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Carly Simon Pays Tribute to Her Sisters After Their Deaths One Day Apart from Cancer
The legendary singer lost oldest sister Joanna on Wednesday to thyroid cancer, and sister Lucy on Thursday to breast cancer.

Carly Simon Pays Tribute to Her Sisters After Their Deaths One Day Apart from Cancer

The legendary singer lost oldest sister Joanna on Wednesday to thyroid cancer, and sister Lucy on Thursday to breast cancer.

The loss of a family member is a monumental tragedy that can’t be understated. For Carly Simon, that loss came twofold in just as many says when she lost both of her older sisters to cancer just one day apart.

This past week, Simon’s oldest sister Joanna Simpson lost her battle with thyroid cancer at 84 on Wednesday. She was a retired opera singer. Then, her next-oldest sister at 82, Broadway composer Lucy Simon, died from breast cancer on Thursday.

On Saturday, Simon mourned her sisters, sharing a statement with TheWrap. “I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon,” she said. “Their loss will be long and haunting.”

At the same time, the legendary singer said that “it’s impossible to mourn them without celebrating their incredible lives that they lived.”

Simon noted, “We were three sisters who not only took turns blazing trails and marking courses for one another, we were each other’s secret shares.”

She called them all “the co-keepers of each other’s memories,” going on to note that she can’t explain the feeling of being the last remaining sibling. Simon’s brother Richard died in 2018.

“They touched everyone they knew and those of us they’ve left behind will be lucky and honored to carry their memories forward,” said Simon.

Simon’s music career actually began with her second-oldest sister. She and Lucy performed as the Simon Sisters from 1963 until Lucy went her own way after three album releases.

Simon kick-started her iconic solo career with her debut album in 1971, while Lucy went on to achieve Grammys for her children’s recordings “In Harmony” and “In Harmony 2,” as well as a Tony for “The Secret Garden” musical.

Joanna’s musical pursuits were as a mezzo-soprano opera singer, where she found tremendous success from 1962 though the 1990s. She  transitioned to television journalism in the mid-1980s, picking up an Emmy for her work on the “Macneil-Leher News Hour.”