Carly Elisabeth Simon, born on June 25, 1943, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She became famous in the 1970s with several hit songs. Thirteen of her singles reached the U.S. top 40, including “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” “Anticipation,” “The Right Thing to Do,” “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain,” “You Belong to Me,” and “Coming Around Again.” Her Gold-certified singles include “You’re So Vain,” “Mockingbird” (a duet with James Taylor), “Nobody Does It Better” from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and “Jesse.” In addition to her music career, Simon has written two memoirs and five children’s books.

In 1963, Simon started performing with her sister Lucy as the Simon Sisters. Their first album, Meet the Simon Sisters, included the song “Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod,” which reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. They released two more albums: Cuddlebug in 1966 and The Simon Sisters Sing for Children in 1969. After Lucy left, Carly launched her solo career with her 1971 debut album, which won her the Grammy for Best New Artist and produced her first top 10 single, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be.” This song also earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her second album, Anticipation, came out later that year, featured more hit singles, earned another Grammy nomination, and was her first Gold-certified album.

Carly Elisabeth Simon was born on June 25, 1943, in New York City.

Profile Summary

CategoryDetailsFull NameCarly SimonBirth NameCarly Elisabeth SimonDate of BirthJune 25, 1943 (age 83)Place of BirthNew York City, U.S.OccupationsSinger; Musician; Songwriter; Memoirist; AuthorYears Active1963–presentChildren2 (including Sally Taylor)

Family

RelationshipNameFatherRichard L. SimonMotherAndrea Heinemann SimonSisterJoanna SimonSisterLucy SimonUncleGeorge T. Simon

Spouses

SpouseMarriage DetailsJames Taylorm. 1972; div. 1983James Hartm. 1987; div. 2007

Musical Career

CategoryDetailsGenresSoft Rock; Pop Rock; FolkInstrumentsVocals; Guitar; PianoWorksCarly Simon discographyLabelsElektra; Warner Bros.; Epic; Arista; Rhino; Columbia; Hear Music; IrisFormerly OfThe Simon SistersWebsitecarlysimon.com

Biography

Simon was born on June 25, 1943, in New York City. Her father, Richard L. Simon, co-founded Simon & Schuster and played classical piano at home. Her mother, Andrea Heinemann, was a civil rights activist and singer. Her father’s family was German-Jewish, and her mother was Catholic. Simon’s maternal grandfather, Friedrich Heinemann, was German, and her maternal grandmother, Ofelia Oliete, known as “Chibie,” was a Catholic from Cuba with Pardo heritage and was a descendant of freed slaves. Ofelia grew up mostly in England with nuns until she was 16. In 2017, the PBS show Finding Your Roots revealed that Simon’s DNA is about 10% African and 2% Native American, likely from her maternal grandmother.

Simon grew up in the Riverdale area of the Bronx with her two older sisters, Joanna and Lucy, and her younger brother, Peter. All three siblings passed away from cancer before her. The family was raised Catholic, as Peter mentioned in a photography book he published in the late 1990s. Simon has shared that when she was seven, a teenage family friend sexually assaulted her. She said, “It was heinous,” and added, “It changed my view about sex for a long time.”

Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old. A psychiatrist tried unsuccessfully to cure her stuttering. Instead, Simon turned to singing and songwriting. “I felt so strangulated talking that I did the natural thing, which is to write songs, because I could sing without stammering, as all stammerers can.” She has also spoken about growing up with dyslexia as well as her belief that the condition has positively influenced her songwriting, saying that her hit song “Anticipation” “came down from the universe into my head and then out my mouth, so it bypassed the mind.”

Personal life

In the 1960s, Simon was briefly engaged to British writer William Donaldson. Donaldson described her as “the answer to any sane man’s prayers; funny, quick, erotic, extravagantly talented.”

Simon married singer-songwriter James Taylor on November 3, 1972, in New York City. They had two children, Sarah “Sally” Maria Taylor and Benjamin “Ben” Simon Taylor, who are both musicians and political activists. Simon and Taylor divorced in 1983. In 2004, Simon said she no longer spoke to Taylor, calling their relationship “non-existent” and saying, “It’s not the way I want it.” In 2015, after her memoir Boys in the Trees was published, she said in an interview that they still had not spoken in decades, adding, “I still want to heal him, I still want to make him all right. And I love him so much.”

From 1972 to 1979, Simon sang backup vocals on the following James Taylor songs and studio albums: “One Man Parade” from One Man Dog (1972). “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Music Now”, “Let It All Fall Down”, “Me and My Guitar”, “Daddy’s Baby”, and “Ain’t No Song” from Walking Man (1974). “How Sweet It Is” from Gorilla (1975). “Shower the People”, “A Junkie’s Lament”, “Slow Burning Love”, and “Family Man” from In the Pocket (1976). “Terra Nova” (which she co-wrote with Taylor) from JT (1977). “B.S.U.R.” from Flag (1979).

Simon was engaged to musician Russ Kunkel from 1985 to 1986. They became close while working together on her album Spoiled Girl.

Simon married James Hart, a writer, poet, and businessman, on December 23, 1987. They divorced in 2007.

Discography

Studio albums

1971: Carly Simon
1971: Anticipation
1972: No Secrets
1974: Hotcakes
1975: Playing Possum
1976: Another Passenger
1978: Boys in the Trees
1979: Spy
1980: Come Upstairs
1981: Torch
1983: Hello Big Man
1985: Spoiled Girl
1987: Coming Around Again
1990: My Romance
1990: Have You Seen Me Lately
1994: Letters Never Sent
1997: Film Noir
2000: The Bedroom Tapes
2005: Moonlight Serenade
2007: Into White
2008: This Kind of Love
2009: Never Been Gone
2026: Comes in Waves

Christmas albums

2002: Christmas Is Almost Here

Live albums

1988: Greatest Hits Live
2023: Live at Grand Central

Other albums

1989: Working Girl (Original Soundtrack Album)
1992: This Is My Life (Music from the Motion Picture)
1993: Romulus Hunt: A Family Opera
2003: Piglet’s Big Movie (soundtrack)
2005: The Best of Pooh and Heffalumps, Too

Compilation albums

1975: The Best of Carly Simon
1995: Clouds in My Coffee
1998: The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better
2002: Anthology
2004: Reflections: Carly Simon’s Greatest Hits
2009: Carly Simon Collector’s Edition
2011: Original Album Series
2014: Playlist: The Very Best of Carly Simon
2015: Songs from the Trees: A Musical Memoir Collection
2023: These Are the Good Old Days: The Carly Simon and Jac Holzman Story

Net Worth

Carly Simon’s estimated net worth is $80 million.