American musician Carly Simon loses both sisters to cancer in consecutive days
Lucy Simon, a composer who received a Tony nomination for work on Broadway hit ‘The Secret Garden,’ dies at 82; Joanna Simon, an opera singer who performed at Carnegie, dies at 86
American pop superstar Carly Simon lost both of her sisters to cancer in consecutive days this week.
Lucy Simon, the composer who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical “The Secret Garden,” passed away on Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York at the age of 82.
She had been battling breast cancer, a family spokesperson said.
Carly and Lucy’s sister Joanna Simon passed away on Wednesday at the age of 86 after battling thyroid cancer.
The Simons’ father Richard was Jewish and co-founded the publishing house Simon and Schuster.
“The Secret Garden,” a book by Marsha Norman, opened in New York in 1991.
Reviews were mixed, but it won a Tony for best book of a musical and went on to play for almost two years.
A slightly revised version opened in London’s West End, and a pared-down-from-Broadway version went on tour.
The musical — adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s novel — focuses on Mary, a young English girl forced to move to England from colonial India when her parents die of cholera.
She moves in with her Uncle Archibald, a hunchback who is mourning his late wife, Lily, and blaming his bedridden son for her death.
While living in her uncle’s home, Mary discovers a hidden and neglected garden that once belonged to Lily, and she and a young gardener bring it back to life. At the same time, she brings new life to her uncle and cousin.
The songs include “The Girl I Mean to Be” and “How Could I Ever Know.”
Steven Pasquale and Sierra Boggess were among the Broadway stars mourning Simon’s passing.
“Her music is her gift to the world. In one of her last messages to me she said ‘I was going to ask you to carry my voice onward’ and I sat and wept,” Boggess wrote on Instagram.
Simon was born in New York on May 5, 1940, to publishing giant Richard Simon and his wife, Andrea.
She was the second oldest of four children Joanna, Lucy, Carly and Peter.
Carly and Lucy once performed as the Simon Sisters, opening for other acts in Greenwich Village folk clubs.
Their recording of “Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod” hit No. 73 on the Billboard charts in 1964.
While Carly Simon would find huge success with such hits as “Anticipation,” “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” and “You’re So Vain,” Lucy went to nursing school.
After marrying and having children, Lucy Simon recorded two solo albums, “Lucy Simon” (1975) and “Stolen Time” (1977), for RCA.
Lucy and her husband, David Levine, produced two Grammy-winning children’s albums, “In Harmony” (1981) and “In Harmony 2″ (1983).
Her return to Broadway in “Doctor Zhivago” in 2015 was less successful.
The tale of five intertwined lovers set during the final days of czarist Russia lasted less than two months after blistering reviews.
She is survived by her husband; her children, Julie Simon and James Levine; and four grandchildren Sophie, Ben, Charlie and Evie.
Joanna Simon, who passed away on Wednesday, was also a successful performer.
She performed in hundreds of opera shows, including at Carnegie Hall, after debuting in New York in 1962.
After retiring from opera, she became an arts correspondent for CBS and won an Emmy award in 1991 for her reporting on bipolar disorder.
Joanna Simon also hosted the 1971 Grammy Awards.
The Times of Israel Community.