Art Garfunkel
- Category : Singer - Popular
- Type : ME
- Profile : 1/3 - Investigating / Martyr
- Definition : Split - Large
- Incarnation Cross : RAX The Sphinx 4
Categories
Biography
Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and actor, best known as half of the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel.
Early life
Arthur Ira Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, in New York City. He is of Romanian Jewish ancestry.
He met his future singing partner, Paul Simon, in the sixth grade. Between 1956 and 1962, the two had performed together as Tom & Jerry. Garfunkel ("Tom Graph") chose his nickname because he liked to track, or "graph" hits, on the pop charts. Garfunkel attended Columbia University in the early sixties, where he sang with the Kingsmen, an all-male a cappella group, and was a Brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. In 1962, Garfunkel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in art history, followed by a Master's degree in mathematics.
Simon and Garfunkel
In 1963 he and Simon reformed their duo under their own names as Simon and Garfunkel and released their first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. on Columbia Records in October 1964.
It was not a critical success, and the duo subsequently split again. The next year, producer Tom Wilson lifted the song "The Sound of Silence" from the record, dubbed an electric backing onto it, and released it as a single that went to #1 on the Billboard pop charts. Simon and Garfunkel reunited and went on to become two of the most popular artists of the 1960s, releasing five studio albums. Citing personal differences and divergence in career interests, they split following the release of their most critically acclaimed album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, in 1970.
Solo career
In the 1970s, Garfunkel released several solo albums. He scored hits with "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a 1934 song written by Harry Warren ) and "Bright Eyes" (both British #1 hit singles), and "All I Know" (#9 in the United States). A version of "Bright Eyes" also appeared in the movie (based off the famous novel) Watership Down. Garfunkel briefly reunited with Paul Simon in the 1975 hit "My Little Town".
During this time, he also starred in major motion pictures Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge (1971).
Following disappointing sales of his 1981 album Scissors Cut, Garfunkel reunited with Paul Simon for The Concert in Central Park and a world tour. They had disagreements during the tour, and Simon excluded Garfunkel's voice from a new album, intially slated to be a Simon and Garfunkel album, but released as a Paul Simon solo album (Hearts and Bones). Garfunkel then left the music scene until his 1988 album, Lefty and later 1993's Up 'til Now, neither of which received significant critical or commercial success. His live 1996 concert Across America, recorded at the registry hall on Ellis Island features musical guests James Taylor, Garfunkel's wife, Kim, and his son James .
Garfunkel also performed the theme song for the 1991 television series, "Brooklyn Bridge", and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" for a 1998 episode of the PBS Kids cartoon Arthur.
Recent events
In 2003, Garfunkel made his debut as a songwriter on his well-received Everything Waits to Be Noticed album. Teaming up with singer-songwriters Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock, the album contained several songs whose origins were poems penned by Garfunkel. The album is recognized as his first effort at songwriting since his teenage years with Tom and Jerry.
In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a successful world tour that extended into 2004. Also in early 2004, he was arrested for possession of cannabis, and again in August 2005. In 2005, his song "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" from The Art Garfunkel Album (1984) (written by Mike Batt) was re-recorded by ex-ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her album My Colouring Book.
In 2006, Garfunkel signed with Rhino Records (revived Atco Records,) and his first Rhino/Atco album Some Enchanted Evening was released in America on January 30, 2007. In late February 2007 during a German television interview to promote the new album, he expressed interest in reuniting with Paul Simon on a new Simon and Garfunkel album.
Trivia
This section contains a list of trivia items.
The section could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.
This section has been tagged since June 2007.
Art Garfunkel's website contains a year by year listing of every book he has read since 1968.
From 1983 to 1997, Garfunkel walked across America, taking 40 excursions to complete the route from New York City to the Pacific coast of Washington.
Appeared in an episode of the PBS television show Arthur as a moose playing "The Ballad of Buster Baxter," in a parody of Jonathan Richman's role in There's Something About Mary.
In the Barenaked Ladies' 1993 song "If I Had $1000000," the lyrics mention buying art, such as "a Picasso or a Garfunkel."
'Karfunkel' is an old German word for gemstone.
Is a first cousin of record producer Lou Pearlman.
Discography
(see Simon and Garfunkel for joint works with Paul Simon)
Singles
All I Know - 1973 (US #9)
I Shall Sing - 1973 (US #38)
Second Avenue - 1974 (US #34)
Breakaway - 1975 (US #39)
I Only Have Eyes For You - 1975 (US #18 UK #1)
Crying in my Sleep - 1977 (UK #25)
(What A) Wonderful World - 1977 (US #17)
Since I Don't Have You - 1979 (US #53 UK #38)
Bright Eyes - 1979 (UK #1)
A Heart in New York - 1981 (US #61)
Solo albums
Angel Clare (1973) (US #5 UK #14)
Breakaway (1975) (US #9 UK #7)
Watermark (1977) (US #19 UK #25)
Fate for Breakfast (1979) (US #67 UK #2)
Scissors Cut (1981) (US #113 UK #51)
The Art Garfunkel album (Non-US collection) (1984) (UK #12)
The Animals Christmas Album (together with Amy Grant) (1986)
Lefty (1988) (US #134)
Garfunkel (1989) (collection)
Up 'til Now (1993)
Across America (live) (1997)
Songs from a Parent to a Child (1997)
Everything Waits to Be Noticed (2002)
Some Enchanted Evening (2007)
Cameo appearances
The Wide World Over, The Chieftains (2002) -- performed Morning Has Broken
Films
Catch-22 (1970)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Bad Timing (1980)
Good to Go (aka Short Fuse) (1986)
Boxing Helena (1993)