Paul Simon grew up in Queens, New York, where he met Arthur Garfunkel, a talented singer who shared Simon’s love of doo-wop and the Everly Brothers. As the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel they released their debut album, Wednesday Morning at 3 AM in 1964. The LP sold poorly, but when producer Tom Wilson added electric rock instrumentation to their song “The Sound of Silence,” the duo had a Number One hit. Their success continued throughout the decade. In 1967, director Mike Nichols used Simon and Garfunkel’s music to soundtrack his Oscar-winning film The Graduate; in 1970, they hit an artistic peak with the multi-platinum Bridge Over Troubled Water, highlighted by Simon’s semi-autobiographical “The Boxer” and the ornate grandeur of LP’s title track. 

Simon and Gafunkel broke up but would reunite several times, including a concert in front of half a million people in New York’s Central Park in 1981. Simon’s solo career began with his self-titled debut in 1972, which included “Me and Julio Down the By the Schoolyard” and the reggae-tinged “Mother and Child Reunion.” He continued to have hits like “Kodachrome” and “Still Crazy After All These Years,” while also becoming synonymous with the pop culture of 1970s New York, appearing in Woody Allen’s movie Annie Hall and frequently on Saturday Night Live. 

In 1986, he released Graceland, a hugely popular foray into South African music, and followed it up with the Brazilian-tinged The Rhythm of the Saints. Simon’s trademark elegant melodies and articulate intimacy were on display again with 2011’s So Beautiful or So What, his best work since Graceland. Over the years, he has received 35 Grammy nominations, and won 16 times, including three Album of the Year honors. In 2023, at age 81, he released Seven Psalms, his fifteenth studio album. — Jon Dolan