Lucy Simon

Lucy Elizabeth Simon (May 5, 1940 – October 20, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and theatrical composer whose Broadway credits include The Secret Garden and Doctor Zhivago. Born in New York City, she was the daughter of Richard L. Simon, co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, Inc., and Andrea (Heinemann) Simon, a former switchboard operator, civil rights activist, and singer. Simon grew up in Fieldston, a section of Riverdale in the Bronx, and attended the Fieldston School before enrolling at Bennington College, where she graduated in 1962. Her siblings included older sister Joanna, an opera singer; younger sister Carly, a musician; and younger brother Peter, a photographer. Her father came from a German Jewish family, and her maternal grandfather Friedrich was of German descent. Her maternal grandmother, known as "Chibie," was a Roman Catholic from Cuba of pardo heritage, a freed-slave descendant, and was raised in England by nuns until the age of sixteen.

Simon launched her professional career in 1963 performing folk music alongside her sister Carly as the Simon Sisters. The duo released three albums together, starting with Meet the Simon Sisters, which included their setting of "Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod," based on the poem by Eugene Field. The song became a minor hit, reaching No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was subsequently recorded by artists including the Doobie Brothers, Mitzie Collins, and the Big Three, comprising Cass Elliot, Tim Rose, and James Hendricks. In the mid-1970s, Simon returned to recording as a solo artist, releasing two albums on the RCA Victor label. Her self-titled 1975 debut leaned toward folk-rock, while her 1977 follow-up, Stolen Time, took a more contemporary pop direction; Carly Simon and James Taylor contributed backing vocals to half of the tracks on Stolen Time. Simon married David Y. Levine in 1967, and the couple had two children, Julie and James. In 1981, Simon and Levine won a Grammy Award in the Best Recording for Children category for In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record, and they received the same honor again in 1983 for In Harmony 2.

Simon made her Broadway debut as the composer of The Secret Garden, which opened in 1991. The production earned her both a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music, both in 1991. She also contributed songs to the Off-Broadway productions A... My Name Is Alice and Mama and Her Boys.

Simon subsequently composed the music for a musical adaptation of the Russian novel Doctor Zhivago, with lyrics by Michael Korie and Amy Powers and a book by Michael Weller. The musical had its world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, in May 2006. A revised production ran in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane in 2011 under the title Doctor Zhivago – A New Musical, starring Anthony Warlow in the title role and Lucy Maunder as Lara, with John Frost producing and Des McAnuff directing. The Broadway production began previews on March 27, 2015, and opened officially on April 21, 2015, at the Broadway Theatre, closing after 26 previews and 23 regular performances.

Simon died on October 20, 2022, at her home in Piermont, New York, at the age of 82, following a period of illness from metastatic breast cancer. Her death came one day after that of her sister Joanna, who died of thyroid cancer. She and David Levine had remained married for 55 years at the time of her death.