Born in London, Ontario, Nancy Simmonds began pursuing her singer/songwriter career when she moved to Toronto in 1971 and performed at Coffeehouses throughout Ontario such as The Riverboat, Smale's Pace and le Hibou.

Nancy worked briefly with Leonard Cohen in Nashville and then began performing at festivals and clubs throughout Ontario, opening concerts at Massey Hall for Chris de Burgh and J.J. Cale. Nancy made appearances on many of the current days' TV shows, performed in the movie "Silent Partner" and eventually signed a publishing deal with Chappell Music Canada in the early 80's. Simmonds was an original member of Prairie Oyster while continuing to maintain her performing act "The Nancy Simmonds Band". Simmonds left Canada in 1986 to live in Carpinteria, California for the next 16 years where she was involved in animal rescue as well as maintaining her writing and producing career. Her songs have been covered by Melissa Manchester, Ricky Van Shelton, Rosemary Butler, Alannah Myles, Christopher Ward, Joan Kennedy, Quartette, Adrian Zmed, Colleen Peterson and Veronique Believeau. She has received writing awards for the multi-million selling CD "Alannah Myles" and "Song Instead of a Kiss". In 2002 while performing at historic "Fiesta Days", she won the Santa Barbara Songwriting Contest.