Simi Sernaker, born Simantha Sernaker in 1979 and also known as Simi Stone, is the former frontwoman of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

bands

Suffrajett Suffrajett is an American rock band from New York City, currently based in Chicago, Illinois, composed of singer/violinist Simi Sernaker, guitarist Jason Chasko, bassist Kevin Roberts, and drummer Danny Severson. Suffrajett has toured with Loc ...

and

The New Pornographers The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band has released eight studio albums to critical acclaim for th ...

. Sernaker was born and raised in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000 ...

, by her mother Dorothy Sernaker and a Jamaican-born father, Ernest Bledsoe, whose mother traveled on the blues circuit playing piano in the south. At seven, Sernaker took up the classical violin and at ten, was admitted to The New York Conservatory for the Arts, where she studied musical theatre, dance, and voice. Upon graduating high school, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and pursued a degree in acting at Marymount College, while she performed in musical theater and

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

plays.

Music career

Sernaker was a founding member of the

Afro-punk Afro-punk (sometimes spelled Afro-Punk, Afropunk or AfroPunk) refers to the participation of African Americans and other Black people in punk and alternative subcultures, especially in the United States. History The term originated from the 200 ...

movement. and formed the band Suffrajett with sideman Jason Chasko. They performed in numerous NYC venues including

Bowery Ballroom The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live-music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in the neighborhood of Bowery in Manhattan. The Bowery Ballroom holds something of a cult status among musicians as well as audiences. ''Rolling Stone'' magazi ...

, CBGBs, and

Irving Plaza Irving Plaza (known through sponsorship as Irving Plaza, powered by Klipsch and formerly known as the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) is a ballroom-style music venue located within the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. ...

, and played several Summer Stage events with

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

, and others. Suffrajett released two records, ''Suffrajett'' and ''Black Glitter'' on indie labels In Music We Trust and Giant Step Records, which garnered considerable critical acclaim from magazines such as ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

,'' and earned five stars from ''The Chicago Sun Times''. ''

Time Out Chicago ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition beca ...

'' said of Suffrajett: “This New York via Chicago band has justifiably gained a rep for

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 ...

style whiplash rock and roll without acting like it’s a low down dirty shame…When she’s not sounding like The Shangri Las'

Mary Weiss Mary Weiss (born December 28, 1948) is an American pop music vocalist, best known as the lead singer of the Shangri-Las in the 1960s. She then vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in 2007 to record her first solo album with Norto ...

, she’s summoning the ghost of

T-Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

’s

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted int ...

, who knew how to make a whisper sound like a threat.” In 2009, Sernaker toured as opener for The Duke & the King. They were featured on

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, ''Saturday with Brendan O’Conner,'' and '

Canal Plus Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

''. Allen Jones from ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' magazine called her "The sensational Simi Stone" and calls her voice "striking" and her violin "a thing of mournful beauty." Recording as Simi Stone, Sernaker released a self titled album and a follow-up titled ''The Rescue'' with musical partner David Baron. Beginning in 2015, she joined

as a touring member before becoming an official member in 2019. Sernaker left the group in 2021.

Art

In 2016, Sernaker exhibited her visual art at the Ardnaglass gallery in Woodstock, New York.

References

External links

*
Simi Sernaker
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sernaker, Simi 1979 births Living people African-American rock musicians African-American Jews American people of Jamaican descent American rock musicians Women rock singers Singers from New York City The New Pornographers members 21st-century American violinists 21st-century African-American women singers