Music

Art Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills in 1941, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, where the family of his future friend Paul Simon also settled

The two boys attended the same school. As teenagers, they also shared the same interest in folk-inspired music and vocal harmonies. When Art was about fifteen, they experienced their first musical stirrings together. Instead of their own first names, they opted to call themselves Tom & Jerry, after the adventures of the cat and the mouse from the cartoons that are still popular today.

Although they have dozens of memorable songs, the adventure with Paul Simon (under the name Simon & Garfunkel) lasted only a handful of years, from 1964 to 1970: five studio albums and the legendary soundtrack for "The Graduate" in 1968. They also had a handful of reunions. One of them, during a studio session for John Lennon, even gave birth to "My Little Town", the last song written together by the two friends, as far as I know. Ultimately, they each recorded a version separately. Paul on "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Art on "Breakaway". We don't even find this track on the famous "Concert in Central Park" in 1982.

Although the relationship between the two artists was still extremely tense at that time, their respective careers were a little on the rocks. So they agreed to perform on the lawn of the park in the heart of Manhattan and, even more surprisingly, decided to go on tour together again. They only repeated the experience on a few occasions in the mid-'90s, in 2003/2004, for a charity concert in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina and for a final series of concerts, notably in Japan and Australia, in 2009.

Art Garfunkel: an impressive discography

A great voice and a moving performer rather than a distinguished composer, Art Garfunkel nevertheless has an impressive discography in which ballads (sometimes syrupy, let's admit it) take up the lion's share. But he does owe his greatest successes to the pen of other authors such as Mike Batt for "Bright Eyes" in 1978 (from the soundtrack of the film "Watership Down"). Another example is "I Only Have Eyes for You", a bravura piece from his 1975 album "Breakaway", which is a cover of a 1934 song originally composed for a feature film. Similarly, "Morning Has Broken" was originally written in 1931 by Eleanor Farjeon as a tribute to the charming village of Alfriston in English Sussex.

Although he is celebrating his 83rd birthday today, Art Garfunkel still does not plan on taking a well-deserved retirement. On the contrary, he promises us an album concocted in a few days with his son Art Garfunkel Jr (a 34-year-old "junior"!). There will obviously be ballads, violins, covers (notably "Time After Time" in a version that Cindy Lauper will not recognize).  And a series of duets with Art Jr in the role of Paul Simon!

(AK/ML - Photo : Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Art Garfunkel with Paul Simon at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam in June 1982 (© Etienne Tordoir)