Carly Simon Biography Quotes 35 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Carly Elisabeth Simon was born on June 25, 1945, in New York City. She grew up in a household steeped in books and music. Her father, Richard L. Simon, co-founded the publishing house Simon and Schuster, and her mother, Andrea Heinemann Simon, was a singer and civil rights advocate who encouraged artistic exploration at home. Carly was one of four siblings: Joanna, a noted singer; Lucy, who became a respected composer; and Peter, a photographer. The family split time between the city and coastal retreats, and music filled their gatherings. As a child, Carly struggled with a stutter, a challenge she found she could soften and bypass through singing, which nudged her toward performance and songwriting.

Beginnings in Music
Carly briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College before leaving to pursue music full-time. In the early 1960s she performed with her sister Lucy as the Simon Sisters, working the folk circuit and releasing recordings that included a modest hit version of Winkin, Blinkin and Nod. The duo experience taught her how to craft melodies and harmonies and how to carry a stage. She began writing more personal material, and her partnership with lyricist and friend Jacob Brackman soon helped shape a distinctive voice that mixed diary-like candor with pop accessibility.

Solo Breakthrough and No Secrets
Signing as a solo artist at the turn of the 1970s, Simon released her debut album, Carly Simon, in 1971. The single Thats the Way Ive Always Heard It Should Be, co-written with Jacob Brackman, introduced her frank, introspective style and became a defining early success. Her follow-up album, Anticipation, also arrived in 1971 and deepened her reputation as a songwriter attuned to vulnerability and wit. In 1972, she reached a new peak with No Secrets, produced by Richard Perry. The album went to No. 1 and yielded the global hit Youre So Vain, with uncredited backing vocals from Mick Jagger, sparking decades of fascination about its subject; Simon later revealed that one verse referred to Warren Beatty. The album also featured The Right Thing to Do, underscoring her gift for direct, conversational pop.

1970s: Hits, Marriage, and Collaborations
Simon married singer-songwriter James Taylor in 1972, forming one of the decade's most celebrated musical couples. Their duet Mockingbird, from her 1974 album Hotcakes, became a major hit, and their musical partnership ran in parallel with their growing family; their children, Sally Taylor and Ben Taylor, would later become musicians themselves. Simon's own run of singles was formidable: Havent Got Time for the Pain, You Belong to Me (co-written with Michael McDonald), and the James Bond theme Nobody Does It Better, written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, which she performed with signature warmth and control. Through the decade she worked with producers and musicians who amplified her blend of pop polish and singer-songwriter intimacy, with Richard Perry and Jacob Brackman among the key figures shaping her sound.

1980s: Soundtracks, Comebacks, and Television
Though she toured selectively due to longtime stage fright and performance anxiety, Simon found a powerful platform in film and television music. She returned to the top of the charts with Coming Around Again in 1986, a song associated with the film Heartburn and emblematic of her ability to write about renewal after upheaval. She followed with Let the River Run for the 1988 film Working Girl, a triumphant anthem she wrote and performed herself. The song earned her the rare triple crown of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy as the sole composer and performer, a landmark achievement for a singer-songwriter. She also connected with audiences through televised concerts, including a widely seen special filmed on Martha's Vineyard that showcased her ease in intimate settings.

1990s and 2000s: Recording, Writing, and Resilience
Simon remained prolific across genres, releasing albums that ranged from adult pop to standards. She navigated personal trials, including a breast cancer diagnosis in the late 1990s, and returned to recording with renewed focus. Projects like The Bedroom Tapes displayed confessional songwriting alongside sleek production, while later collaborations reunited her with producer Richard Perry for a successful standards collection. She continued to contribute songs to film and television and maintained her connection to Martha's Vineyard, a place that had long provided a sense of home and community. Beyond music, Simon wrote children's books and then turned to memoir, publishing Boys in the Trees in 2015, a best-selling, candid account of her family, career, and inner life. In 2019 she released Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie, chronicling her close relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who had supported her literary pursuits as an editor and became a trusted friend.

Personal Life
Simon's marriage to James Taylor ended in divorce in 1983, but their shared artistry and co-parenting shaped a central chapter of her life. She later married writer James Hart in 1987; they divorced in 2007. Her children, Sally and Ben, followed her into music, occasionally collaborating with her and carrying forward a family legacy of creativity that also includes her sisters Joanna and Lucy and her brother Peter. Throughout, Simon spoke openly about anxiety and stage fright, experiences that deepened the empathetic edge of her writing and made her successes feel hard-won and personal.

Honors and Legacy
Carly Simon's career has been recognized with major accolades, including a Grammy Award for Best New Artist early on, multiple platinum albums, and the Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy for Let the River Run. In 2022 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a testament to her enduring impact on songwriting and popular culture. Her catalog pairs melodic immediacy with lyric candor, and her voice, both literal and literary, bridges confessional folk, polished pop, and cinematic drama. The people around her have been inseparable from her story: the guidance of her parents Richard and Andrea; the creative bond with Jacob Brackman and producer Richard Perry; the artistic and familial ties with James Taylor and their children; friendships with artists such as Mick Jagger and collaborators like Michael McDonald; and the steady presence of confidantes including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Together they trace a life in which music, words, and relationships illuminate one another, securing her place as one of the defining American singer-songwriters of her generation.

Our collection contains 35 quotes who is written by Carly, under the main topics: Wisdom - Music - Leadership - Writing - Overcoming Obstacles.