Simone Battle, Former Trojan And X Factor Finalist, Passes Away At 25
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Simone Battle was a former Song Girl and Music Industry major at USC, which she stated helped her in her career as an actress and singer. Getting her first role on television before coming to USC and appearing on shows like Zoey 101 and The X Factor, Battle was beginning to make strides in the entertainment industry before she passed away on Sept. 5.
(@GRLSimone/Twitter)
Like many of the Trojan greats before her, including Troy Polamalu and Demar Derozan, Simone Battle, a budding, music artist and spirited Trojan, left USC early to “go pro.”
After having made it to the live shows on the first season of the “X Factor,” Simone’s opportunities were endless. She began performing at local venues and eventually became a member of the music group G.R.L. This past summer, their single “Ugly Heart” reached the Top 5 charts in Australia and New Zealand. By anyone’s standards, Simone was starting to make it.
I had the good fortune of personally getting to know Simone while she and I were roommates in Webb Tower several years ago. Although we both grew up in Los Angeles, we might as well have been raised on different planets. From day one, I realized how much I would learn simply by living in close proximity to her.
During the two years that we lived together, Simone introduced me to hidden LA gems like Jet Rag, where, as it turns out, you can buy just about any item of clothing for $1. She snagged three fur coats that way. She taught me about weaves, about Miss Jessie’s curly pudding and about church (which coming from a Jewish home, I really didn’t know very much about). She taught me, by example, that it’s okay to take risks with fashion. Even to this day, I couldn’t wrap my mind around her sparkly red Jeffrey Campbell platform shoes, but I admired her for taking chances and expressing her creativity in every aspect of her being.
She introduced me to open mic nights. I went to two of hers: one at Ground Zero and one at the Ragazzi Room. Every night at our apartment was rehearsal night. Simone rehearsed for class, for performances and for long nights at the recording studio. I could always hear her rehearsing from outside Webb Tower on my way home from class. I knew her cover songs, I knew her original songs and I knew her alarm clock tune, which for a while was Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok.” And it was because of her that every morning I woke up wondering whether people really brush their teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniels. The point is that she was a remarkable talent. Not only did she have the work ethic, the passion and the attitude, but she was also just a damn good vocalist, musician and songwriter.
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After meeting with bigwigs in the music industry like David Guetta and the Black Eyed Peas, she wouldn’t come home screaming in excitement and imagining one hundred different scenarios where they helped her become a star. Instead, time after time, she would tell me that these opportunities come and go and often never develop into anything beyond a pleasant meeting with someone she could learn from. It was from her that I learned about composure, continued optimism and humility.
Simone Battle welcomed me into her life, and I was so lucky to have been a part of it. It is precisely in the way I described her that I will forever remember her.
Daughter. Sister. Friend.
Optimistic. Bright. And simply, a vision.
Danielle Nisimov is a USC Annenberg alumna who graduated with a B.A. in public relations. She is currently in her final year at Loyola Law School.
[Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article mistakenly reported Sept. 15 as the date of Simone Battle's death. We apologize for the error.]
