Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and children’s author. She first rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include “Anticipation” (No. 13), “You Belong To Me” (No. 6), “Coming Around Again” (No. 18), and her four Gold certified singles “Jesse” (No. 11), “Mockingbird” (No. 5), a duet with James Taylor, “You’re So Vain” (No. 1), and “Nobody Does It Better” (No. 2) from the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me.
After a brief stint with her sister Lucy Simon as duo group the Simon Sisters, she found great success as a solo artist with her 1971 self-titled debut album Carly Simon, which won her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and spawned her first Top 10 single “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be”. Simon achieved international fame with her third album No Secrets which sat firmly at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 5 weeks, and spawned the worldwide hit “You’re So Vain”, for which she received three Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Over the course of her career, Simon has amassed 24 Billboard Hot 100 charting singles, 28 Billboard Adult Contemporary charting singles, and has won two Grammy Awards. AllMusic called Simon, “One of the quintessential singer/songwriters of the ’70s”. Simon has a contralto vocal range.
For her 1988 hit “Let the River Run”, from the film Working Girl, Simon became the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a song composed and written, as well as performed, entirely by a single artist. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for “You’re So Vain” in 2004, and awarded the ASCAP Founders Award in 2012. In 1995 and 1998, respectively, Simon received the Boston Music Awards Lifetime Achievement and a Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctor of Music Degree.
Simon is the former wife of another notable singer-songwriter, James Taylor. Simon and Taylor have two children together, Sarah “Sally” Maria Taylor and Benjamin “Ben” Simon Taylor, who are also musicians.
Selected Discography
Have You Seen Me Lately
Arista Records 1990
Tracks: Better Not Tell Her, Didn't I, Have You Seen Me Lately, Life Is Eternal, Waiting At The Gate, Happy Birthday, Holding Me Tonight, It's Not Like Him, Don't Wrap It Up, Fisherman's Song & We Just Got Here.
Musicians on the Have You Seen Me Lately album: Carly Simon, Steve Gadd, Jimmy Bralower, Jimmy Ryan, Carly Simon, Jay Berliner, John McCurry, Will Lee, Bruce Samuels, Teese Gohl, Nana Vasconcelos, Marvin Stamm, Lani Groves, Lucy Simon, Jimmy Ryan, Paul Samwell-Smith, Sally Taylor, Ben Taylor & Judy Collins.
My Romance
Arista Records 1990
Tracks: My Romance, By Myself, I See Your Face, When Your Lover Is Gone, In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning, My Funny Valentine, Something Wonderful, Little Girl Blue, He Was Good To Me, What Has She Got, Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered, Danny Boy & Time After Time.
Musicians on the My Romance album: Carly Simon, Drums: Steve Gadd, Jimmy Ryan, Wayne Pedziwiatr, Jay Leonhart, Michael Kosarin, Gordon Gottlieb, Michael Brecker & Marvin Stamm and others.
Coming Around Again
Arista Records 1987
Tracks: Coming Around Again, Give Me All Night, As Time Goes By, Do The Walls Come Down, It Should Have Been Me, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, Two Hot Girls (On A Hot Summer Night), You Have To Hurt, All I Want Is You, Hold What You've Got & Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Musicians on the Coming Around Again album: Carly Simon, Russ Kunkel, Mickey Curry, Jimmy Bralower, Frank Filipetti, Andy Goldmark, T-Bone Wolk, Keith Scott, Jimmy Ryan, John McCurry, Tony Levin, Dave Taylor, Bill Payne, Scott Martin, Dave Pickell, Rob Mounsey, Robby Kilgore, Leon Pendarvis, Stevie Wonder, Michael Brecker, Scott Martin, Terry Homberg, Paul Samwell-Smith, Lucy Simon, Jimmy Ryan, Lani Groves, Gordon Grody, Will Lee, Roberta Flack, Sally Taylor & Ben Taylor.
Spoiled Girl
Epic Records 1985
Tracks: My New Boyfriend, Come Back Home, Tonight and Forever, Spoiled Girl, Tired of Being Blonde, The Wives Are in Connecticut, Anyone But Me, Interview, Make Me Feel Something, Can't Give It Up & Black Honeymoon.
Musicians on the Spoiled Girl album: Carly Simon, Mickey Curry, Russ Kunkel, Liberty DeVitto, William Beard, Jimmy Bralower, Robby Kilgore, Ira Siegel, John McCurry, G.E. Smith, Stuart Kimball, Jim Ryan, T-Bone Wolk, Neil Jason, Doug Wimbush, Robby Kilgore, David LeBolt, Bill Payne, Fred Zarr, Bill Payne, Andy Goldmark, Bashiri Johnson, Jeff Smith, Lucy Simon, Paul Samwell-Smith, Ron Taylor, Rory Dodd, Eric Troyer, John McCurry & Luther Vandross.
Hello Big Man
Warner Bros 1983
Torch
Warner Bros 1981
Come Upstairs
Warner Bros 1980
Tracks: Come Upstairs, Stardust, Them, Jesse, James, In Pain, The Three Of Us In The Dark, Take Me As I Am & The Desert.
Musicians on the Come Upstairs album: Carly Simon, Mike Mainieri, Pete Hewlett, Sid McGinnis, Tony Levin, Larry Fast, Don Grolnick, Billy Mernit, Ed Walsh, Steve Gadd, Rick Marotta, Peter Hewlett, Christiane Martin, Loraine Newman, Alex Taylor, Hugh Taylor & James Taylor.
Spy
Elektra Records 1979
Boys In The Trees
Elektra Records 1978
Another Passenger
Elektra Records 1976
The Best Of Carly Simon
Elektra Records 1975
Tracks: That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be, The Right Thing to Do, Mockingbird, Legend in Your Own Time, Haven't Got Time For the Pain, You're So Vain, No Secrets (We Have), Night Owl, Anticipation, Attitude Dancing.
Musicians on the Best Of Carly Simon album: Carly Simon and others.
Playing Possum
Elektra Records 1975
Tracks: After the Storm, Love Out in the Street, Look Me in the Eyes, More and More, Slave, Attitude Dancing, Sons of Summer, Waterfall, Are You Ticklish & Playing Possum.
Musicians on the Playing Possum album: Carly Simon, Andrew Gold, Andy Newmark, Ringo Starr, Russ Kunkel, Jim Gordon, Lee Ritenour, Andrew Gold, Jeff Baxter, Klaus Voorman, Willie Weeks, Lee Sklar, Billy Mernit, Dr. John, James Newton Howard, Alan Estes, Emil Richards, Trevor Lawrence, Tommy Morgan, Rita Coolidge, Clydie King, Rodney Richmond, Vini Poncia, Maxine Willard Julia Tillman, Carole King & Kenny Moore.
Hot Cakes
Elektra Records 1974
Tracks: Safe and Sound. Mind on My Man, Think I'm Gonna Have a Baby, Older Sister, Just Not True, Hotcakes, Misfit, Forever My Love, Mockingbird, Grownup & Haven't Got Time for the Pain.
Musicians on the Hot Cakes album: Carly Simon, Rick Marotta, Jim Keltner, Jim Gordon, Billy Cobham, Russ Kunkel, David Spinozza, James Taylor, Bucky Pizzarelli, Jimmy Ryan, Klaus Voorman, Richard Davis, Larry Brean, Ken Asher, Dr. John, Ralph McDonald, Michael Brecker, Howard Johnson, Bobby Keys, Barry Rogers, Steve Madaio, Tasha Thomas, Carl Hall, Lani Groves & Bennie Diggs.
No Secrets
Elektra Records 1972
Tracks: The Right Thing to Do, The Carter Family, You're So Vain, His Friends Are More Than Fond of Robin, We Have No Secrets, Embrace Me You Child, Waited So Long, It Was So Easy, Night Owl & When You Close Your Eyes.
Musicians on the No Secrets album: Carly Simon, Mick Jagger, Paul & Linda McCartney, James Taylor, Paul Keough, Lowell George, Bobby Keyes, Peter Robinson, Bill Payne, Kirby Johnson, Dave Henshaw, Klaus Voorman, Andy Newmark, Jim Gordon, Ray Cooper, Richard Perry, Liza Strike, Vicki Johnson, Bonnie Bramlett & Doris Troy.
Anticipation
Elektra Records 1971
Tracks: Anticipation, Legend in Your Own Time, Our First Day Together, The Girl You Think You See, Summer's Coming Around Again, Share the End, The Garden, Three Days, Julie Through the Glass & I've Got to Have You.
Musicians on the Anticipation album: Carly Simon, Andy Newmark, Jim Ryan, John Ryan and others.