Art Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel is an American singer and actor from Forest Hills, Queens, in New York City. Born Arthur Ira Garfunkel in 1941, he is best known as one half of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel. His family background is Romanian Jewish.

Early years and Simon & Garfunkel

Garfunkel meets Paul Simon in sixth grade, and the pair first perform together between 1956 and 1962 as Tom & Jerry. He takes the nickname “Tom Graph” because he likes following pop chart hits. In the early 1960s he studies at Columbia University, where he sings with the Kingsmen, an all-male a cappella group, and is also a Brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He graduates in 1962 with a BA in art history and later earns a master’s degree in mathematics.

He and Simon reform the duo in 1963 under their own names as Simon and Garfunkel and release their first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., on Columbia Records in 1964. The album does not succeed critically at first, but the following year producer Tom Wilson adds electric backing to “The Sound of Silence” and releases it as a single, which reaches number one on the US pop charts. The duo becomes one of the major acts of the 1960s and records five studio albums in total. They split after Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1970, which is their most critically acclaimed album.

Solo work and acting

During the 1970s Garfunkel releases several solo albums. He has hits with “I Only Have Eyes For You” and “Bright Eyes”, both of which reach number one in the UK, and “All I Know”, which reaches number nine in the United States. “Bright Eyes” also appears in the film Watership Down. He briefly reunites with Paul Simon on the 1975 single “My Little Town”.

He also acts in films including Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge (1971), the latter alongside Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen and Ann-Margret. He performs the theme song for the television series Brooklyn Bridge in 1991, and in 1998 sings “The Ballad of Buster Baxter” for an episode of the PBS Kids series Arthur.

Later releases and collaborations

After the commercial disappointment of Scissors Cut in 1981, Garfunkel joins Paul Simon for the Central Park concert and the world tour that follows. He leaves music for several years and returns in 1988 with Lefty. He does not release another album until Up 'til Now in 1993. His live album Across America, recorded at Ellis Island in 1996, includes guest appearances by James Taylor, his wife Kim and his son James Arthur.

In 2003 he releases Everything Waits to Be Noticed, made with Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock. It marks his first real attempt at songwriting beyond his teenage work with Paul Simon in Tom and Jerry, and several songs develop from poems he has written. He reunites with Simon again for tours in 2003 and 2004. In 2006 he signs with Rhino Records and revived Atco Records, and his album Some Enchanted Evening is released in 2007.