lisa marie simmons

Lisa is a multi-disciplinary storyteller: She is a singer/songwriter (Ropeadope), essayist (Huffington Post, The Boston Globe, Kweli Journal,  Jazzfuel), and published poet currently based in Italy. She fronts the poetic/musical ensemble NoteSpeak, which debuted in America at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival in Boulder (CO) in September 2017.

She was a speaker and performer at the 70th Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado in April 2018. In November 2019, she presented NoteSpeak (Amore e Tragedie in Musica) in Italy, Austria and Prague. In January 2020, Lisa presented NoteSpeak in India on the Jaipur Music Stage. Ropeadope Records released her poetic/musical album NoteSpeak (Amori e Tragedie in Musica) in March 2020, which received a four-star review from Downbeat magazine. In October 2021, she flew to Florida to search for her birth father; Angela Tucker and her Emmy Award-winning husband Brian Tucker filmed a documentary about the search: Lisa & Isell: A story about adoption and the Ghost Kingdom, which premiered in June 2022. Angela and Lisa co-wrote an essay advocating for the rights of Black fathers for the Harvard Law Bill of Health digital symposium in May 2022.

Lisa is co-host, alongside Dionne Draper, of 'DAWTA The Podcast' which covers complex, challenging and always heart-warming stories of the transracial adoptee experience, and the powerful path to self-actualization. Her jazz standards album Lisa Meets Gianni, featuring legendary Italian drummer Gianni Cazzola, was released in June 2022, on Ropeadope Records. Lisa was invited to perform at the Biennale in Venice in October 2022 for artist Simone Leigh's Loophole of Retreat. Her poem “Last Supper” was shortlisted for a Creators of Justice Literary Award in November 2022. Her latest album, NoteSpeak 12, was released in February 2023 by Ropeadope and is on Downbeat Magazine’s Best Albums of 2023 list, having garnered five stars. Lisa and her writing partner Marco Cremaschini were invited to be inaugural Artists in Residence at SUNY Oneonta in October and November of 2023 and won a travel grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Italia Music Export in support of their American debut of NoteSpeak 12 allowing them to tour on the East coast in the US in support of the album in November 2023. In 2024 NoteSpeak 12 won Best Spoken Word Album of 2023 from the World Entertainment Awards and “Transcend” has been shortlisted for Best Jazz Song by the International Songwriting Competition.

NoteSpeak’s debut Amori E Tragedie in Musica, released by Ropeadope in March 2020, made  Downbeat’s “Top Rated Albums of the Year”  received national radio airplay in Italy, and led to supporting performances in Austria, the Czech Republic, India and Italy.   

In March 2021, one of Lisa’s essays was picked up and published by HuffPost, which led to Lisa’s televised interview on The Tamron Hall Show on ABC. Lisa’s essay Interracial Adoption for Beginners appeared in the compilation Chicken Soup for the Soul: I’m Speaking Now. Simmons was also commissioned to write “We’re Gonna Change It” for the non-profit Ampersand Families, which advocates for young persons in the US child welfare system.

In October 2021, she flew to Florida to search for her birth father; Angela Tucker  and her Emmy Award-winning husband Bryan Tucker filmed a documentary about the search: Lisa & Isell: A story about adoption and the Ghost Kingdom, which premiered in June 2022. Angela and Lisa co-wrote an essay advocating for the rights of Black fathers for the Harvard Law Bill of Health digital symposium in May 2022. Her jazz standards album Lisa Meets Gianni featuring legendary Italian drummer Gianni Cazzola was released in June 2022, on Ropeadope Records.

Lisa was invited to participate in the Biennale in Venice in October 2022 for artist Simone Leigh's Loophole of Retreat. Her new album NoteSpeak 12  has been scheduled for an early 2023 release by Ropeadope.

Simmons’ creativity also encompasses composing with and for other artists in different genres, including: Ropeadope’s collaborative Nine-Takes performance series during the pandemic lockdown; rock ‘n’ rollers Plan de Fuga; and American roots music on Lisa Bell’s The Italian Project; and soulstress Cheryl Porter, who performed “Consequence” (co-written by Simmons and Cremaschini) at “Two Countries, One Heart” co-sponsored by the American Initiative for Italian Culture, the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras and the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington.