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| Birth Name(s) : Carly Elisabeth Simon |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer-songwriter, Guitarist |
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Full Carly Simon Biography
Simon's father was Richard L. Simon (co-founder of Simon & Schuster, Inc.), an accomplished pianist who often played Chopin and Beethoven at home. Her mother was Andrea Louise Simon (née Heinemann), a biracial (black and Jewish) civil rights activist and singer. Carly was raised in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City and has two older sisters, Joanna (b. 1940) and Lucy (b. 1943), and a younger brother, Peter (b. 1947). She attended Riverdale Country School.
Simon married fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor on November 3, 1972. Simon and Taylor had two children, Sarah Maria ("Sally") born January 7, 1974 and Benjamin Simon ("Ben") Taylor born January 22, 1977, both of whom are musicians and political activists. Simon and Taylor divorced in 1983. In the June 20, 2004 issue of Askmen.com, Simon said that she no longer speaks to her ex-husband James Taylor. "I would say our relationship is non-existent. It's not the way I want it."
Simon married James Hart, a writer, poet, and businessman, on December 23, 1987. The couple divorced in 2007.
Simon's breakthrough LP was 1972's No Secrets. The album spawned several successful singles, including Simon's biggest hit, "You're So Vain". (See that article for the mystery of the song's subject.)
On May 8, 1976, Simon made her only appearance on Saturday Night Live. It was a taped, not live, appearance during which she sang two songs: "Half A Chance" and "You're So Vain". 1976 also saw Simon contribute backup vocals on the song "Peter" on Peter Ivers's album Peter Ivers. In 1977 Simon co-produced Libby Titus's album Libby Titus and sang backup on two songs, "Can This Be Our Love Affair?" and "Darkness 'Til Dawn".
Her sales began moderating with 1975's Playing Possum, and 1976's Another Passenger but in 1977 she had a hit with "Nobody Does It Better" from the soundtrack to the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Charting at #2, this was her second-biggest US hit after "You're So Vain". This led to the 1978 hit album Boys in the Trees which produced another top ten hit, "You Belong to Me". Also in 1978, Simon and James Taylor sang backup vocals on two songs for Taylor's sister Kate's album Kate Taylor: "Happy Birthday Sweet Darling" and "Jason & Ida". Simon and Taylor also sang backup on three songs on John Hall's debut solo album John Hall, "The Fault", "Good Enough" and "Voyagers". Simon and Taylor would also sing backup on one song, "Power", from Hall's next album, also titled Power (1979).
From 1972 to 1979 Simon sang backup vocals on the following James Taylor songs and albums (not counting compilations): "One Man Parade" from 1972's One Man Dog, "Rock 'n' Roll Is Music Now", "Let It All Fall Down", "Me And My Guitar", "Daddy's Baby" and "Ain't No Song" from 1974's Walking Man, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" from 1975's Gorilla, "Shower the People", "A Junkie's Lament", "Slow Burning Love" and "Family Man" from 1976's In the Pocket, and "B.S.U.R." from 1979's Flag. She also co-wrote with Taylor the song "Terra Nova" on his 1977 album JT. At the end of the song, Simon sang what has come to be known as "Lambert's Cove".
1993 saw Simon recording a contemporary opera called Romulus Hunt, having been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Association and the Kennedy Center, and published of her fourth children's book, "The Nighttime Chauffeur". She also contributed to Andreas Vollenweider's album Eolian Minstrel. Simon co-wrote the song "Private Fires" with Vollenweider, and was featured vocalist on the song.
Among Simon's recent work were songs for the Disney Winnie the Pooh films Piglet's Big Movie in 2003 and Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005. Several of her songs were also featured in the 2004 movie Little Black Book starring Brittany Murphy and Holly Hunter. Simon appears in a cameo role as herself at the end of the movie. 2004 also saw the release of her fourth greatest hits album, Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits, which peaked at number 22 on the Billboard charts that year.
In 2005 she released her fourth album of standards, titled Moonlight Serenade. It debuted at number 7 on the Billboard charts, her highest debut since Hotcakes in 1973. To promote Moonlight Serenade, Simon performed two concerts onboard the Queen Mary II which were recorded and released on DVD on November 22, 2005. She also performed in a concert tour in the United States, her first tour in 10 years. Simon also sang a duet, "Angel Of The Darkest Night", with Mindy Jostyn on Jostyn's 2005 album Coming Home which was released several months after Jostyn's death on March 10, 2005. One of Simon's closest friends, Jostyn was married to Jacob Brackman, Simon's long-time friend and musical collaborator. In 2005 she became involved in the legal defense of musician and family friend John Forté with his struggle against a federal incarceration.
In 2006 she recorded a new album of "soothing songs and lullabies" for Columbia Records. That album, Into White featured covers of songs by Cat Stevens, Judy Garland, The Beatles and the Everly Brothers as well as two new songs. It also features the vocal collaborations of her children, Ben Taylor and Sally Taylor, both accomplished artists. Released January 2, 2007, it became Billboard Magazine's "hot shot debut", entering the chart at number 15. |
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