A Tribute to Simon and Garfunkel

By Andrew Conway

The most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel crafted a series of memorable hit albums and singles featuring their choirboy harmonies, ringing acoustic and electric guitars, and Simon's acute, finely wrought songwriting.

They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland.They formed the group Tom and Jerry in 1957, and had their first taste of success with the minor hit "Hey Schoolgirl." The duo split up, and Simon continued to struggle to make it in the music business as a songwriter and occasional performer, sometimes using the names of Jerry Landis or Tico and the
Triumphs.

When they re-teamed, it was as a folk duo, though Simon's pop roots would serve the act well in their material's synthesis of folk and pop influences. Signing to Columbia, they recorded an initially unsuccessful acoustic debut (as Simon and Garfunkel, not Tom and Jerry) in 1964, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. They again went their separate ways, Simon moving to England, where he played the folk circuit and
recorded an obscure solo album.

Then with the help of Tom Wilson they reunited and made a serious go at a recording career, Simon returning from the U.K. to the U.S. In 1966 and 1967 they were regular visitors to the pop charts with some of the best folk-rock of the era, including "Homeward Bound," "I Am a Rock," and "A Hazy Shade of Winter."

Their final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, was an enormous hit, topping the charts for ten weeks, and containing four hit singles (the title track, "The Boxer," "Cecilia," and "El Condor Pasa"). A 1981 concert in New York's Central Park attracted half a million fans, and was commemorated with a live album; they also toured in the early '80s, but a planned studio session was cancelled.

Simon and Garfunkel were among the most popular recording artists of the 1960s, and are best known for their songs "The Sound of Mrs Robinson" [The Theme Song Of The Graduate], "Bridge over Troubled Water" and "The Boxer." They have received several Grammys and are inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2007). In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Simon and Garfunkel #40 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Andrew Conway is an author, a musician, and aclassic movie buff. If you love watching movies orjust listening to great music, then visit:http://www.ultimate-free-downloads.com/mp3.html

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