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 the day before.
Both deaths were confirmed. DeadlineA source close to the Oscar-winning, Grammy-winning pop singer informed us that he died on Friday. After a long battle with cancer, Peter Simon, Peter’s younger brother, died in cardiac arrest.
In a Interview 2015 New York TimesLucy described Joanna, her eldest sister, as Lucy, who was referred to by the family nickname of “The Oldest Sister.” “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”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.
From 1976 to his death in 2004, she was married to Gerald Walker. She was also the companion of Walter Cronkite, an iconic news anchor from 2005 until his passing in 2009.
Lucy composed the music for Broadway musicals “The Secret Garden”(1991) “Doctor Zhivago (2011),”Grammy and Drama Desk Awards. Tony nomination for Best Score.
She performed with Carly in the Simon Sisters, and she told The New York Times about it 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 was presented with the Samuel French Award of Sustained Excellence in American Theater.
