Lisa Marie Simmons

Lisa Marie Simmons 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, 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. Lisa was co-host, alongside Dionne Draper, of the first season 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. NoteSpeak 12 was released in February 2023 by Ropeadope and is on Downbeat Magazine’s Best Albums of 2023 list, having garnered five stars. Her latest album, NoteSpeak (In a Word) was released in 2025. 

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” was shortlisted for Best Jazz Song by the International Songwriting Competition. "The Last Supper" and "Can We Agree" won Best Spoken Word singles in the One Earth Awards and NoteSpeak
12 was a finalist in 4 categories in the ISSA Awards. “Transcend” from NoteSpeak 12 was a 2024 nominee in the Jazz (Fusion/Bebop) category of the Hollywood Independent Music Awards. “Can We Agree” was a semi-finalist in the American Songwriters Song Contest.

From NoteSpeak (In a Word) - “Worm in a Book” was a 2025 Jazz finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and “Shaping The Yet-to-Be” was shortlisted in the International Songwriting Competition. In 2024, Simmons collaborated with artist Phoebe Boswell on Sentient I - VI, a selection of drawings from Boswell’s ongoing Sentients series, recently exhibited in Wentrup Gallery’s 20-year anniversary show. 

Simmons provided a sonic response in the form of an ekphrastic poem, Portraits in Paradox, accompanied by
pianist Marco Cremaschini. In 2025, Lisa made her Carnegie Hall debut, performing alongside Charu Suri, bringing NoteSpeak’s signature fusion of poetry and music to the iconic stage. She has been invited to return in November 2026.