A Rare Look Inside Carly Simon's Tumultuous Private Life

Throughout the 1970s, you couldn't turn on the radio without Carly Simon's melodic voice flowing from every speaker. A gifted songwriter with the musical talent to match, she made every track unforgettable, and decades later, Carly's music remains as catchy and as timeless as ever. But for an artist who was never afraid to touch on raw emotion in her songs, the highs and lows that inspired her music have eluded even her biggest fans.

Born into a world of books

Of course, Carly's early life sounds nothing like the origin story of one of the most iconic musicians of all time. Born in the Bronx borough of New York City, Carly seemed destined for a career in the literary world — after all, her father was a co-founder of Simon & Schuster.

She had an unusual problem

Despite being in a loving family, Carly had a somewhat unusual problem while growing up: she developed a severe stutter at age eight that not even psychiatrists could cure. But while traditional means of treatment failed to fix her impediment, Carly soon found something that could.

Music as medicine

Music. "I felt so strangulated talking that I did the natural thing, which is to write songs. Because I could sing without stammering, as all stammerers can," Carly recalled. It helped that Carly's family was also musically inclined; her father was a classical pianist and her mother was a singer. Her siblings were also passionate about music, and it wasn't long before they put their talents to good use.

The singing siblings

After dropping out of Sarah Lawrence College in the early '60s to pursue a music career, Carly teamed up with her sister Lucy to form the Simon Sisters. The short-lived duo released several albums of children's songs, though after Lucy left to start a family, Carly found herself flying solo. It ended up being a blessing in disguise.