Moisés Simons (born Moisés Simón Rodríguez; 24 August 1889 in Havana, Cuba – 28 June 1945 in Madrid, Spain), was a leading Cuban composer, pianist, and orchestra leader. He was the composer of El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor in English) which is considered by many to be the most famous piece of music created by a Cuban musician and has since been recorded by other musicians from around the world hundreds of times.

Moisés Simons was born on 24 August 1889 in Havana, Cuba. The son of a Basque musician, he started studying music with his father, Leandro Simón Guergué. By the age of 9, he was the organist at his local church in the barrio of Jesús María and choirmaster of the Pilar church. At 15, he undertook advanced studies under various maestros in composition, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, and instrumentation.

Later, Simons became a concert pianist and musical director of lyric theater companies. He worked at the Teatro Martí, where musical comedies by Ernesto Lecuona were performed. He then moved to the Teatro Payret under contract to the Spanish composer, Vicente Lleó, who directed a zarzuela company with whom he toured throughout Latin American including Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Central America.

In 1924, Simons founded a jazz band which played on the roof garden of the Plaza Hotel in Havana. It consisted of piano, violin, alto and tenor saxophones, flute, banjo, double bass, drums, and timbales. With Simons on piano, other members included Virgilio Diego on violin, Alberto Socarrás on alto sax and flute, José Ramón Betancourt on tenor sax, and Pablo O'Farrill on double bass. In 1928 while still at the same venue, Simons hired the famous trumpeter, Julio Cueva, as well as vocalist and drummer, Enrique Santiesteban. These were top instrumentalists at the time and were garnered fees of $8 a day.

Simons did research into the history of Cuban music publishing his articles in newspapers and magazines. He wrote the scores for stage shows and even several films. He was president of the Association of Musical Solidarity and the technical director of the Society of Wind Orchestras.

Simons was renowned as a composer during the era of afrocubanismo, the time between World War I and World War II when the contributions of Afro-Cubans to Cuban culture were finally gaining recognition. Other celebrated composers during this Afro-Cuban awakening were Alejandro García Caturla, Amadeo Roldán, Ernesto Lecuona, Eliseo Grenet, Gonzalo Roig, Rodrigo Prats, and Jorge Anckermann.

For much of the 1930s, Simons lived and worked in France, mostly in Paris, and was still there when World War II broke out. He was finally able to return to Cuba in 1942. He then moved to the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife and later to Madrid, Spain where he signed a contract to provide music for the film, Bambú, which included his last known composition, Hoy Como Ayer (Today Like Yesterday in English).

Moisés Simons died in Madrid, Spain, on 28 June 1945. He was 55.