Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than 30 songs. He and Garfunkel occasionally reunited as Tom & Jerry to record singles, including "Our Song" and "That's My Story". Most of the songs Simon recorded during that time he performed alone or with musicians other than Garfunkel. They were released on minor record labels including Amy, Big, Hunt,
King, Tribute and Madison. Simon used several pseudonyms for these recordings, including "Jerry Landis", "Paul Kane", and "True Taylor". Simon enjoyed moderate success with singles as part of the group Tico and the Triumphs, including "Motorcycle", which reached number 99 on the
Billboard charts in 1962. Tico and the Triumphs released four 45s. Marty Cooper, known as Tico, sang lead on several of these releases, but "Motorcycle" featured Simon's vocal.
1960s: Simon & Garfunkel In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel auditioned for
Columbia Records, whose executive
Clive Davis signed them to produce an album. Columbia decided to call them Simon & Garfunkel instead of Tom & Jerry, and according to Simon, this was the first time artists' surnames had been used in pop music without their first names. Simon and Garfunkel's first LP,
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964. It consisted of 12 songs, five of which were written by Simon. The album initially flopped. as
Simon & Garfunkel In 1965, after the album's release, Simon moved to London He wrote "
Homeward Bound" and "
I Am a Rock", and learned
Davey Graham's guitar instrumental "
Anji". He also produced
Jackson C. Frank's
only album and co-wrote several songs with
Bruce Woodley of the Australian pop group
the Seekers, including "I Wish You Could Be Here", "Cloudy" and "
Red Rubber Ball". Simon penned "Someday, One Day" for the Seekers, which charted around the same time as "Homeward Bound". Radio stations on the American East Coast began receiving requests for the
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. track "
The Sound of Silence". Simon & Garfunkel's producer,
Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums, and it was released as a single, eventually reaching number 1 on the U.S. pop charts. Wilson did not inform the duo of his plan, and Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it. The single's success drew Simon back to the U.S. to reunite with Garfunkel, and they recorded the albums
Sounds of Silence (1966),
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) and
Bookends (1968). Simon & Garfunkel also contributed to the soundtrack of
Mike Nichols's film
The Graduate (1967). While writing "
Mrs. Robinson", Simon 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 a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!" Simon and Garfunkel's relationship became strained and they split in 1970. At the urging of his wife, Peggy Harper, Simon called Davis to confirm the duo's breakup. For the next several years, they spoke only two or three times a year. Their last album,
Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), was
the bestselling album to date. The
title track was inspired by a line from the
Swan Silvertones version of "Mary Don't You Weep". The title track reached number one, and
"Cecilia" and "
The Boxer" made the top ten. Simon pursued solo work while occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel for various projects. In April 1972, he performed at the
Cleveland Arena alongside
Joni Mitchell and
James Taylor in a benefit concert for
George McGovern's
1972 presidential campaign. He and Garfunkel reunited in mid-June that year at
Madison Square Garden in another concert for McGovern. Simon's next album,
Paul Simon, was released in January 1972. It featured an early experiment with
world music, the
reggae-inspired "
Mother and Child Reunion", recorded with
Jimmy Cliff's band. It reached both the American and British Top 5. The album received universal acclaim and critics praised its variety of styles and confessional lyrics.
Paul Simon reached number 4 in the U.S. and number 1 in the UK and Japan, and produced another Top 30 hit, "
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". Simon's next project, the pop-folk album ''
There Goes Rhymin' Simon, was released in May 1973. The lead single, "Kodachrome", was a number 2 hit in the U.S. The album is his only number 1 on the Billboard'' charts to date. The
18th Grammy Awards named it the
Album of the Year, and his performance on it the year's
Best Male Pop Vocal. The third single from the album, "
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", reached the top spot on the
Billboard charts.
1977–1985: One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones After releasing three successful studio albums, Simon worked on various projects. He wrote music for
Hal Ashby's
Shampoo (1975). "
Slip Slidin' Away", the lead single of his 1977 compilation
Greatest Hits, Etc., reached number 5 in the U.S. In January 1985, Simon performed for USA for Africa and on the
relief fundraising single "
We Are the World".
1986–1992: Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints and Simon (1986) In 1986, Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from
Berklee College of Music, where he had served on the board of trustees. Simon decided to record an album of South African music after hearing a
bootlegged tape of
mbaqanga, South African street music, and in 1986 he traveled to
Johannesburg and recorded with African musicians. Additional sessions were held in New York. The sessions featured many South African acts, notably
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Simon also collaborated with several American artists, duetting with
Linda Ronstadt on "
Under African Skies" and playing with
Los Lobos on "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints". The resulting album,
Graceland, became Simon's most successful studio album. Simon recalled that "I improvised in two ways — by making up melodies in falsetto, and by singing any words that came to mind down in my lower and mid range. I tried not to censor the words and to keep an ear cocked to see if a phrase came out that was interesting enough to suggest that my subconscious had allowed something significant to bubble out. Though I had no intentions of writing about
Elvis Presley, the word 'Graceland' came very early. While writing the lyrics, I always tried to stay true to the mood of the music, which was flowing, pleasant and easy."
Graceland won the
1987 Grammy for
Album of the Year. In 2006, it was added to the United States'
National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically important". Simon was accused of breaking the
cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against South Africa's
apartheid regime by organizations such as
Artists United Against Apartheid, anti-apartheid musicians (including
Billy Bragg,
Paul Weller and
Jerry Dammers), and
James Victor Gbeho (Ghana's
Ambassador to the United Nations). Simon denied that he had gone to South Africa to "take money out of the country" and said he paid the black artists and split royalties with them and was not paid to play to a white-only audience. In 1992, Simon and his band were invited to play in South Africa by
Nelson Mandela. After
Graceland, Simon extended his roots with the
Brazilian-flavored
The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989 in
Rio de Janeiro and New York and featured guitarist
J.J. Cale and Brazilian and African musicians. The album's tone is more introspective and low-key than that of
Graceland. Released in October 1990, the album received excellent reviews and sold well, peaking at number 4 in the U.S. and number 1 in the UK. The lead single, "
The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural
Olodum, became Simon's last Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the
Billboard Hot 100. The success of both albums allowed Simon to stage another concert in New York. On August 15, 1991, he gave a second concert in Central Park, with African and South American bands. The concert's success surpassed all expectations, and 48,500 people are estimated to have attended. He later remembered the concert as "the most memorable moment in my career". Its success led to a
live album and an
Emmy-winning TV special. Simon embarked on the "Born at the Right Time" tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "
Proof", which was accompanied by a humorous video featuring
Chevy Chase and
Steve Martin. On March 4, 1992, Simon performed on an episode of
MTV Unplugged. Simon & Garfunkel were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Simon collaborated with poet
Derek Walcott on a musical,
The Capeman, that opened on January 29, 1998. He worked enthusiastically on the project for many years, and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." The musical told the story of a real-life Puerto Rican youth,
Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in New York in 1959. He became a writer while in prison. Featuring
Marc Anthony as the young Agron and
Rubén Blades as the older Agron, the play was not a success, receiving mixed reviews and poor box-office receipts.
Clive Barnes wrote "Here is the most bewitching and bewitched Broadway score in years -- music that, in a quite different way, only
Stephen Sondheim has equaled," but that "it was
West Side Story particularized, de-prettified and de-balleticized. A tough call for entertainment." The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online.
1999–2007: ''You're the One and Surprise'' In the 1990s and 2000s, Simon played the character of Simple Simon in the
Disney Channel TV movie ''
Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, and provided cameos in Millennium and The Great Buck Howard. In the late 1990s, Simon wrote and produced a Broadway musical called The Capeman, which lost $11 million during its 1998 run. After The Capeman'', Simon's career was in an unexpected crisis, but he continued to record new material. In 1999, he embarked on a three-month North American tour with
Bob Dylan, in which he and Dylan alternated as the headline act with a middle section where they performed together. The collaboration was generally well-received, with just one critic, Seth Rogovoy of the
Berkshire Eagle, questioning the collaboration. In 2000, Simon wrote and recorded a new album, ''
You're the One, very quickly. The album was released in October and consisted mostly of folk-pop writing combined with foreign musical sounds, particularly grooves from North Africa. The album received favorable reviews, reached both the British and American Top 20, and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Simon toured extensively to promote it, and one performance in Paris was released to home video. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in America, Simon sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on America: A Tribute to Heroes, a multi-network broadcast to benefit the September 11 Telethon Fund, and performed "The Boxer" at the start of the first episode of Saturday Night Live after September 11. In 2002, he wrote and recorded "Father and Daughter", the theme song for the animated family film The Wild Thornberrys Movie''. The track was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Song. In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel performed together again when they received a
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a U.S. tour, the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series, followed by a 2004 international encore, culminating in a free concert at the
Colosseum in Rome that attracted an audience of 600,000. In 2005, they sang "Mrs. Robinson" and "Homeward Bound" together, plus "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with
Aaron Neville, in the benefit concert
From the Big Apple to The Big Easy – The Concert for New Orleans (eventually released as a DVD) for
Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2004, Simon's studio albums were re-released both individually and as a collection in a limited-edition, nine-CD boxed set,
Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972–2000. Simon was then working with
Brian Eno on a new album,
Surprise, which was released in May 2006. Most of its songs were inspired by the September 11 attacks and the
Iraq War. Simon also took inspiration from having turned 60 in 2001, which he humorously referred to in "Old" from ''You're the One
. Surprise
was a commercial hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard'' 200 and number 4 in the UK. Most critics praised the album.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic wrote, "Simon doesn't achieve his comeback by reconnecting with the sound and spirit of his classic work; he has achieved it by being as restless and ambitious as he was at his popular and creative peak." The album was supported by the
Surprise Tour in 2006. In March 2004, Walter Yetnikoff published
Howling at the Moon, a book in which he criticized Simon and his previous business partnership with
Columbia Records. In 2007, Simon was the inaugural recipient of the
Library of Congress's
Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and he later performed as part of a gala of his work.
2008–2013: So Beautiful or So What and touring , Germany, July 25, 2008 After living in
Montauk, New York, for many years, Simon relocated to
New Canaan, Connecticut. He is one of a small number of performers who are named as the
copyright owner on their recordings (most records have the recording company as the named owner). This development followed the
Bee Gees' successful $200-million lawsuit against
RSO Records, the largest successful suit against a record company by an artist or group. All of Simon's solo recordings, including those originally issued by
Columbia Records, are distributed by
Sony Records'
Legacy Recordings unit. His albums were issued by
Warner Music Group until mid-2010, when Simon moved his catalog of solo work from
Warner Bros. Records to
Sony/Columbia Records, which holds the Simon & Garfunkel catalog. In April 2008,
Songs From the Capeman played at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music with original cast members and the
Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Simon appeared during the
BAM shows, performing "Trailways Bus" and "
Late in the Evening". In February 2009, Simon performed back-to-back shows in New York City at the recently renovated
Beacon Theatre. He was joined by Garfunkel and the cast of
The Capeman in the first show. The band included
Graceland bassist
Bakithi Kumalo. In May 2009, Simon toured with Garfunkel in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and in October they appeared together at the
25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts. At that concert, Simon duetted with Dion on
"The Wanderer" and with
Graham Nash and
David Crosby on "
Here Comes the Sun". In April 2010, Simon & Garfunkel performed together again at the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In August 2010,
The Capeman was staged for three nights in the
Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park. The production was directed by
Diane Paulus and produced in conjunction with
the Public Theater. Simon released a new song, "Getting Ready for Christmas Day", on November 10, 2010. The song sampled a 1941 sermon by
J. M. Gates and premiered on
National Public Radio Simon performed the song on
The Colbert Report on December 16, 2010. In the first show of the final season of
The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 10, 2010, Simon performed a song that commemorated the show's 25 years, an update of a song he wrote for its 10th anniversary. Simon's next album,
So Beautiful or So What, was released on the
Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011, and Simon said it was the best work he had done in 20 years. It was reported that he had wanted to have
Bob Dylan perform on the album. At the end of his 2011 World Tour, which included the U.S., the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany, Simon appeared at
Ramat Gan Stadium in Israel in July 2011, his first concert appearance in Israel since 1983. On the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he performed "
The Sound of Silence" at the
National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, on the site of the destroyed
World Trade Center. and
Chuck Berry, the recipients of the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence, at the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on February 26, 2012 On February 26, 2012, Simon paid tribute to fellow musicians
Chuck Berry and
Leonard Cohen, who had received the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence at the
JFK Presidential Library. In 2012, Simon released a 25th-anniversary box set of
Graceland that included a remastered edition of the original album; the 2012 documentary film
Under African Skies; the original 1987 "African Concert" from
Zimbabwe; an audio narrative,
The Story of Graceland, related by Simon; and other interviews and memorabilia. He played a few concerts in Europe with the original musicians to commemorate the anniversary. On December 19, 2012, Simon performed at the funeral of
Victoria Leigh Soto, a teacher killed in the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In September 2013, he delivered the Richard Ellmann Lecture in Modern Literature at
Emory University.
2014–2022: Stranger to Stranger and In the Blue Light In 2014, Simon embarked on a joint 21-date concert tour of North America,
On Stage Together, with English musician
Sting. The tour continued in 2015 with ten shows in Australia and New Zealand and 23 in Europe. Simon made a surprise appearance in
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 11, 2015. He performed "
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" with Colbert, having been billed before the show as a Simon & Garfunkel Tribute Band. He also performed "American Tune", which was posted on the show's YouTube channel. In 2015, Dion released the single "
New York Is My Home" with Simon. Simon wrote and performed the theme song for comedian
Louis C.K.'s show
Horace and Pete, which debuted on January 30, 2016. The song is heard during the show's opening, intermission, and closing credits and features Simon's voice and acoustic guitar. Simon made a cameo appearance onscreen in the series' final episode. On June 3, 2016, he released his 13th solo studio album,
Stranger to Stranger, on Concord Records
. In 2011, Simon was introduced to Italian
electronic dance music artist
Clap! Clap! by his son, Adrian, who was a fan of his work. They met in 2011 when Simon was touring
So Beautiful or So What in Italy. Simon collaborated with him on three songs, and also worked with longtime friend
Roy Halee, who co-produced the album. After the release of the album, Simon said he was no longer interested in showbiz and talked about retirement. He said, "I am going to see what happens if I let go". In the 2010s he appeared briefly in shows such as
Portlandia,
Welcome to Sweden and
Horace & Pete. He appeared as an interviewee and as a musical guest on talk shows such as
The Dick Cavett Show,
Late Night with David Letterman,
The Late Show with David Letterman,
The Colbert Report,
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He was the subject of two films by
Jeremy Marre on the making of
Graceland and
The Capeman. Simon performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" at the
2016 Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016. He debuted a new version of "Questions for the Angels" with jazz guitarist
Bill Frisell on
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on May 24, 2017. On February 5, 2018, Simon announced his intention to retire from touring, citing time away from his family and the death of longtime guitarist
Vincent Nguini. He did not rule out performing live again. He began a farewell concert tour, Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour, in May 2018 in Vancouver, Canada, and performed shows across North America and Europe. He played his final concert in Queens, New York, on September 22, 2018. In 2018, Simon released his 14th solo studio album,
In the Blue Light, which consisted of re-recordings of lesser-known songs from his catalog, some with altered arrangements, harmonic structures and lyrics. On August 11, 2019, he returned to live performance when he closed San Francisco's
Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park. He said he planned to donate his net proceeds to local environmental nonprofit organizations.
American Songwriter honored Dion's "
Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)", featuring Simon, as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs". Simon sold his music publishing catalog to
Sony Music Publishing in March 2021. He was previously signed to
Universal Music Publishing Group. He appeared in
Ken Burns's
Country Music discussing the influence of the Everly Brothers. The album was described as 33 minutes of uninterrupted musical meditation, consisting of seven pieces performed on acoustic guitar, linked by a motif derived from "Anji", with elements of folk, blues, and jazz, and lyrics that reflect on life, death, and faith. In February 2025, Simon performed "Homeward Bound" with
Sabrina Carpenter at a 50th-anniversary special for
Saturday Night Live. That month, he announced the Quiet Celebration Tour, comprising performances in smaller venues in 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada and multiple nights in a row in most cities. The tour began with two shows at the Saenger Theater on April 4 and 5 in
New Orleans and ended with two filmed shows at McCaw Hall in
Seattle on August 5 and 6, 2025. Simon has since announced an extension to the tour, a European leg and a second North American leg of the tour for 2026. ==Songwriting==