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| Birth Name(s) : Paul Simon |
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Full Paul Simon Biography
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is a Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Simon is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both as half of the folk-singing duo Simon and Garfunkel and as a solo artist. In 2006, Time magazine called him one of the "100 people who shape our world." As of 2007, he resides in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey to Jewish Hungarian parents: Belle, an English teacher, and Louis Simon, a bandleader and teacher. His family soon moved to Kew Gardens Hills, Queens in New York City, Simon's musical career began in Forest Hills High School when he and his friend Art Garfunkel began singing together as a duo, occasionally performing at school dances. Their idols were the Everly Brothers, whom they often emulated and/or imitated in their early recordings. Simon and Garfunkel were named "Tom & Jerry" by their record company and it was under this name that the duo first had success. In 1957, they recorded the single "Hey, Schoolgirl," on Big Records which reached forty-nine on the pop charts while they were still in their teens.
After graduating from high school, Simon attended Queens College, while Garfunkel studied at Columbia University in Manhattan. Simon was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Though Simon earned a degree in English literature, his real passion was rock and roll. Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than thirty songs, occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel as Tom & Jerry for some singles, including "Our Song," "That's My Story," and "Surrender, Please Surrender," among others. He also briefly attended Brooklyn Law School.
Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was released on 19 October 1964 and comprised twelve songs in the folk vein, five of them written by Simon. The album initially flopped, but East Coast radio stations began receiving requests for one of the tracks, Simon's "The Sound of Silence." Their producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass, and drums, releasing it as a single that eventually went to number one on the pop charts in the USA.
Simon had gone to England after the initial failure of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., pursuing a solo career (including collaborations with Bruce Woodley of The Seekers) and releasing the album The Paul Simon Song Book in the UK in 1965. But he returned to the USA to reunite with Garfunkel after "The Sound of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success. Together they recorded several influential albums, including 1966's Sounds of Silence, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Bookends in 1968 and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1969). Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the 1967 Mike Nichols film The Graduate (starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft). While writing Mrs. Robinson, Simon originally toyed with the title Mrs. Roosevelt. When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied, "Don't be ridiculous! We're making movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!"
Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a second time in 2000 for his achievements as a solo artist. (The first time was together with Art Garfunkel for their work as Simon and Garfunkel.)
Simon also appeared alongside with George Harrison as musical guest on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL ( November 20, 1976). The two performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound" together, while Simon performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" solo earlier in the show.
He has been the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre, the first on Graceland, the second on The Capeman.
Simon's first marriage was to Peggy Harper; they were married in late autumn 1969. They had a son, Harper Simon, in 1972. They divorced in 1975. The song "Train in the Distance," from Simon's 1983 album, is about this relationship. Simon's 1972 song "Run That Body Down", from his debut solo album, casually mentions both himself and his then-wife ("Peg") by name.
His second marriage was to actress and author Carrie Fisher to whom he proposed after a New York Yankees game. They were married on August 16, 1983 but the marriage lasted only eleven months.
Paul Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the founders of the Children's Health Project and Children's Health Fund which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to take medical care to children in medically underserved areas, urban and rural. Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City but they now operate in 12 states, including the Gulf Coast. It has expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's health and medical care.
Paul Simon is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — as a solo artist in 2001, and in 1990 as half of Simon and Garfunkel. |
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