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| The Simon Sisters: Lucy, Carly and Joanna |
Singer/songwriter Carly Simon has sadly lost both her sisters this week: Broadway composer Lucy Simon, 82, died of breast cancer Thursday and retired opera singer Joanna Simon, 84, succumbed to thyroid cancer Wednesday.
Both deaths were confirmed to Deadline on Friday by a source close to the Oscar- and Grammy-winning pop star. Their younger brother, photographer Peter Simon, died of cardiac arrest in 2018 after his own battle with cancer.
In a 2015 New York Times interview, Lucy described eldest sister Joanna, whose family nickname was “Joey,” as “the imperial queen, absolutely gorgeous.”
Mezzo-soprano Joanna Simon made her debut at New York City Opera as Cherubino in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” in 1962. A decade later, she performed the title role in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s “Black Widow” at the Seattle Opera. After her partial retirement from the world of opera, she was an Emmy-winning arts correspondent for PBS’s “MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour” until 1992.
She was married to writer Gerald Walker from 1976 until his death in 2004, and the companion of iconic news anchor Walter Cronkite from 2005 until his death in 2009.
Lucy wrote the music for Broadway musicals “The Secret Garden” (1991) and “Doctor Zhivago (2011),” winning Grammy and Drama Desk Awards, as well as a Tony nomination for Best Score.
She also performed with Carly as the Simon Sisters and told The New York Times in 2015, “So much of what I love about my work on ‘Doctor Zhivago’ comes from my work with Carly, finding the harmonies in duets and trios and quartets.”
In 2018, she received the Samuel French Award for Sustained Excellence in American Theater.
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