Ahya Simone (born 1994) is an American

multidisciplinary artist Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

. Based in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, she is best known for her work as a harpist and for creating and starring in the web series ''Femme Queen Chronicles''.

Early life and education

Simone was born and raised in

, Michigan. She grew up singing in the church choir and started to play harp as a student at

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a public high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States.

when she was 16. While attending college at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

she came out as

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

. She was the principal harpist for the university's symphony.

Career

Music

After college Simone sought out ways to perform outside her previous experience "playing 300-year-old dead people music, and being around all these white suburban kids who had access I never did, who’d been playing classical music since they were two years old." She began to cover r&b and soul music, and named Dorothy Ashby as one of her biggest influences. This led her to collaborate with fellow Detroiter

dream hampton Dream Hampton (stylized as dream hampton) is an American filmmaker, producer, and writer. Her work includes the 2019 Lifetime documentary series '' Surviving R. Kelly'', which she executive produced, and the 2012 ''An Oversimplification of Her B ...

, to score hampton's short film ''Treasure'' (2018). Simone received a Kresge Artist Fellowship in 2018 and was the first Black trans woman recipient. That year she also teamed up with

Kelela Kelela Mizanekristos ( am, ከለላ ሚዛነክርስቶስ; born June 3, 1983) is an American singer. She made her debut in the music industry with the release of her 2013 mixtape ''Cut 4 Me.'' In 2015, she released ''Hallucinogen'', an EP ...

on ''

Take Me a_Part, the Remixes ''Take Me a_Part, the Remixes'' (stylized in all caps) is a remix album by American singer and songwriter Kelela, released on October 5, 2018. The album consists of reworkings of songs from Kelela's debut studio album, ''Take Me Apart'' (2017), fro ...

''. In addition to her work as a harpist, Simone is a singer-songwriter whose music fuses r&b, jazz, experimental, and electronic. Simone released the single "Frostbite" in 2020. She later released a music video for the song featuring local artists Kesswa and Supercoolwicked. In 2021, she collaborated with on his single "mazes".

Other work

In 2015 she founded the Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit to provide support to trans women of color after the murder of Amber Monroe. Through the organization she launched the comedy web series ''Femme Queen Chronicles'' that follows four trans women in Detroit, which she likened to '' Living Single'' and ''Chewing Gum''. Simone developed the series in part to "disrupt the narrative of black tragedy without sanitizing the very real tragedies that happen to us." She is the director, writer, and stars in the series. ''Femme Queen Chronicles'' debuted in 2018 and received positive critical reception. She received financial support from the

Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

to develop the series. As of 2021, she is working with Janet Mock to adapt the show for television.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Ahya Living people African-American women artists American harpists African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters African-American actresses Artists from Detroit Cass Technical High School alumni Wayne State University alumni African-American LGBT people American transgender actresses American transgender artists American transgender musicians American LGBT singers American LGBT songwriters Transgender women artists Transgender singers Transgender songwriters Transgender women musicians LGBT people from Michigan Musicians from Detroit 1994 births 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century African-American women Singer-songwriters from Michigan