“My Mother Could Be A Monster” Nina Simone’s Daughter Tells The Truth About Her Mother

From there Simone and Stroud moved to Europe together. But spending so much time with her mother there became another point of contention and she returned to the U.S. as an engineer in the Air Force.

She quit the military in 1992 with dreams of becoming a background singer, using the name Simone Kelly.

Simone tried to dissuade her daughter from the industry.

“My mother had one word when I told her: “Why?” I said: “Why not?’ I hoped she could tell me where the potholes were in the music industry but she gave me reasons why I shouldn’t do it. She said the industry and critics would have a field day with me, and that I would be expected to be a piano virtuoso, like her, and be forever tied down to singing her songs.”

In 2001, Simone watched as her daughter took the stage in Aida and two years later she had died from breast cancer.

But the drama wasn’t over, Stroud would go on for years fighting against people she felt were trying to benefit from her mother’s death.

Simone’s will named Mark Penniman as the executor of her will. Stroud sued Penniman saying her mother had revoked the document before her death and that he had mishandled her mother’s assets.

A California court ruled in her favor.

And then after that her father came back around. Suddenly, he claimed ownership of hundreds of Simone’s recordings, saying he gifted them to her as a part of their divorce settlement.

Lisa attempted to get the recordings back for the estate but her father sued her for copyright infringement.

She told the Daily Mail, “My mother did not make all those sacrifices for her estate to be thrown away. I did not go through what I did to have her contribution forgotten. I had no relationship with my father. He thought he could use me to get control of my mother’s estate and when I decided to stand my ground he decided to make my life a living hell.”

Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Simone’s life is still ongoing, particularly with the already-controversial biopic starring Zoe Saldana. Of the film, Stroud had this to say.

“They did not ask me or the Nina Simone estate to participate in the film at all. It is based on a lie because it is based on the life of my mother’s assistant, Clifton Henderson. Clifton was gay so he could not have had an affair with my mother, which is what the film implies. And my mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark… 

She was rejected by the U.S. She loved classical music and wanted to become the first black classical pianist but her dreams turned to dust because of the colour of her skin. Zoe Saldana portraying her is a bad joke because there are more gifted actresses who are more in keeping with my mother’s appearance. I know how my mother would feel about Zoe, so they are making a mockery of her experiences to construct their own truth. The goal seems to be to bleed me dry of everything my mother stood for, of everything she sacrificed.

She had many experiences in her life that left her feeling sad and angry. They approached the estate for permission to use some of the songs but as administrator I refused. I had the biggest laugh when I heard that Cynthia Mort had been pushed out of the film. You could call it karma. There is most certainly a divine order at work.”

Fortunately, Stroud is enjoying a life much unlike her mothers. Living in her mother’s home in Marseilles, Lisa has found personal and professional satisfaction.

Her new album All Is Well is coming out this fall. She will be in court later this summer to determine if she’ll finally win control over her mother’s estate. But she’s at peace.

At 51, she says, “I have been married 18 years, I have a good relationship with my children and I hope I’ll get to die with a smile on my face surrounded by my family. My mother never got that. She passed away still in search of comfort and love. Perhaps if she had them, she might, in the end, have known peace.”