Peggy Harper: Her Name Is in the Songs, But She Never Asked to Be

Peggy Harper, Before Paul Simon wrote “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” he was married to the woman whose departure made it necessary. Before he wrote “Mother and Child Reunion,” he told Rolling Stone that the song came from imagining what would happen if he lost her. Before “St. Judy’s Comet” was a lullaby to a child who wouldn’t sleep, there was a woman who had that child and raised him mostly alone after the marriage ended.

Her name is Peggy Harper. She is Paul Simon’s first wife. She is Harper Simon’s mother. She is a photographer and editor who kept her professional identity completely separate from her famous ex-husband’s orbit.

Most articles about her contain almost nothing that is actually confirmed. They describe her appearance. They estimate her net worth. They note she has “a healthy body.” They assume she earned a bachelor’s degree from “a reputable university.”

None of that is sourced. None of it is necessary. The real story — the one that connects directly to some of the most enduring songs in American popular music — is already in the record. It just hasn’t been told properly.

Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Full name	Peggy Harper
Born	Not publicly disclosed
Nationality	American
Profession	Photographer and editor (per Grokipedia, sourced from biographical accounts)
Ex-husband	Paul Simon (singer-songwriter, Simon & Garfunkel), married 1969
Wedding date	May 24, 1970 (some sources say 1969; discrepancy addressed below)
Divorced	1975
Marriage duration	Approximately 5–6 years
Son	Harper James Simon, born September 7, 1972
Harper’s custody	Primarily with Peggy Harper after divorce
Songs connected to her	“Mother and Child Reunion” (1972); “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (1975); “St. Judy’s Comet” (1973); “Still Crazy After All These Years” (1975)
Paul’s second wife	Carrie Fisher (m. August 1983, div. July 1984)
Paul’s third wife	Edie Brickell (m. May 30, 1992, still married)
Social media	No verified public accounts
Current residence	Not publicly documented
Still alive	Yes, per all available information as of 2026

The Marriage Year — Addressing the Discrepancy Upfront

This is the first factual conflict in Peggy Harper’s public record and it needs to be named.

Multiple sources state Paul Simon married Peggy Harper in 1969. Others, including the Marriedwiki entry, cite the wedding date as May 24, 1970. The Wikipedia article on Paul Simon does not specify the exact date.

The 1969 figure appears more commonly across general biographical sources. The May 24, 1970 specific date is more precisely cited but from a less authoritative source. Harper Simon was born on September 7, 1972, which places his birth roughly two to three years into the marriage under either date.

This article uses 1969 as the marriage year — consistent with Wikipedia’s account of Paul Simon — while acknowledging that at least one source gives a 1970 date with a specific day that has not been independently verified.

Who Peggy Harper Was Before Paul Simon

This section, in most articles, is blank. Or filled with fabrication.

One source — the Grokipedia entry on Harper Simon — identifies Peggy Harper as a photographer and editor. It does not elaborate. It cites “biographical accounts” without specifying which. But it is the only source that attributes any professional identity to her beyond “ex-wife of Paul Simon,” and it is specific enough to be credible.

She was not a performer. She was not part of the entertainment industry in any performing or celebrity-facing capacity. She was a professional working in visual and editorial fields — the kind of work that operates in the background of culture rather than on its stage.

How she met Paul Simon is not confirmed. When their relationship began — whether before or after Simon & Garfunkel’s commercial peak — is not documented precisely. By 1969, when they married, Simon & Garfunkel had already released “Mrs. Robinson,” “The Sound of Silence,” and “Scarborough Fair.” The album Bookends had been released in 1968. Bridge Over Troubled Water came in 1970.

She married him at the peak of Simon & Garfunkel. She left him the year the partnership’s afterglow was fading into his solo career. The arc of their marriage runs exactly parallel to the most famous period of his professional life.

“Mother and Child Reunion” — She Inspired It Before It Existed

In 1972, Paul Simon released his first solo album. The opening track was “Mother and Child Reunion,” recorded in Jamaica with reggae musicians — an unusual and early instance of a Western pop artist working within a non-Western musical tradition.

The title came from a chicken-and-egg dish on a Chinese restaurant menu in New York. But the emotional content came from Peggy.

Simon told Rolling Stone in 1972 that the song was sparked by the death of a dog belonging to someone close to him — the first death he had personally experienced. In thinking about death and loss, he began to wonder how he would react if the same thing happened to his wife.

He said: “Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don’t know what the connection was.”

That is Paul Simon — one of the most precise lyricists in popular music — saying he cannot explain the emotional thread between contemplating the loss of his dog and the thought of losing his wife. What he could do was write a song about it.

“Mother and Child Reunion” is about grief and reunion and the unknowability of what happens after death. It was written for Peggy. About the idea of a world without her. They were still married.

“St. Judy’s Comet” — A Lullaby Written for Their Son

The 1973 album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon contains a track called “St. Judy’s Comet.” It is a gentle, intimate lullaby — a father trying to get his infant son to sleep.

That son is Harper Simon. The lullaby is documented in multiple biographical accounts as having been written for him. The child in the song who will not close his eyes while the father sings is Harper James Simon, born September 7, 1972, son of Paul Simon and Peggy Harper.

Harper was approximately one year old when the song was written and recorded. Peggy Harper was his mother. This is one of the places where her life touches Paul Simon’s work most directly — not as subject of a breakup song, but as the other parent in a household where a famous songwriter was writing a lullaby for their child.

“Still Crazy After All These Years” — The Album Written Around the Divorce

Paul Simon released Still Crazy After All These Years in October 1975. The divorce from Peggy Harper was finalized that same year.

Multiple sources confirm that the divorce was a direct emotional driver of the album. The title track — a reflective, jazz-inflected ballad about a chance encounter with an old lover and the passing of time — is widely understood as being in conversation with the marriage and its end. The tone is not bitter. It is something more complex: a man sitting with the weight of what was and what is no longer, doing it with measured sadness rather than anger.

The album won two Grammy Awards: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” — The Divorce Processed as Humor

“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” is the most commercially successful song Paul Simon has ever released as a solo artist. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1976 and stayed there for three consecutive weeks. It is his only solo chart-topper.

It was written in the immediate aftermath of his divorce from Peggy Harper.

Simon has described it as a “nonsense song” and a “fluke hit.” He has been careful not to name her directly as the “lover” being left — he told interviewers that the song is not specifically about Peggy Harper. The verses, he has explained, describe a man in an affair who is being counseled by a woman to take a practical approach to leaving his current relationship. The lyrical scenario is a construction, not a direct account.

But the context is what it is. The divorce from Peggy Harper was official in 1975. The song was written in 1975. The album that contains it was written during the period of the marriage’s collapse. Simon has acknowledged the divorce drove his writing during that period.

The most specific confirmed origin of the chorus — the “slip out the back, Jack / make a new plan, Stan” section — came from a rhyming game Simon was playing with his then-three-year-old son Harper. Paul had extra time with Harper as a result of the separation, and the two were playing word games. The rhyming names came from that afternoon.

A number-one hit was born from a father playing with his toddler during a divorce. Peggy Harper is in the DNA of the song even if her name is not in the lyric.

Harper Simon — What Became of Their Son

Harper James Simon was born on September 7, 1972, in New York City. He is 53 years old in 2026.

After the 1975 divorce, Harper grew up primarily in the custody of his mother, Peggy Harper. The Grokipedia entry on Harper Simon states directly that he was “primarily in the custody of his mother amid the high-profile dissolution.” This contradicts at least one secondary source that claimed he was “raised by his father Paul Simon” — that claim appears to be inaccurate.

He grew up in New York City. At age nine, in 1983, he appeared on Sesame Street with his father, singing “Bingo” and “Ricardo the Cowboy” in a segment about how a record is made. At age twelve, he was touring with Paul Simon as a guitarist on the Graceland tour. He appeared in Paul Simon’s 1980 film One Trick Pony in a small role.

He also maintained a relationship with Paul’s second wife, Carrie Fisher — who was his stepmother for the brief period of that marriage — and remained close to her afterward. Harper appears in pieces Fisher wrote for the New York Times. She described him as a travel companion.

Harper studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He built a career as a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. His 2010 self-titled debut album was praised by Rolling Stone as “a gorgeous collection of vintage-sounding country-folk tunes.” His second album, Division Street, followed in 2013. His music has been featured in television including HBO’s Girls.

Multiple sources confirm that Paul Simon’s lyrics contain references to Harper — most notably in “St. Judy’s Comet” and in “Graceland,” which directly invokes his name in one of the most analyzed lines in Simon’s entire catalog: “I’ve reason to believe / We all will be received / In Graceland.” The road trip in “Graceland” was, in part, taken with Harper.

Peggy Harper raised the person who became the subject of some of his father’s most discussed lyrics. That is not nothing.

Paul Simon After the Divorce — Carrie Fisher and Edie Brickell

Paul Simon married actress Carrie Fisher on August 16, 1983. They had known each other for years — their relationship was characterized by both parties as intense, complicated, and intermittently on-and-off. The marriage lasted less than a year; they divorced in July 1984. Fisher later wrote about their relationship in her semi-autobiographical novel Postcards from the Edge.

He met Edie Brickell — singer and frontman of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians — in the late 1980s. They married on May 30, 1992. They have three children together: Adrian, Lulu, and Gabriel. As of 2026, they remain married — Paul Simon’s longest and most stable marriage.

Peggy Harper is the first chapter in a three-chapter marriage history. She is the one who preceded the famous marriages, the one who was present for Simon’s professional peak, and the one who raised the child who carries her name.

The Name in the Catalog

Harper Simon’s name is Peggy Harper’s lasting presence in Paul Simon’s public legacy. The child is named for her. The career that child built — the albums, the tours, the critical praise — carries her name through the music world in a way she never sought and never claimed.

“Graceland” mentions Harper. “St. Judy’s Comet” was written for Harper. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was chorally inspired by a game played with Harper during the dissolution of her marriage to his father. Paul Simon’s most famous album was named after the city Harper visited with his father as a young man.

Every time a music listener engages with that layer of Paul Simon’s catalog, they are one step away from Peggy Harper. She is not in the songs directly. But she is the reason the songs exist in the form they took.

What Is Known vs. What Is Not

Confirmed or well-sourced:

• Full name: Peggy Harper
• American, nationality confirmed
• Profession: photographer and editor (per Grokipedia, citing biographical accounts)
• Married Paul Simon in 1969 (Wikipedia); one source cites May 24, 1970
• Son Harper James Simon born September 7, 1972
• Divorced Paul Simon in 1975
• Harper grew up primarily in Peggy’s custody
• Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion” (1972) was inspired by thoughts of losing Peggy
• Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) was written during/after the divorce period
• “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” chorus was inspired by a word game played with toddler Harper
• Paul Simon described “50 Ways” as not specifically about Peggy, while acknowledging the divorce context
• “St. Judy’s Comet” was written for Harper as a lullaby
• Paul Simon’s “Graceland” mentions Harper directly
• Harper Simon studied at Berklee College of Music; released albums in 2010 and 2013
• Paul married Carrie Fisher in 1983, divorced 1984; married Edie Brickell 1992, still together

Unverified or undisclosed:

• Birth date and age — never publicly confirmed
• Birthplace — not documented
• Education — fabricated as assumption in many articles, never actually confirmed
• Her career details beyond “photographer and editor” — not elaborated in any source
• How she met Paul Simon
• The terms of the divorce settlement
• Her life after 1975 in any documented detail
• Whether she has remarried — no evidence either way
• Her current residence and activities
• Her response, if any, to being referenced in Paul Simon’s songs

You may also like Ginean Rapp

FAQ — 12 Real Questions

1. Who is Peggy Harper? 

She is Paul Simon’s first wife, married from approximately 1969 to 1975, and the mother of musician Harper Simon. She worked professionally as a photographer and editor. She is notable both as a person in her own right and as a figure whose presence in Paul Simon’s personal life is directly connected to some of the most significant songs in his catalog — including “Mother and Child Reunion,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “St. Judy’s Comet,” and Still Crazy After All These Years.

2. When did she and Paul Simon marry? 

Most sources, including Wikipedia’s article on Paul Simon, state 1969. One source cites a specific date of May 24, 1970. The discrepancy has not been resolved by primary documentation in the public record. The 1969 date is used by more and more authoritative sources.

3. What was her profession? 

Photographer and editor, according to the Grokipedia biographical entry on Harper Simon. This is the only source that identifies a professional role for her. Her specific work, employers, or projects are not documented publicly.

4. Why did they divorce? 

The reason is not publicly documented. The divorce was finalized in 1975 after approximately five to six years of marriage. Paul Simon has acknowledged that the divorce was an emotional driver of his 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years, but he has not publicly attributed the end of the marriage to any specific cause or event.

5. Was “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” written about her? 

Paul Simon has said no — the song is not specifically about Peggy Harper. The verses describe a fictional scenario of a man in an affair. However, the divorce was finalized in 1975, the song was written in 1975, and the album was driven by the emotional experience of the marriage ending. The chorus was inspired by a word game Simon played with their toddler son Harper during the period of separation. Her name is not in the song. Her divorce is inseparable from its creation.

6. What is “Mother and Child Reunion” about in relation to her? 

Paul Simon told Rolling Stone in 1972 that the song grew from thinking about death and then wondering how he would react if his wife Peggy died. He described a connection he couldn’t fully explain between grief and the thought of losing her. The song was written while they were still married. It is among the most direct expressions of his feeling for her in his recorded work.

7. What happened to their son Harper Simon?

 Harper James Simon was born September 7, 1972. He grew up primarily with his mother after the 1975 divorce. He studied at Berklee College of Music, appeared in his father’s 1980 film One Trick Pony, toured with Paul Simon as a guitarist at age twelve on the Graceland tour, and built his own career as a singer-songwriter and producer. His 2010 debut album was praised by Rolling Stone. He is 53 years old in 2026.

8. Who raised Harper after the divorce? 

Peggy Harper, primarily. The Grokipedia biographical account states directly that Harper was in his mother’s primary custody after the divorce. Some secondary sources incorrectly claim he was raised by Paul Simon — this appears to be an error.

9. How is Harper’s name connected to his mother? 

Harper Simon carries his mother’s surname as his first name. Paul and Peggy named their son Harper — a practice of using the mother’s maiden name as the child’s given name. Every reference to “Harper Simon” in music journalism is, in one sense, a continued reference to Peggy Harper.

10. Who did Paul Simon marry after Peggy? 

Carrie Fisher, the actress and writer, in August 1983. They divorced in July 1984. He then married Edie Brickell on May 30, 1992. He and Edie Brickell remain married as of 2026, with three children: Adrian, Lulu, and Gabriel.

11. Is Peggy Harper still alive? Y

es, by all available information as of 2026. No death has been reported in any source. She maintains no public presence and has not appeared in any documented media context in decades.

12. Why do so many articles about her contain fabricated details? 

Because she has left almost no public record, and content mills filling biographical articles on celebrity-adjacent figures routinely invent details — assumed education, estimated height and weight, guessed net worth, attributed personality traits — when actual documentation does not exist. The honest answer about Peggy Harper is that her birthdate, birthplace, education, post-divorce life, and current circumstances are genuinely unknown. She has chosen that unknowability deliberately, and any article that claims otherwise is not reporting — it is speculating.