San Quentin’s Chapel B was filled to overflowing with a loud and energetic crowd singing and dancing to the incredible and rousing sounds of Dee Dee Simon and her band, The Truth.

“When I perform, I perform as if it’s my last time,” said Simon, who is an America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer winner. 

Simon and The Truth covered a wide range of musical genres, from Bruno Mars’s classic, “24K Magic,” Chic’s “Good Times,” to Prince’s “Kiss.” The band rocked on each number and sounded like the original artists performing their numbers. Simon kept her energy up throughout the performance.

The Truth consisted of seven members: two keyboard players, a drummer, a percussionist, a bass player, a guitar player, and a back-up singer. They eagerly awaited Simon’s arrival on stage as house music from the chapel’s PA system filled the room.

Simon stepped out on stage dressed in a glittery outfit, sporting her signature hairstyle: long on one end and short on the other. “This is for y’all,” she said, pointing her pinky ring to the sky. Then the show opened with “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” originally recorded by Sam & Dave. She then sang “PYT” (Pretty Young Thing), by Michael Jackson. 

“Head to toe, that’s the theme tonight,” said Simon to the audience.

“To see the moving and dancing put me out of my comfort zone,” said Richard Rivali, 51.  “Everyone came together in unity with no animosity. They should have more of this. I called my family and told them about the show.”

“Who’s in here tonight? West Block? North Block?” Simon asked, naming all the facility housing units.  

During one period of the performance, Simon sought people from the audience to highlight their talents. She asked for everything from “clean rap,” to poetry, to Latin rappers, and opened the stage to them all.

On the song “Maria Maria,” by Carlos Santana, incarcerated percussionist Moises Romas was invited to the stage to sit in and perform with the band. Romas’ talent was conveyed to The Truth’s percussionist, Mio Flores, prior to the show. He played a solo segment during the number.  Flores said he  had served time at SQRC years ago and knew the importance of an opportunity such as that, so he gave back to a fellow musician.

“If AGT would’ve let me do my thing, we would’ve been cool,” said Simon. She was given the opportunity to perform because “they called me,” she said. 

Someone in the audience asked Simon how she lost on AGT. “Because they [the public] didn’t vote,” she said. “I knew I had to get the Golden Buzzer because people don’t vote.”  

A healthcare professional by trade, Simon acknowledged that some of the men might be having issues that are heavy on their minds and encouraged them to push on. “I love the California Model, but do it for the outside,” she said, inspiring the men to work on themselves.

Simon said she views her work at San Quentin is helping guys to do better to leave. “I tell guys to get involved,” she said. “(Rehabilitation) is here for you if you want it.”  

Tommy Wickerd was very impressed with the concert.  He is incarcerated and works with the hearing impaired. He said he was extremely proud that Simon acknowledged the interpreters and called a hearing-impaired rapper up on stage to perform.

At the end of the show, Simon introduced the members of The Truth. 

Keyboardist Dana Salzman has four albums to her name. She said that performing at San Quentin was “not what she expected.” 

Patrick Bradley, 45, the guitarist, has been playing since he was 12 years old. 

Danielle Wansley, 40, has been playing drums since the age of 9. While the performance met her expectations, she said, “Everybody has their saying about you guys—dangerous, violent—but it was cool.”

Samantha Jones, Simon’s back-up singer, has been with her for 13 years. “I didn’t know what I would experience [here],” Jones said. She was really impressed and moved by the responses of the residents.

Keyboardist and musical director, Charles Boomer, kept the band moving. He added an incredible vocal solo on “The Best of My Love,” by The Emotions.

Simon closed the show with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” a song she said was not exactly her favorite song because it was one of the numbers sung by her competition at AGT.  During the song, she pointed the microphone in the crowd’s direction, and said, “Don’t stop believing.”

“I want to thank y’all for partying with me,” she said in closing the show.

Simon has been performing for decades. She started singing to “stay out of trouble on the streets,” she said. Along the way, she experienced a lot of disappointment, but continued singing. “You can’t just wake up and be a star.”

Simon has received a lot of work from her AGT performance. She performs practically every weekend, after working all week in San Quentin’s medical department. One of her recent gigs was opening for a major comedian in Las Vegas.

“The overwhelming support has been a gift to me,” Simon said about her San Quentin performance. “I don’t play when it comes to my craft. I’m not going to jeopardize what I love to do to give you a mediocre show.”

“This was the best audience I’ve ever had,” said Simon. “The room was electrifying, and I’ve performed in front of 18,000 people in person and over 20 to 30 million on the internet.”    

—Kevin D. Sawyer contributed to this story