Big comes from a long line of noteworthy Simons (her father co-founded the Simon and Schuster publishing company, and her sister, Lucy, is a famous Broadway playwright) but Carly is best known as a folksy, confessional singer and songwriter who emerged in the early 1970s.

Simon got her start in music in the 1960s, when she and her sister performed under the name, The Simon Sisters. But her first solo effort did not materialize until 1971, when she released a self-titled debut, which included solo hit "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be." Her second album, 1971's Anticipation, went gold in two years, and won her the 1971 Grammy for Best New Artist.

She continued to bring home the gold with 1972's No Secrets, which included the hit "You're So Vain," and "The Right Thing to Do," and 1974's Top Ten Hotcakes. At this time, Simon also married singer-songwriter James Taylor. The couple stayed married until 1983. Simon continued to roll out the hits, including 1975's Playing Possum, 1976's Another Passenger, 1978's Boys in the Trees, 1979's Spy and 1980's Come Upstairs.

But the dizzying pace began to wear on the young singer, and in October of 1980, she collapsed on stage due to complete exhaustion. After that, her concert appearances became few and far between.

She did, however, continue to release albums, and hit the charts with Torch in 1981. During the next several years, she made guest appearances on other artists' albums, but her solo career began to wane. 1983's Hello Big Man and 1985's Spoiled Girl did not sell well, although a 1986 single featured in the motion picture, Heartburn, went platinum.

She also hit it big with another movie single in 1988, when she released "Let the River Run" for the Working Girl .

Simon released an album of pop covers, called My Romance in March of 1990, and another album of original songs entitled Have You Seen Me Lately? in September of that year. She also scored the film This Is My Life in 1982, and wrote an opera in 1993 called Romulus Hunt. Her latest effort is The Bedroom Tapes, released in 2000.