760 So they got the security guard, they got the secretary, 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:24.240 and all the people that are around us us come 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.040 in and seeing and Dad's voice is the loudest. My 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:29.879 father was brilliant. He had a brilliant business mind. He 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.640 was an exceptional musician. He was a tactician, a strategist, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:40.320 and like I said, he had his office on Fifth 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:46.480 Avenue in the sixties, a publishing company and a production 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.639 company called Stroud Productions. So he was way ahead of 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:54.200 his time. He had a vision, he understood the industry, 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:55.480 and he had a plan. 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.040 As we got to the bright Lace, so let's see 0:19:58.040 --> 0:19:59.960 if we can hear your dad's voice in the back 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.920 ground of this Take Me to the Water rendition. Lisa 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.239 Simone is my guess. Back shortly. Welcome back everybody. If 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.399 you just tuned in, we're chatting with Lisa Simone in Arizona. 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.560 That's sort of home for a little while. She will 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.919 be here on the twenty sixth of July doing I 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.760 think a tribute to a mother, Nina Simone. I think 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:24.760 that's a way of saying. But as well as had 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:29.040 some of her own stuff, which is quite renowned. It 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.200 did seem to me though, that you shunned any musical 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.440 pathway when you were young because you joined the military, 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:37.560 joined the Air Force. 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:39.960 I know, I still try to make sense of that. 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.000 That was an act of desperation. My parents did not 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:48.200 encourage me to be a musician. While when their marriage 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.159 was flourishing, I took dance class, I took piano, I 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:57.199 was immersed in the arts. When their relationship became freid 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:04.080 when I was eight years old, all of those experiences 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.679 and classes that come along with having a foundation in 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.240 your life ceased to be But the one thing that 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.120 I've always been able to do, one thing that I've 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:20.480 always gotten positive responses from anyone in the room because 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.160 of was when I sang or when I sing, and 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:30.239 harmonies come easily for me and so one thing that 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:34.200 I've always been able to fall back on, that's never 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.800 let me down, and that is now bringing so much 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:42.280 joy to others and myself is my voice. So when 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.760 I went into high school and I started living with 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:50.720 other family members, I started singing in an a cappella group. 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.080 There were five of us. I was fifteen, and I 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.520 used to give everybody their parts. And so the first 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.080 time I ever sang in front of a group of 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:06.000 people was in church, and it was very nerve wracking. However, 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:08.520 I guess I caught the bug because I'm talking to 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.840 you now. But I went into the military. I did 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:14.919 go into the military, and I was an exceptional student 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:19.320 in school, and my last year of high school I 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.199 combined my first year of college, or they would say yes, 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.520 university in some places, with my last year of high school. 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:30.280 And the college plans that I had put in place 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:36.000 with my uncle, my mother's brother fell through. So rather 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:40.520 than having patients, which does not usually come along with youth, 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:43.760 I said, I just don't want to stay here for 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:45.720 another year. I don't want to be around these grown ups. 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:46.960 I want to have my own life. I want to 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:50.159 be independent. And so I don't quite remember how the 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:54.639 Air Force became an option, But obviously it did because 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:58.840 I went into the Air Force. And my mother's best friend, 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:01.800 my godmother, who met her in high school, who was 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:09.399 in the educational world, she did her best to dissuade 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:10.360 me from going in. 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:13.879 But what what was it about it? 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:14.080 Though? 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.520 That was it the uniform? Was it the No? 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:19.400 I don't know. It wasn't the uniform. 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:22.119 No, it wasn't. 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:23.000 No. 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:25.879 It was me getting out of where I was. I 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.320 did not want to be where I was anymore. I 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:30.800 wanted to be on my own. I wanted to be independent. 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:34.040 I had been waiting for this. That was That was 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:40.200 my sole focused nothing else. I couldn't see anything else, 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:44.600 and so I didn't realize and when when my godmother 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.800 was as beautiful as she was, actually even got a 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:50.920 captain on the phone to tell me, even though you've 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:54.880 taken your oath and you're on delayed en listening, you 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:57.760 can still break your oath. And that was an issue 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:00.000 that I had as well, because there'd been so much 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:03.480 much distrust in my life. I didn't trust my parents. 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:06.000 I didn't trust my mother. I didn't trust I mean 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:07.560 when I was twelve years old, let me tell you 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:11.240 what my motto was, I'll never fall in love, I'll 0:24:11.240 --> 0:24:14.880 never get married, and I'll never have children. That way, 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.639 I'll never be hurt. Because if you can't trust your 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:21.520 own parents, who can you trust. So fast forward to 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:25.320 going into the military. I had given my oath, and 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:29.760 my word meant something to me so much so that 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:33.320 no one could talk me out of not going in 0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:34.800 because I'd already given my oath. 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:38.640 So many things come to mind when you tell me that. 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:41.359