Carly Elisabeth Simon was born on June 25, 1945, making her 77 on this year’s birthday. She is the daughter of Richard L. Simon, who was the co-founder of Simon & Schuster. Both parents had musical talents, her father a classical pianist and her mother a singer. Carly has two older sisters and a younger brother. One of the older sisters, Lucy, and Carly joined together forming the Simon Sisters. The sisters released three albums, but the group dissolved when Lucy gave up her career for family life.
Simon’s resume includes singer, songwriter, musician, and children’s author. Success as a singer-songwriter came to her in the 1970s with the following hits: “Anticipation,” “The Right Thing to Do,” “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain,” “You Belong to Me,” “Coming Around Again,” “You’re So Vain” (No. 1), “Mockingbird,” which was a duet with James Taylor, “Nobody Does It Better,” and “Jesse.”
Her biggest hit, reaching number one in the US, and the one with so much speculation and debate was “You’re So Vain.” Who is this song about? In 2004, Simon told Regis Philbin: “I’ve given out two letters already, an ‘A’ and an ‘E.’ But I’m going to add one to it. I’m going to add an ‘R’ in honor of you.” Then in November 2015 Simon confirmed that the second verse is about Warren Beatty. Simon has said in the past that the song refers to three men even though Warren Beatty believes that the entire song is about him. One line in the song, “clouds in my coffee,” has also been explained. Simon has said that while she was on an airplane, “As I got my coffee, there were clouds outside the window of the airplane, and you could see the reflection in the cup of coffee. The friend stated, ‘Look at the clouds in your coffee.’”
In 1972 Simon married James Taylor and had two children. Sarah Maria ‘Sally’ Taylor was born in 1974. Sally has released music both as a solo artist and with her band, The Slip. Ben Taylor was born in 1977, and he is also a singer-songwriter.
Simon’s success continued through 1983, but the album, “Hello Big Man,” her 12th album, was not a hit and her recording company at the time, Epic Records, cancelled her contract. Rebooting her career in 1986 with Arista Records, Simon recorded “Coming Around Again,” which went Platinum in 1988. During these years, Simon contributed as a songwriter to many motion pictures, with songs like “Let the River Run” for the film “Working Girl.” Simon is the first artist to win all three major awards – Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy.
In the 2010s, Simon continued to be busy singing and authoring two memoirs. Another career highlight is that she will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November as part of the Class of 2022.
At Life 103.1, Carly Simon songs are part of our “Timeless Favorites” playlist, songs that are indeed timeless in their appeal.
(allmusic.com, biography.com, carlysimon.com, Wikipedia.com)