Simone - daughter of Nina Simone - performs at the Attucks

It will be like Liza Minelli doing her mom Judy Garland, Jakob Dylan covering his pop Bob Dylan’s songs, or Big Bill Morganfield singing a tribute to his father, Muddy Waters.

Lisa Simone Kelly, who goes by the simple stage name of Simone, will kick off her spring/summer 2009 tour at Norfolk’s Attucks Theatre Saturday  channeling the songs and prowess of her mother, Nina Simone, legendary singer/songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rights activist.

“Oh my goodness,” was the singer/songwriter’s reaction upon hearing about the history of the Attucks – the 1919 theater built as a centerpiece of Norfolk’s minority community on Church Street. She said the scheduling at the storied theater was random, but now feels it was meant to be.

“I’m in good company,” she said during a phone interview from her home in the Pennsylvania Poconos. “That’s a good indicator of a good concert and a good year coming up.”

That “good year” not only includes this tour but a series of Nina Simone tribute concerts in Europe in July with a big band and vocal help from Lizz Wright, Dianne Reeves and Angelique Kidjo.

But Simone - touring to promote her first solo album, a big-band tribute to mom, “Simone on Simone,” released last year on Koch Records - didn’t get into showbiz because of her parentage. She possesses a powerful, expressive voice first heard while working in Germany performing Top 40 tunes, and, after migrating back to the U.S., collaborations with noted Chicago acid-jazz group Liquid Soul and star turns on Broadway in “Rent” and Elton John’s “Aida.”

The album has garnered critical acclaim thanks to Simone’s wide-ranging voice and her interpretations of mother’s material.

Leslie Streeter, in a February Palm Beach Post review, wrote “the impressive thing about how she keeps the flame aloft is that she doesn’t sing like her mother - she has an incredibly rich instrument that is higher than Nina Simone’s dusky mystery of a voice.” Streeter also praised the daughter’s “natural vocal gifts” and “theatrical skills honed on Broadway.”

Rather than avoid her iconic mother’s legacy, Simone chose to “embrace and face it,” making her first solo album a tribute to mom.

“I’ve been her daughter ever since I took my first breath,” the 46-year-old proudly said. “That’s who I am. I’m only reminded of it when other people do so. I feel I’m setting a new precedent. I choose to use it, it’s something that helps me. It could be a heavy burden to carry or my chariot to move me ahead, I choose the later. My mother taught me to be satisfied with the gift and relax with it.”

She said the songs on her debut album, which will make up the bulk of the Attucks concert, were selected by her in about 45 minutes.

“Each song represents a different and important stage in my life,” she said. “At first some were intimidating at the time, I still had not yet gotten over the healing process from the grief of my mother’s passing (in April, 2003). But it’s been very cathartic. Now it seems so natural. It just goes to show how powerful DNA is. And then I had about 50 charts mother gifted me, I had all those great songs and Rob’s big band (The Rob Stoneback Big Band) was available at the time.”

For Saturday’s concert she’ll be backed by a small combo from that big band anchored by sax player/musical director Ken Moyer, along with pianist Craig Kastelnik, guitarist Craig Thatcher, drummer Gary Rissmiller and bassist Greg Eicher.

“They are great musicians, and they give a wonderful representation of what’s on the record,” she said about her group. “I will also include a few of my songs and stories about my life and growing up (with Nina Simone).”

Simone said she’s gotten countless letters from fans who have been touched not only by her renditions of her mother’s songs but her reminisces of life with her mom. She said it will be fitting to retell those stories and perform Nina Simone’s material on the Attucks stage.

“I’m honored and privileged to be in such great company,” she said. “I, and my mother, will now be a part of that history.”   

Eric Feber, 222-5203, eric.feber@pilotonline.com