Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon, born on October 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer whose work spans decades of popular music and extends to the Broadway stage. His parents were of Hungarian-Jewish descent; his father, Louis Simon, was a double bass player and dance bandleader who performed under the name Lee Sims and later became a professor of education at the City College of New York, while his mother, Belle, worked as an elementary-school teacher. In 1945, the family relocated to the Kew Gardens Hills section of Flushing, Queens. Simon graduated from Forest Hills High School before majoring in English at Queens College, where he earned his degree in 1963. He also attended Brooklyn Law School for one semester that same year and was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.

Simon first encountered Art Garfunkel at age eleven, when the two performed together in a sixth-grade production of Alice in Wonderland. They began singing together at thirteen and occasionally performed at school dances. Simon wrote his first song, "The Girl for Me," at age twelve or thirteen, intended for him and Garfunkel to perform together; his father transcribed the words and chords, and that document became the first officially copyrighted Simon and Garfunkel song, now held in the Library of Congress. In 1957, the pair recorded "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name Tom & Jerry for Big Records, a single that reached number 49 on the Billboard charts. Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than thirty songs, working under pseudonyms including Jerry Landis, Paul Kane, and True Taylor, and releasing material on minor labels such as Amy, Big, Hunt, King, Tribute, and Madison. He also found moderate success with the group Tico and the Triumphs, whose single "Motorcycle" reached number 99 on the Billboard charts in 1962.

Simon and Garfunkel auditioned for Columbia Records in early 1964, where executive Clive Davis signed them. Their debut LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964, and initially failed to find an audience. Simon subsequently moved to London in 1965, performing in folk clubs and recording a solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook, released exclusively in the United Kingdom at the time. During his time in England, he learned fingerpicking technique from Martin Carthy, co-wrote songs with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, and produced Jackson C. Frank's only album. He wrote "Homeward Bound" and "I Am a Rock" during this period. Simon and Garfunkel came to prominence in the 1960s through a blend of folk and rock that produced hits including "The Sound of Silence" in 1965, "Mrs. Robinson" and "America" in 1968, and "The Boxer" in 1969. Their final studio album together, Bridge over Troubled Water, released in 1970, ranks among the best-selling albums of all time.

As a solo artist, Simon explored gospel, reggae, and soul across a series of acclaimed albums. Paul Simon appeared in 1972, followed by There Goes Rhymin' Simon in 1973 and Still Crazy After All These Years in 1975, producing hits that included "Mother and Child Reunion," "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." Simon hosted Saturday Night Live four times between 1975 and 1987 and appeared as the musical guest on additional occasions. He made his acting debut in Woody Allen's 1977 romantic comedy Annie Hall. Simon and Garfunkel reunited for several tours and for the 1981 Concert in Central Park. In 1986, Simon released Graceland, which incorporated South African musical influences and became his most commercially successful and critically acclaimed solo album; the single "You Can Call Me Al" was among its most prominent tracks. The Rhythm of the Saints followed in 1990, and a second Concert in the Park, attended by approximately 500,000 people and performed without Garfunkel, took place in 1991.

Simon's Broadway career includes two productions. He appeared on Broadway in 1992 in Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway. His most substantial theatrical undertaking was The Capeman, a Broadway musical for which he wrote the score and which opened in 1998. The production earned Simon a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Musical Score and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music, both in 1998.

Simon has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice and has received sixteen Grammy Awards, among them three for Album of the Year. Two of his works were inducted into the National Recording Registry: Sounds of Silence, recorded as part of Simon and Garfunkel, and Graceland. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize in 2007. Simon is a co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to children. His recording output continued into the twenty-first century with albums including You're the One in 2000, So Beautiful or So What in 2011, Stranger to Stranger in 2016, and Seven Psalms in 2023.