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When you read early on that Carly Simon still remembers the moment when, aged three, “I tapped into a new, unfamiliar part of my personality: I wanted to be noticed,” you might be inclined to think oh no, not another celebrity hailing her success. But in fact this is a searingly honest, superbly written memoir. Simon’s parents were expecting a son, she says, whom they planned to name Carl: “so they simply added a y to the word, like an accusing chromosome”. Her father (the Simon of Simon & Schuster) died after a period of depression when she was 15; her mother had been carrying on somewhat openly for some time with the male family babysitter. Simon had affairs with many famous men, including Kris Kristofferson, Mick Jagger and Jack Nicholson, as well as a turbulent, 11-year marriage to James Taylor, with whom she had two children. Her songwriting talent led to much success, but her lack of confidence and tendency to depression are honestly laid bare in this, one of the best music memoirs ever written.
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