Carly Simon life and biography

Carly Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work. Throughout her career, she has amassed a total of 13 Top 40 Hits including "You're So Vain", "Mockingbird" and "Anticipation".

She is the former wife of another notable singer-songwriter, James Taylor, with whom she has two children: Sarah "Sally" Maria Taylor and Ben Taylor, who are also musicians.

Simon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994.

Simon was born in New York City, New York. Her father, of Jewish descent, was Richard L. Simon (co-founder of Simon & Schuster), a pianist who often played Chopin and Beethoven at home. Her mother was Andrea Louise Simon (née Heinemann), a civil rights activist and singer of African-American and German descent. In a 2004 interview with fashion designer Michael Kors for the July issue of Interview Magazine, Simon revealed her full ancestry as being Jewish, African, Cuban and French, making it evident that her multiracial mother was of German, Cuban and African ancestry.

Carly Simon 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). Simon, her sisters and brother Peter, were raised Catholics, according to a book of photography Peter published in the late 1990s. She attended Riverdale Country School. She also briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College and joined Alpha Gamma Delta, before dropping out to pursue music.

Film and television appearances:

Besides music, Simon has also appeared (as herself) in films, such as the 1985 film Perfect, and an uncredited appearance in the 2004 film Little Black Book. On television, she appeared (also as herself) in a 1989 episode of Thirtysomething and voiced a 1995 episode of Frasier entitled "Roz in the Doghouse".

Simon married fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor on November 3, 1972. Simon and Taylor had two children, Sarah "Sally" Maria Taylor (born January 7, 1974) and Benjamin "Ben" Simon 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." On October 4, 2007, Simon became a grandmother, when her daughter Sally gave birth to a son, Bodhi Taylor Bragonier.

Prior to her marriage to Taylor, Simon was briefly engaged to William Donaldson in the 1960s (who jilted fiancee Sarah Miles for her). Donaldson described her as "the answer to any sane man's prayers; funny, quick, erotic, extravagantly talented." She also was engaged to musician Russ Kunkel, from 1985 to 1986.

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

Simon underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer during 1997 and 1998. There had been a lump in her breast for several years before then, but her doctors had advised her against surgery. Simon later recounted: "Then one doctor said, 'You know what, I'd rather see it in a jar than in your breast.'" She also said that she felt "a little angry with myself" over the fact that she didn't insist on taking it out sooner. Simon's surgery came at the same time as the death of her long-time friend Linda McCartney, who had also struggled with breast cancer. Simon described McCartney's death as having emotionally "crushed" her.

Simon resides on Martha's Vineyard and is associated with a store in Vineyard Haven named Midnight Farm, the title of one of her series of children's books from the late 1980s and 1990s.

In an interview published on May 1, 2008, with the Bay Area Reporter, an LGBT news service, Simon was asked about the possibility of a performance in the True Colors Tour. She responded, "The part that I could be involved in is the gay and lesbian part. The part that would be hard for me is to commit to a tour, because I'm not very comfortable being onstage. But the part that would be easiest for me would be singing on behalf of all of us. I don't consider myself to be not gay... I've enlarged all of my possibilities. I have a lot of extremely personal stories to tell about that, but we won't go into that right now. Let's just say that it just depends upon who I'm with."

Simon addressed the rumors about her sexuality created by the interview on The Howard Stern Show which aired June 18, 2008. Since July 2006 she has been dating a surgeon, Richard H. Koehler, a Gulf War veteran.

Simon has been close friends with James Taylor's younger brother Livingston Taylor for over forty years. Livingston has said, "I love Carly and Carly loves me. She's a ferocious advocate and supporter of my music." They have worked as a musical duo for some songs such as "Best of Friends", released in Livingston's 2006 album There You Are Again, and others earlier in their careers.

In May 2010 Simon revealed she had been one of the several celebrities who fell victims to financial advisor Kenneth I. Starr, now a prison inmate, whose Ponzi scheme lured her into 'investing' millions of dollars with him, which she lost.

Discography:

The Bedroom Tapes, 2000 (out of print)
Moonlight Serenade, 2005
Into White, 2007
This Kind of Love, 2008
Never Been Gone, 2009

Compilations:

Christmas Is Almost Here Again, 2003 (Christmas compilation) (out of print)
Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits, 2004 (singles compilation)
Carly Simon Collector's Edition, 2009 (tin box)

Videography:

Live from Martha's Vineyard, 1987
Carly in Concert My Romance, 1990
Live at Grand Central, 1995
A Moonlight Serenade on the Queen Mary 2, 2005
Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars documentary, songs by Carly Simon 2006

Author of books:

Amy the Dancing Bear, 1989
The Boy of the Bells, 1990
The Fisherman's Song, 1991
The Nighttime Chauffeur, 1993
Midnight Farm, 1997

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