Simon – daughter of Richard Simon, co-founder of the publishing house, Simon & Schuster – married fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor in 1972.
They had two children but divorced in 1983. She lives in Martha’s Vineyard with her partner, surgeon Richard Koehler.
“I had a very privileged childhood because of who my father was. We had a fancy summer house in New England and lots of people would come to visit.
“At school, I wasn’t so interested in mathematics and things like that but I used to sing a lot because it made me feel happy. I never imagined that it would become a career, though. My older sister, Lucy, was the budding musician and she eventually coerced me into joining her band.
“New York’s Greenwich Village scene in the 60s was fun. There was a lot of hanging around and playing guitar with interesting people.
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“My sister and I actually had a little bit of success and, for a while, we based ourselves in London. Straight away, I fell in love! Even today, I still feel very happy in England.
“I can honestly say that I’ve never tried to write a hit single. To me, it would feel like a grim life if all I was doing was trying to write songs to make money. After I went solo,
“I started writing a lot of songs and I enjoyed it, but I never worried about whether I was going to be in the charts.
All I wanted to do was find a way of expressing the thoughts in my head. I wanted to tell stories with my music.
“When you do have a hit, it’s amazing how much life changes.
“The fact that both James and I were famous meant that, after we got married, our lives were being judged as much as our music.
“James had his problems, but there was a lot of crazy stuff happening back then. When a lot of your friends are crazy, too, it gets difficult to keep a hold on reality.
“I tried to, and I think I did a pretty good job. We had our children, Ben and Sally, and I always made sure they were safe.
“Ben lives just down the way from me in Martha’s Vineyard. He followed James and me into music for a while, but he’s recently retrained as a stonemason. I honestly feel that he finds peace in those giant slabs of stone.
“I still play piano and sing every day, but I’m not sure if I would call myself a musician. I paint, I recently wrote my autobiography, I write children’s books and I love hanging out with Richard, just cooking or watching TV. We have a real Noah’s Ark of animals out here – horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and two dogs.
“I have recorded a bunch of new songs. Will I release another album? Will I tour? Who knows? My voice is in pretty good shape. It would be nice to play some shows in England again… If you guys will have me.”
Carly’s 1987 album, Coming Around Again, is re-released on Cherry Red Records, £11.99. See cherryred.co.uk.