Nina Simone | Image: Classical Album Sundays
RéAnna Simone Kelly, the granddaughter of legendary American singer-songwriter Nina Simone, has accused Vice President Kamala Harris of causing the family to lose control of Simone’s estate and giving to “white people” while Harris was California attorney general.
“Nina’s granddaughter here,” ReAnna Simone Kelly wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “My family doesn’t run her estate anymore. It was taken away from us [and] given to white people. Our family name was DRAGGED in the media. We get NO royalties, nothing. Wanna hold someone accountable? Ask Kamala Harris why she came for my family.”
Nina Simone died in 2003 and her daughter Lisa Simone Kelly was made the administrator of both her estate and a charitable trust which was set up ‘for the musical education of black African children in Africa.’
However, in 2013, Kelly was accused of ‘breaching her fiduciary duty to both the estate and trust, allegedly draining up to $2 million from its coffers, including a $1.5 million deposit into her personal company’, The Daily Beast reports.
US Vice President Kamala Harris | Image: by ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AE / AFP
Kamala Harris, who was serving as California’s AG at the time, oversaw the case and decided that Kelly was in the wrong. Harris initially sought to collect a surcharge of $5.93 million-plus over $2.5 million in interest from Lisa.
However, the state of California and Kelly later came to a separate agreement. As part of the settlement terms, Lisa was stripped of her title of estate administrator and agreed to relinquish her rights to Simone’s works.
“As I said before, Ask her why she separated my family,” she continued on Twitter. “Ask her why my grandmothers estate is in SHAMBLES now. Ask her why we as her family no longer own the rights to anything. Ask her why she bullied my mother in court and my mom almost killed herself from the depression.”
“Ask her why my mother had a gag order put on her and can not speak on these things. Ask her why she didn’t even want my mom to be able to say she was Nina Simone’s daughter. Ask her why she wanted us to walk away with NOTHING.”
“My grandmother created something beautiful with her life while she was here on this earth, even through all her pain,” RéAnna concluded. “I am SO PROUD of her legacy!! I am so proud to be her grandchild. But I feel separated from my legacy. As if it isn’t even mine.”
On Saturday, Kelly took to Instagram to stand by RéAnna, proudly saying she had “started a fire.” “I support everything she said,” Kelly said. “She’s speaking her truth; she’s speaking the truth of our family.”
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, Nina Simone, was a singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.