Paul Simon
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- This article is about the musician; for other Paul Simons, see Paul Simon (disambiguation).
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941 in Newark, New Jersey) is a renowned Jewish American songwriter, receiving Kennedy Center Honors in 2002. He graduated Queens College and briefly attended Brooklyn Law School. Simon has been married three times; he is currently married to Edie Brickell whom he wed on May 30, 1992. He is divorced from Carrie Fisher to whom he was married from August 16, 1983 until 1984 and from Peggy Harper to whom he was married from 1970 until 1975. He has four children, and his first son Harper Simon is a guitarist.
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Simon and Garfunkel
Simon was the primary songwriter in the duo Simon and Garfunkel, originally calling themselves "Tom and Jerry" but later using their real surnames as their moniker. Together they recorded several influential albums, including 1966's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970). However, he wrote, recorded, and released more than thirty songs between 1957 and 1964 when Columbia first recorded the duo (Everett, 1997).
Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the 1967 film The Graduate (starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft). They recorded "Mrs. Robinson" specifically for the film; other songs by the duo were also used in the film.
Simon pursued solo projects after the duo released their very popular album Bridge Over Troubled Water. Occasionally, he and Art Garfunkel would reunite, such as in 1975 for their Top Ten single, "My Little Town". In 1981, they reunited for the famous concert in Central Park. Because of the concert's tremendous success, they began to work on a new studio album together, but, ultimately, Simon elected not to use Garfunkel's vocals and he deleted them. The album would later become Simon's Hearts and Bones.
In 2003, he reunited again with Garfunkel when Simon and Garfunkel received Grammy's lifetime achievement award. This reunion led to the US tour--the acclaimed "Old Friends" Concert series--followed by a 2004 international encore which culminated in a free concert at the Roman Coliseum that drew 600,000 people--100,000 more than attended Paul McCartney's concert at the same venue, one year earlier.
Solo career
After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1971, Paul Simon began to write and record solo material. He released Paul Simon in 1972, although this was not his first solo album, as he released The Paul Simon Song Book as a UK-only LP in 1965. This album was released on CD in 2004, expanded and remastered. He continued to release remarkable material during the seventies, and in 1986 released the ground-breaking and immensely popular Graceland. In 1991, he married singer Edie Brickell, and they have three children.
In 2000, Simon released an album titled "You're the One" backed up by concerts, one of which filmed in Paris is available on DVD.
Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall.
2004 reissues
In 2004, his record company announced the release of expanded editions of each of his solo albums, individually and together in a limited-edition nine-disc box set, "Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972-2000". Each of the expanded individual albums feature a total of 30 bonus tracks, including original song demos, live recordings, duets, six never-before-released songs and outtakes from each of his nine solo albums.
Among the bonus tracks included in the release are an acoustic demo of "Homeless," recorded prior to his sessions in South Africa with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from Graceland; "Shelter Of Your Arms," a previously unreleased song featuring a solo acoustic performance from the Hearts and Bones sessions; demos of "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" and "Duncan" recorded in San Francisco in 1971 by Paul Simon; the original demo of "Gone At Last," with the Jessy Dixon Singers, from Still Crazy After All These Years; "Spiral Highway" and "All Because Of You," unreleased performances from One Trick Pony; a work-in-progress called "Let Me Live In Your City," which eventually became the track "Something So Right" from There Goes Rhymin' Simon; early versions of "The Coast" and "Spirit Voices" from The Rhythm of the Saints; a duet with José Feliciano on "Born In Puerto Rico" plus outtakes from Songs From the Capeman, live cuts from the You're the One concert tour, and much more.
Samples
- Download sample of "Graceland" from Graceland
Discography (as Paul Simon)
- 1965 The Paul Simon Song Book
- 1972 Paul Simon (see 1972 in music)
- 1973 There Goes Rhymin' Simon
- 1974 Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin'
- 1975 Still Crazy After All These Years
- 1977 Greatest Hits Etc.
- 1980 One Trick Pony (soundtrack)
- 1983 Hearts and Bones
- 1986 Graceland
- 1990 The Rhythm of the Saints
- 1991 Paul Simon's Concert in the Park, August 15, 1991 (live)
- 1997 Songs From the Capeman
- 2000 You're the One
- 2002 "Father and Daughter", the Academy Award-nominated song from The Wild Thornberrys Movie (soundtrack)
In addition, there are numerous compilations available.
References
- Everett, Walter (1997). "Swallowed by a Song: Paul Simon's Crisis of Chromaticism", Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195100042.
External links
- http://www.paulsimon.com
- http://www.paul-simon.info
- http://www.simonandgarfunkel.com
- Paul Simon Discography (http://www.whizzo.ca/simon/simon.html)
- Paul Simon's entry (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800328/) at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Reference]
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