Ahya Simone (born September 4, 1992) [1] is an American multidisciplinary artist. Based in Detroit, she is best known for her work as a harpist and for creating and starring in the web series pilot Femme Queen Chronicles. [2]
Ahya Simone (born September 4, 1992) [1] is an American multidisciplinary artist. Based in Detroit, she is best known for her work as a harpist and for creating and starring in the web series pilot Femme Queen Chronicles. [2]
Simone was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. [3] She grew up singing in the church choir and started to play harp as a student at Cass Technical High School when she was 16. [3]
While attending college at Wayne State University she came out as transgender. [3] She was the principal harpist for the university's symphony. [4]
After college Simone sought out ways to perform outside her previous experience as a classical musician. She began to cover r&b and soul music, and named Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, and as one of her biggest influences. [4] This led her to collaborate with fellow Detroiter dream hampton, to co-score hampton's short film Treasure (2018). [1] Simone received a Kresge Artist Fellowship in 2018 and was the first Black trans woman recipient. [5] That year she also teamed up with Kelela on Take Me a_Part, the Remixes . [1]
In addition to her work as a harpist, Simone is a singer-songwriter whose music fuses r&b, jazz, experimental, and electronic. [6] Simone released the single "Frostbite" in 2020. [7] She later released a music video for the song featuring local artists Kesswa and Supercoolwicked. [8] In 2021, she collaborated with cktrl on his single "mazes". [9]
Singles from Ahya Simone
Neptunian Blue EP
In 2015 she co-founded the Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit to provide support to trans women of color after the murder of Amber Monroe. [10] Through the organization she launched the comedy web series pilot Femme Queen Chronicles that follows four trans women in Detroit, which she likened to Living Single and Chewing Gum. [2] Simone developed the series in part to "disrupt the narrative of black tragedy without sanitizing the very real tragedies that happen to us." [10] She is the director, writer, and stars in the series. [2] Femme Queen Chronicles debuted in 2018 and received positive critical reception. [10] She received
financial support from the Knight Foundation to develop the series. [2] As of 2021, she is working with Janet Mock to adapt the show for television. [1]
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