Carly Simon/James Taylor/Carole King

Sheila Weller wrote a book about Carly, Joni and Carole. She said James will not speak to Carly, but I don't know if that is still true.

He doesn't speak to her. Sally, their daughter, had her wedding at his home. The wedding was outside. At one point, Carly wanted to go in to use the restroom-and he said "no". He wouldn't even let her use the restroom in his house!

What happened between them that caused such hatred?

I heard Carly say on the Howard Stern show that she had to use the porta potty at Sally's wedding. However, her son Ben seemed to dispute that, and said his father probably had his own version of this story.

James Taylor tours all the time it seems. I wonder what kind of inheritance his kids with Carly will get as he has two twins with his third wife.

Carly seems like she doesn't have much money left due to the fact she can't tour and she lost money in a ponzi scheme.

Here's a link to the Howard Stern show with Carly and Ben.

Are you in St. Louis, OP? I ask because I just saw them last Saturday night, 7/10. It went far beyond my expectations; they played for 2 1/2 hours and were just terrific. Excellent backup singers and musicians as well. %0D %0D I have seen JT 3 or 4 times through the years, but I was really dazzled by Carole King! This woman is SIXTY EIGHT years old, and she was a complete dynamo. She did a killer version of "Natural Woman"...and she's short, maybe 5'2", and was wearing these spike heeled boots that were easily 3 or 4 inches, and she was JUMPING up and down like a woman 20 years younger. And yes, she did ping (I'm female) but I think that was just wishful projection on my part. Many sisters in the audience, though. I know she's been very unlucky in the relationship dept...I was totally blown away by her. Both of them seemed to radiate a genuine love of what they were doing. They got a very, very warm reception from the audience. I'm glad I went.

He stopped speaking to her because she kept giving interviews about their marriage, and he'd asked her to stop. She kept bringing up his heroine addiction, his cheating, etc., and he resented it.

Saw them in Chicago, they were amazing. I think Carole might have something going on with the shorter musician who played the electric guitar. She rocked. I can only hope I move like that when I'm her age.

There was a thread on Carole a few weeks ago. While many say she pings for them, by all accounts she is straight. JT is straight, and put Carly through hell with his womanizing and drugging. So now he thinks it a crime for her to talk about it? I'm not exactly a huge Carly supporter - she has issues of her own - but I'm not sure where he gets off on being bitchy to her after what she tolerated when they were together. Carly has an unseemly relationship with her son. And believe you me, I know when parents go too far with "loving" their kids.

The thing with the son is too weird. Her "Fisherman's son"...which is a romantic love song...was inspired by the son (WTF Carly?!!). There's a lyric in the song about sneaking into his room and lying on the bed beside him "in a golden moonbeam". I'm assuming that's code for golden showers. She mentioned, in interviews, that she used to sneak into Ben's room and lie on the bed next to him while he was sleeping. He was a man, at this point. I often wondered if she understood how they came across. When her kid was a teenager, she was dating Dynasty star Al Corley. Corley tried to be a big brother to Ben, because James wasn't around. After Al and Carly split up, Al dated a ballerina. When they split up, she started dating Ben. It's all very incestuous. The fact that Ben looks like James adds to the creepy effect.

Lyrics to "Fisherman's Song"-this is a song you write to your SON???

In a pine forest cooler than the rest of the island Lives a young fisherman with eyes like the sea He built his own boat and made his own cabin But hes broken the hearts of the likes like me

Now you must understand he made me a promise There were secrets we shared we planted a tree We lived in a cabin, I fished along side of him I fell under the spell of his sorcery

When he cast me adrift at the end of the summer It was not for another but his own privacy I fell apart like a rose, but the scent of my longing Remains and it weeps like an old willow tree

At night when its still, with a yellow moon rising When his candle is snuffed and hes deep in a dream I move like a cat, and crawl into his window And lie down beside him in a golden moonbeam

The smell of his skin is just like the summer When our love was as fresh as the grass in the fields And ever so softly i kiss his eyelids Before slipping away, my secret concealed

Though I'm in it alone, I'm still in it, in love And love can be lonely like a sweet melody But just maybe he feels like a whisper inside him Like an angel beside him, keeping him company

Joni and Carole were in love with James at one point, but when he chose Carly, they all moved to the side.%0D %0D I agree that Carly gets a bad rap. She is hated by Carole and Joni (and Linda Ronstadt) but they adore James, who by many accounts, was very jealous of Carly's success. Carly tried her best to keep the marriage together, but James had MAJOR issues. Yet, she got the bad rap when it ended.%0D %0D By some accounts, he's not even close to the kids he had with Carly, and has tried hard to distance himself from them.

He was never there for his kids with Carly.

I thought James tours with Ben and Sally as back up sometimes. They never say anything bad about their dad, and seem to respect him. However, they probably wish they were closer. Ben seems like he is taking a long time to grow up, also he always seems stoned. I wonder what recovering addict James thinks about Ben's drug and alcohol use. I do really like some of his songs, and I think if he would buckle down, and stop smoking so much pot he could be more like a Jakob Dylan. Not the same music, but the same respect in the industry as moderately successful sons of iconic musicians. Would love to know the story about Sally's husband. Does he work or do anything? Sally has a really nice voice. I think Carole pings, too. Can anyone link the thread about her. I can't find it.

Taylor is famously well-endowed. And he was quite handsome in his youth. Thus his hold over all these women.

"Would love to know the story about Sally's husband. Does he work or do anything? Sally has a really nice voice."

Ahhh, great question! here's the scoop.

Dean was a lifeguard at a nude beach when he met Sally (the Simon clan are All a bunch of nudists). He approached her (and yeah, he knew who she was). He's a hot piece, and basically a bum. His profession (other than Lifeguard) was "male model", and let's just say that he was not a great success in either profession. So when he snagged Sally, he hit the jackpot.

Carly helped her kids out a lot financially. She built both of them houses on Martha's Vineyard, helped finance their albums, etc. Neither Sally or Ben is exactly the picture of professional ambition. Ben lolled around smoking dope for quite a while, before he landed in rehab. Sally has put out a few albums, but mostly she runs an organic food kiosk, and makes hugely overpriced ponchos. No- I'm NOT kidding.

Carly loved those kids to distraction, but she also enabled them.She wanted them around her, so she basically let them hang out and smoke dope and do nothing. The houses she built them are on properties that adjoin hers. She's very clingy (and so are they).

Dean stepped in and almost immediately the Vineyard crowd started warning Carly about him. everyone knew he was a bum, and Sally was not the first gal with money that he'd tried to make the moves on. Carly got worried (she's pretty neurotic anyway) that Dean was just after sally's money, and that he was an aimless loser who was drifting through life on other's coat-tails. She made a big mistake- she confided her fears to one of Dean's Friends. Now this friend had also been complaining about the money he'd dropped on Dean, and how Dean just basically used people. But when Carly confided in him, he bolted back to Dean and told him everything. Here's where things get interesting!

Dean knew that Carly and James were estranged. The kids are much closer to Carly- she was the one who was there for them. James' second wife was a shrew who wanted James to cut Carly and the kids out of his life (ostensibly so he could 'focus on himself' and get sober- but she was really just a controlling bitch). He accommodated her. He did find his way back to the kids, but he wasn't exactly Father of the Year.

Anyway...so Dean goes to James...knowing that James hates Carly and blames her for a lot of his past troubles (?!- he's a mess)...and Dean starts cozying up to James. Then Dean goes to Sally and says that Carly is against him, and demands that she become estranged from her mother. Which the little bitch did! It's a big deal, because Carly was the only one who was ever there for those kids and she bent over backwards trying to make them happy. Sally was pregnant with Carly's grand-child at the time. So Sally gives an ultimatum- accept Dean, or you'll never get to be with your grand-child. So Carly capitulated.

People on the Vineyard HATE Dean with a burning passion, As nutty as Carly can be, she's also a genuinely loving and caring person, and her friends there feel very protective of her. There's a lot of resentment that sally did what she did, but honestly- Sally takes after her dad a bit, and can be quite the little bitch herself. there's definitely a strong sense of entitlement there (which Carly contributed to, no doubt).

Ben is more like Carly...which means he's basically a very nice and sweet guy, but he's also a big mess. I know people who know them, and they also say that they think Ben has potential to swing either way, but he'd never allow himself to do that because he's too uptight. His relationships with women tend to be VERY messed up and dysfunctional.He was sleeping with women who were his mother's age back in High School. Carly, who has no edit button on the stuff she says, once told one of my friends that if Ben "turned" gay he'd be so much happier, and she'd love it. She's tried setting him up on dates with guys, but he can't deal. There are a LOT of swingers in that family, BTW. Carly SAYS she's never actually been with a woman...

$600 for a skanky poncho? Bitch is crazy.

Ben looks a bit like Jake.

Wow thanks 15

R15's story confirms a lot of what I've heard about Simon and Taylor in the past. %0D %0D Sheila Weller's book is a pretty good read. I finished the book thinking more highly of Simon as an artist and as a person and less of Taylor in both respects.

R15, best gossip I have read on DL in years! Thank you!

If you ever feel like telling more stories, please come back.

Thanks R15. Very interesting.

"She kept bringing up his heroine addiction" Too many Bronte novels?

This thread really should be about the poncho at R16's link.

Ben doesn't really look like a mother fucker. More like a bush baby.

JT had been a major junkie since his teens; he's had a wife for each stage of his development (much like Tommy Lee Jones.) Carly had his first set of children; he had serious substance issues. Kathryn Walker, his second wife, got him into , through and used to sobriety and a stable work and personal life. He had a set of twins via surrogate with his third wife and now lives in Western MA and the Vineyard. %0D %0D JT may have passed on an addiction gene to Ben. Raised in a fairly well-off family (his father was a doctor in Chapel Hill, NC) JT and his four siblings each had long rehab stays in their youth, before that became commonplace.

No real dish here but James and Kim moved into a rental home in my neighborhood a few years back. James came over and wanted to borrow some gardening supplies. Apparently, he and Kim were interested in putting up a vegetable farm in their backyard. It turned out to be much smaller than they originally wanted but it was cool to see. I really liked James but his wife was a little standoffish for my taste.

James Taylor aged like oriental woman. At 29 he was hot. At 30 he was old and worn out.

Several years ago, a rapper associated with the Fugees (I forgot his name) got arrested for cocaine possesion. The big story was Carly posted his bail. Does anyone know what the association is here?

hey R6: which "heroine" was he addicted to? wonder woman? supergirl? maybe batgirl?!! %0D %0D or was it "heroin" he was addicted to? like the drug, right?

So is Carly still dating the heart surgeon?

Any more Carly gossip?

Bump for carly gossip!

RE: Taylor is famously well-endowed. And he was quite handsome in his youth. Thus his hold over all these women.

JT was very handsome in his youth. Never heard about his being "famously well-endowed." (!)... it kinda adds to his charm!

Very talented musician from talented musical family who surrounded himself with talented musicians.

Recall a Vanity Fair article about the Simon family and Carly's Mom had house"boy" who took the place of a father in the house as her father was ill or had dimentia? Carly was aparently aware of Mom and boy being lovers at very young age.

I thougt of the song, "My Father Sits at Night with No Lights On" when I read it a few years ago.

The Sheila Weller book was one of the most gossipy books I've ever read. Loved it!

R35, what did she say about Joni Mitchell?

I wish R15 would come back and post more dirt! It's been 18 months, there's probably something new!

That was indeed some fascinating dirt from R15. Makes me happier than ever to be from an average family in Palookaville.

What about when Buffy Sainte Marie ruined Carol Bayer Sager's tupperware by willfully storing greasy tomato sauce in her favorite canister.

I know a guy who used to go to AA meetings on the Upper West Side in the 70s and early 80s and James Taylor used to go to them when he was in town A whole bunch of SNL people went there too. It's where the guy who inspired Stewart Smalley used to lead some meetings.

I can't imagine going to AA meetings with people who were really big celebs. After Lennon got shot, celebs stopped doing things like that.

Plenty of celebs still go to AA and NA meetings in the West Village.

Carly's still dating the Doctor. He's a nice guy, and infinitely less weird than her last husband.

R36: LOTS. Joni objected to the book from the start because she felt she was in a different class than Carly and Carole. Which she is, but, still, me-ouch. The only lady she acknowledged as a peer was Laura Nyro.

R23, I don't agree that she was in a different class. Her lyrics were certainly exceptional, but her songs lacked the warmth and 'common man' insights of Carly and Carole. Mitchell always sounded like an A student from a girl's private college, with the snootiness and coldness intact. Carly and Carole were more accessible, and they wrote songs that resonated in terms of everyday life. That's just as important as Mitchell's lofty observations about the life of a nouveau riche hippie girl.

I'd prefer to have written (or co-written) Carole King's best songs over Joni's. One Fine Day, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman...

Joni's got some great songs, but I hate the way she often crams a hundred words in every line. Carole is a better melodicist.

I know Sally Taylor and she is a cunt.

Carly is crazy, but really nice.

Sally actually thinks she has talent like her mother, which is a joke.

Both of the freeloading children play their rich parents against each other.

Said it before and I'll say it again. As much as I appreciate Joni's and Carole's music, Carly's has never gotten the appreciation it deserved. She is very much in the same league with them, as different from each other as they are.

James and Carly's marriage was a nightmare of co-dependence, addiction, and enabling, wasn't it?

Why the fuck are we reading a post started in July of 2010?

Sad. Sad. Pathetic.

R48...a new biography of Simon just came out, and it's controversial. Might be why.

Wow, R49, two stars out of five on Amazon. Seeing that it's by Stephen Davis I'm not surprised.

Official thread for eldergays!

[quote]Why the fuck are we reading a post started in July of 2010?

Who held a gun to your head and forced you to read this? Please post a link to a current fascinating thread that you started, R48.

"Carly's still dating the Doctor. He's a nice guy, and infinitely less weird than her last husband."

Have you met Richard? Frankly, I think they're well-suited. Anyone who has met them and spent time with them knows what I mean.

Calling Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro Peers is like calling A cat a dog.

Its Sad that Carly Simon still hasn't made the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. Even sadder is that Laura Nyro is JUST being inducted.

Absolutely agree, R55. She created some of the most memorable popular folk-pop music of the 70s-80s, no matter what shape she's in now.

[quote]Its Sad that Carly Simon still hasn't made the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. Even sadder is that Laura Nyro is JUST being inducted.

Are you kidding? Yet that old bitch Madonna (who isn't even rock) was inducted?

Just goes to show the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke.

Who the F#ck are these people?

R58...go back to sleep hon.

Ben Taylor looks like a scared little mama's boy.

R60...?? What a peculiar remark.

He's had some serious problems with substance abuse, and sadly his looks are quickly deteriorating. But I have no idea what you mean.

Carly's sister is the talentless "composer" of the schlock musical Secret Garden.

Lord help us.

Carly's debut album from 1971 is masterful. She truly could have been Joni's artistic peer, but she chose a more commercial path.

"That's the Way I Always Heard It Should Be" still gives me shivers when I hear it. One of the most beautiful, haunting songs of the 70's.

about the sally and dean thing: I suspect that it is true, because in an interview, Carly said that sally got mad at her "on behalf of her husband" and did not speak to her for a long period of time,and she said it really hurt her, as of course it would, especially after being such a devoted mother. I don't understand how sally could do that, she is pretty and talented, but comes off as arrogant and full of herself, but Carly seems genuinely nice.

is sally taylor really as self-absorbed as she seems?

I read an interview with Carly Simon in a music magazine, maybe Rolling Stone, back when she was still living with and married to Taylor. While she was being interviewed, Taylor came home. The interview was scathing toward Taylor because he was so disrespectful of Simon.

I decided he is probably a shit who had all those women convinced they could cure poor misunderstood him. So far, nothing I've heard or read about him has changed my mind.

Taylor beat the shit out of Simon. They traveled in the same circles as some acquaintances, and the women were vicious. He got away with it, of course.

I didn't realize that R67. Does James still beat his wife?

2 twins, R4? Not 3?

[R67] Tell us more

Carole King was never in love with James. Joni was James' girlfriend at that time, in 1971. Carole was married with her bassist Charles Larkey. They had a baby in 1972. In 1972 James married Carly Simon.

So what was so great in R15 that everyone is talking about? Surely it's not the R15 that now exists.

Ben Taylor is gay. His boyfriend is David Saw. Carly always wanted a gay son..

[quote]Carly's still dating the Doctor. He's a nice guy, and infinitely less weird than her last husband.

Well, her last husband was a bit like her children: Less interest in working than in Carly's money.

Oh, and he was gay. I know this for a fact.

I dispute that Carole King wasn't in love with James Taylor. He just didn't find her hot enough.

Carole King is a very nice person, but she is a bit of a mess. She is a total chicken hawk. She gets into codependent relationships with men cuter and younger than she, who are attracted to her money.

bump for more Ben Taylor gossip.

He eats Carly's pussy.

What does Linda Ronstadt have against Carly Simon?

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!!!!?????

[quote]lying on the bed beside him "in a golden moonbeam". I'm assuming that's code for golden showers.

What's the problem?

Doesn't Joni Mitchell have the Morgellons disease?

In exchange for cooperation with the writing of Girls Like Us, the author agreed to the Simon Sisters' long history of changing their birth years.

bump

Did James Taylor really beat Carly?

R84, that was common belief. I never knew anyone who disbelieved it, particularly among those who witnessed his public behavior toward her. He was a total shit who acted like he was entitled to do anything he wanted.

He acts exactly like his father whom he always hated.

Thank you, R85. I'm guessing that means he beat other girlfriends/wives, right? Did his father beat his mom?

R86, Usually it's part of a pattern of behavior that's about power and control. If he could control them without beating them, he might not. I don't know anyone who was around his other marriages or his parents', so I don't know.

R85, that makes sense considering his brothers were all addicts as well.

R87, not needing to hit them if he felt he had control makes sense. Thank you again.

Did Carole ever get to fuck James, at least when he still had hair?

Carole may never had gotten to fuck James, but she got the last laugh. They are still very close friends.

And, yes, Sally is a cunt.

I recently read an interview with Sally and Carly. And Sally was trying to give the impression that she is "too open" like her mother (trying to pretend they are so much alike.)

But Carly is too honest for that bullshit and, in the nicest way possible, called Sally out, saying she was very guarded and held grudges. Carly even shared lyrics about that.

I wonder if it was a subtle way of getting back at Sally.