Carly Simon Parents: Meet Richard L. Simon, Andrea Heinemann Simon

Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American musician, singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children’s author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits

One of the most popular confessional singer/songwriters who emerged in the early 1970s, Simon has 24 Billboard Hot 100-charting singles and 28 Billboard Adult Contemporary charting singles.

Among her various accolades, she has won two Grammy Awards (from 14 nominations) and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for “You’re So Vain” in 2004. AllMusic called her “one of the quintessential singer-songwriters of the ’70s”.

She was honoured with the Boston Music Awards Lifetime Achievement in 1995 and received a Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctor of Music Degree in 1998. In 2005, Simon was nominated for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but she has yet to claim her star.

In 2012, she was honoured with the Founders Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. On November 5, 2022, Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Carly Simon Parents: Meet Richard L. Simon, Andrea Heinemann Simon

Simon was born on June 25, 1943, in New York City. Her father, Richard L. Simon, was the co-founder of Simon & Schuster and a classical pianist who often played Chopin and Beethoven at home.

Her mother, Andrea, was a civil rights activist and singer. Her father was from a German-Jewish family, while her mother was Catholic.

Simon was raised in the Riverdale neighbourhood of the Bronx and had two elder sisters, Joanna and Lucy, and a younger brother, Peter, all of whom died of cancer, predeceasing her.

They were raised as nominal Roman Catholics, according to a book of photography Peter published in the late 1990s. Simon has stated that when she was seven years old, a family friend in his teens sexually assaulted her.

She stated, “It was heinous”, adding, “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 sing 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.” Simon attended Riverdale Country School and spent at least four semesters at Sarah Lawrence College. She also attended the Juilliard School of Music.