Paul Simon

Widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, singer-songwriter Paul Simon was born Paul Frederic Simon on October 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey. He first burst onto the music scene as half of the popular folk duo Simon & Garfunkel. Writing the majority of the pair's world-renowned songs including "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "The Sounds of Silence," and "Mrs. Robinson," Simon separated from his band partner in 1970, forging a career on his own. Well-loved thanks to his stellar rise to fame, his eponymous debut solo album in 1972 was a huge success, though didn't quite reach the heights of previous singles with Garfunkel. Not to be deterred and with a further album already on the horizon, Still Crazy After All These Years was released in 1975 and stormed the charts, picking up two Grammy Awards along the way. A greatest hits album came next, followed by a collaboration with James Taylor and Art Garfunkel for What a Wonderful World. Several years of musical experimentation ensued but his most successful foray had a more South African vibe, the Graceland album in 1986, which went on to become one of the biggest-selling album of his career. He continued to experiment with world music and the success of The Rhythm of Saints album in 1990 spawned a live concert in New York's Central Park in 1991 with an audience of 750,000, the largest concert audience to date. The disastrous 1998 musical The Capeman led to Simon losing millions of dollars and experiencing his first flop but the noughties saw him return to his folk-rock roots and he managed to maintain his reputation and popularity among critics and fans alike. In 2000 he released You're the One, followed by Surprise in 2006, So Beautiful or So What in 2011, and Stranger to Stranger in 2016, on which he collaborated with electronic dance artist Clap! Clap! His fourteenth solo album, In the Blue Light, was released in 2018 featuring re-recordings of lesser-known songs from his repertoire. In 2023, the iconic singer-songwriter returned with Seven Psalms, his first collection of originals since 2016's Stranger to Stranger. Produced by Paul Simon with Kyle Crusham, the largely acoustic album peaked at Number 152 on the US Top 200.