50 years on, the British girl who inspired Paul Simon: Woman immortalised in Kathy’s Song now lives in quiet Welsh village
Kathleen Chitty lives in small, three-bedoom house in Welsh-speaking village
But her inspiration helped launch Simon’s career to international stardom
Mrs Chitty could not cope with the huge attention from music journalists
Simon once referred to their relationship as his ‘most peaceful time’
Strolling along a country lane in hiking shoes with a rucksack on her back, she makes for an unlikely muse.
But this is the woman who inspired one of America’s greatest songwriters and helped launch his career to international stardom.
The humdrum life she now leads in a quiet Welsh-speaking village gives little clue that Kathleen Chitty’s name is known to millions worldwide.
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.
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.’
In fact, Mr Harrison, 67, admits that he knew both Simon and Miss Chitty before they met as a musician on the 1960s folk scene.
‘I was there. I was part of that crowd as the second person to meet Paul Simon when he came to Britain in 1963.
‘America is the one [hit song] which we’ll never escape from because it’s a song about America losing its way.’
At 68, Miss Chitty still retains her 5ft4in boyish figure, huge eyes and sensitive features.
Her hair is now grey but still cut in the same bob as when pictured sat on cobblestones playing with toys alongside Simon on his first album, The Paul Simon Song Book, released in 1965.
Despite being of retirement age, she remains a part-time administrator at a technical college – the same job she has had for more than 25 years.
Ironically, she still has requests for interviews from music biographers across the world about her time with Simon, but all they have received is the sound of silence.
‘Kath always was and remains a private person,’ added Mr Harrison, a former local journalist, on her behalf. ‘She has never spoken publicly about her past and while understanding that there is a huge public interest in this matter, has no intention to do so.’
A friend told the Mail: ‘The break-up (with Simon) was very traumatic. It was ultimately a world that didn’t do Kathy any favours. She simply couldn’t cope with the public attention.’
Each morning Mrs Chitty walks the half mile route to the edge of the quiet Welsh-speaking village to catch the bus in a nearby town to work. Miss Chitty has had the same administrative part-time role at a local technical college for more than 25 years.
She leaves mid-morning and returns late afternoon while greeting neighbours on the way.
Her three children now all live in London.
Neighbours say she is still incredibly shy, but friendly to those she has got to know over the 40 years she has lived in the hamlet.