“Their loss will be long and haunting,” singer says in statement after the deaths of Joanna and Lucy Simon
Carly Simon paid tribute to her two older sisters Saturday after they both died of cancer a day apart.
Joanna Simon, a renowned opera singer, died Wednesday of thyroid cancer at the age of 85. The following day, Lucy Simon, a Broadway composer who also performed in a Sixties folk duo with Carly, died at 82 following a bout with metastatic breast cancer.
“I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon. Their loss will be long and haunting,” Carly Simon said in a statement Saturday (via CNN).
“As sad as this day is, it’s impossible to mourn them without celebrating their incredible lives that they lived. We were three sisters who not only took turns blazing trails and marking courses for one another, we were each others secret shares. The co-keepers of each other’s memories.”
Simon’s brother Peter, a photographer, died in 2018. Carly is now the last living sibling of the talented Simon family, whose patriarch Richard Simon was the “Simon” in the publishing giant Simon & Schuster.
Carly added of her sisters, “They touched everyone they knew and those of us they’ve left behind will be lucky and honored to carry their memories forward.”
Simon will have some good news in the coming weeks as the singer-songwriter is bound for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Nov. as part of the Class of 2022. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, she talked about getting into the Hall of Fame, the upcoming film adaptation to her 2015 memoir Boys in the Trees, and the 50th anniversary of No Secrets.