Kathleen Chitty is the woman who inspired one of America’s greatest songwriters and helped launch his career to international stardom
Paul Simon – half of famous duo Simon and Garfunkel – was once so besotted with English teenager that they appeared together on his first record cover.
He also mentioned her in several of his greatest hits – including ‘America’ – and immortalised their romance in the haunting ‘Kathy’s Song’.
But Mrs Chitty could not cope with the huge attention from music journalists and fans while in a realtionship with Simon.
She now lives in a small, detached three-bedoom house on a quiet cul-de-sac, and catches a bus each day to her job as an administrator for a technical college, where she has worked for 25 years.
Paul Simon once described his relationship with Mrs Chitty as ‘his most peaceful time’ and it was captured in his care-free lyrics.
It is in stark contrast to the singer turmoil he has endured this week as Simon, 72, appeared in court alongside his third wife after police were called to break up a violent dispute at their home.+3
Paul Simon – half of famous duo Simon and Garfunkel – was once so besotted with English teenager that they appeared together on his first record cover
Half a decade on from when he first met Miss Chitty, the 68-year-old grandmother with her grey hair tied back in a bun, still bears a strong resemblance to the teenage girl that won his heart.
In 1963, aged just 18, her love of folk music brought her to the nearby Railway Inn folk club, in Brentwood, Essex, where she sold tickets.
Simon, who had dropped out of New York law school, had decided to tour England’s pubs and clubs after struggling to make a name for himself in America.
Her elfin qualities, huge eyes and aura of gentleness through her shy personality caught his attention and an intense love affair followed.
During their relationship he wrote dozens of hits that were later performed alongside his friend Art Garfunkel in Simon and Garfunkel.
Kathy is mentioned by name twice in ‘America’ and the song ‘Homeward Bound’ is about returning from a gig in Widnes to see her in Essex.
But perhaps the most poignant is ‘Kathy’s Song’ which he wrote about missing her while in New York.
It includes the lines: ‘I gaze beyond the rain drenched streets, to England where my heart lies… My thoughts are many miles away, they lie with you when you’re asleep, and kiss you when you start the day.’
But with his initial success, the shy and sensitive Kathy became frightened of the huge attention from fans and returned home from the US in the mid-1960s.
Now living on the outskirts of a remote mountain village in North Wales, her partner Kenneth Harrison, whom she has been with for more than 40 years and had three children, said they moved from Essex to ‘escape’ in the early 1970s.
‘She wasn’t very comfortable with it,’ he said. ‘We’re very good friends with Mr Simon and there’s never been a rift.’
