Nina Simone, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.Photo:Getty Images
Getty Images
If the story ofNina Simoneand Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach isn’t widely known, the late blues icon’s daughter Lisa Simone is ready to change that.
“My mother will have been dead 20 years and I’m still learning about her journey,” says Simone, 60. The singer is an executive producer behindSoul Doctor, the new film version of the beloved Broadway musical of the same name, which hits select theaters across the country on June 13.
The movie musical centers on her mom’s romance and artistic partnership with beloved Jewish musicianRabbi Shlomo Carlebach, who was later found to be controversial.
Years before Nina Simone would record hits like “Feeling Good” and he’d pen Hebrew classics like “Am Yisrael Chai,” the two would hit it off in New York’s West Village music scene. Lisa Simone knew nothing of her mom’s surprising relationship until seeing writer-director Danny Wise’s original musical production about the relationship in 2011.
Soul Doctor.Lisa Simone
Lisa Simone
The musical film, which stars Nya (Netflix’sCleopatra) as Nina Simone and Josh Young as Shlomo, helped Simone understand her mother’s music even more.
The story, about two young performers with vastly different worlds, is one Simone hopes resonates.
In terms of her mother, “I’ve spoken about the good, the bad, the loving and the not-so-loving,” says Simone, also a singer, who’s setting out on herLisa Simone, Keeper of the Flame: A Daughter’s Tribute to Dr. Nina Simonetour later this year.
“People have a tendency to remember the negative things. I don’t know any genius who had a happy life,” she said. “Her manic depression and bipolar disorder didn’t help. But she loved me the best way she knew how.”
Nina and Lisa Simone.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Lisa Simone.Lisa Simone
Simone, who has recorded three albums of her own, adds, “The legacy does indeed live on. That was my mother. I have reached a place where I’m much more clear now. My respect and love for her is even deeper than I ever thought imaginable.”
Soul Doctorhitsselect theaterson June 13.
source: people.com
