While Simone Stacey was being celebrated onstage, topping charts in her group Shakaya and touring with Destiny’s Child, she was battling private turmoil due to domestic violence and the pressures of early motherhood.
“I never shared anything publicly,” she told Living Black’s Karla Grant.
“But yeah, I just sort of would share with friends and family.”
More than 20 years later, Stacey is still performing but now her focus is on healing.
Based in Gimuy (Cairns), she works with young people in child safety and the justice system, using music to help them process trauma, build self-worth and reclaim their stories, running a program called No Shame in My Game.
In the early 2000s, at the height of Shakaya’s – a duo with Naomi Wenitong – fame, Stacey was performing to packed crowds, receiving ARIA nominations and Platinum records, all while silently enduring a volatile home life.
As the pressure mounted, so did her internal stress.
“I suffered with panic attacks and anxieties,” she said.
“The pressure and the stress of the industry, I wasn’t used to that.”
Eventually, she found her way forward through songwriting.
“You come to a realisation that things aren’t gonna change,” she said.
“There’s strength within, when you go through things like this, like violence and all that.
"There’s a strength that rises up after a while."
She starting writing music about her experience being in a violent situation.
"That’s how I was healing as well, just getting it off my chest … writing songs,” she said.
In 2023, Stacey became a ‘No To DV’ ambassador in Queensland, drawing on her own experience and her connection to community.
“Our women are getting killed at ridiculous rates,” she said.
“I just wanted to be up there as an ambassador and ... to be a voice for women that can’t have a voice.”
For those going through similar situations, her message is simple and compassionate.
“Listen to your inner spirit too, cause there’s an inner spirit that says [you’ve] had enough," she said.
“If they don’t have a supportive family or anyone there that they can talk to, there are people in the community, there’s hub centres, there’s churches, there’s people you can go to that can get you to safety and get you away from there.
“There is a strength within all of us that we don’t realise.
“And I think it’s just tapping into the right people and community … there are services there, I’d say reach out to them.”
Through No Shame in My Game, Stacey not only helps young people find their voice, she shows them what’s possible when you use it.
“It helped me a lot because you get to see and you hear a lot of stories about these young people and the things that they’ve gone through and overcome and have survived through,” she said.
Her workshops aren’t just about technical skills, they’re about confidence, storytelling, and cultural safety.
“I sing to them different examples of songs and I sing (one of Shakaya's big hits) ‘Stop Calling Me’," she said.
"And we have a little laugh.
“But I get to also share my narrative with Shakaya and what we did.
“And then if we hadn’t stepped out of our comfort zone, and if we hadn’t have believed in ourselves, it wouldn’t have happened.
“So, I just talk to them about opportunities, and I share that narrative with them and how important they are and how special they are.”
Living Black airs Mondays at 8.30pm on NITV, replays on Tuesday 10.35pm on SBS and is available on SBS On Demand.
