Art Garfunkel

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Art Garfunkel

Background information
Birth name Arthur Ira Garfunkel
Born November 5, 1941 (1941-11-05) (age 68)
Origin Forest Hills, New York, U.S.
Genres Folk rock, folk pop, rock, pop
Occupations Singer-songwriter, Actor, Poet
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active 1956–present
Labels Columbia Records
Atco Records
Associated acts Simon & Garfunkel

Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet and actor, best known as half of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose, a housewife, and Jacob "Jack" Garfunkel, a traveling menswear salesman.[1][2][3] His family was Jewish, with his paternal grandparents having immigrated from Iaşi in Romania, and Garfunkel is the first cousin of pop impresario Lou Pearlman on his mother's side.[4][5][6] Garfunkel attended Forest Hills High School.

He met his future singing partner, Paul Simon, in the sixth grade - PS 164, Queens. 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 College in the early 1960s, where he sang with the Kingsmen, an all-male a cappella group (not to be confused with The Kingsmen of "Louie Louie" fame) and was a Brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity [7]. In 1962, Garfunkel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in art history, followed by a Master's degree in mathematics.

[edit] Simon and Garfunkel

Main article: Simon & 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 one of the most popular acts of the 1960s, releasing four more 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. Throughout their career together, Garfunkel was regularly acknowledged as the most popular member, even though Paul Simon was the one who wrote the majority of Simon and Garfunkel's songs. This caused problems during their professional relationship.

[edit] Solo career

Art Garfunkel (center) with his band after the show at Liseberg fairground on June 4, 1998

Garfunkel pursued an acting career in the early 1970s, appearing in two Mike Nichols films Catch-22 (1970) and Carnal Knowledge (1971). He later appeared in Nicholas Roeg's Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (1980), Good to Go, (1986) directed by Blain Novak, Boxing Helena (1993) directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch, and The Rebound (2009) directed by Bart Freundlich. He has recorded several solo albums, scoring hits with "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a 1934 song written by Harry Warren)[8] and "Bright Eyes" (a song written by Mike Batt, 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 on the famous novel) Watership Down. Garfunkel briefly reunited with Paul Simon for the 1975 hit "My Little Town"; Simon, and mutual friend James Taylor, also contributed backing vocals to Garfunkel's 1977 cover of Sam Cooke's "(What a) Wonderful World", which reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #17 pop.

Following disappointing sales of his 1981 album Scissors Cut (dedicated to Laurie Bird), Garfunkel reunited with Simon for The Concert in Central Park and a world tour. They had disagreements during the tour. In 1984 Stereo Review Magazine reported that Simon mixed out Garfunkel's voice from a new album, initially slated to be a Simon and Garfunkel studio reunion, but ultimately released as a 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.[9]

Garfunkel performed the theme song for the 1991 television series, Brooklyn Bridge, and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" for a 1998 episode of the children's educational television series Arthur, where he was depicted as a singing/narrator moose.[10] Garfunkel's performance of Monty Python member Eric Idle's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was used in the end credits of the 1997 film As Good as It Gets.

[edit] Recent events

In 2003, Garfunkel made his debut as a songwriter on his 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 written by Garfunkel. The album is recognized as his first effort at songwriting since his teenage years with Tom & Jerry.

In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a successful world tour that extended into 2004. 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.[11] 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.[citation needed]

In 2009, Garfunkel appeared as himself on the HBO television show "Flight of the Conchords" episode entitled "Prime Minister." He continues to tour in 2009 with four talented musicians and his son.[12]

[edit] Personal life

Garfunkel married Linda Marie Grossman in 1972; they divorced in 1975. He was romantically involved with actress and photographer Laurie Bird until her death in 1979.[13] On 18 September 1988, he married former model Kathryn (Kim) Cermak. They have two children, James, born 15 December 1990, and Beau Daniel, born 5 October 2005 via surrogate mother. [14]

Garfunkel is an avid reader and bibliophile; his website contains a year-by-year listing of every book he has read since 1968.[15] Currently the list contains more than 1,000 books.

Garfunkel has undertaken several cross-continental walks in his lifetime, writing poetry along the way. In the early 1980s, he walked across Japan in a matter of weeks.[16] From 1983 to 1997, Garfunkel walked across America,[17] taking 40 excursions to complete the route from New York City to the Pacific coast of Washington. In May 1998, Garfunkel began an incremented walk across Europe.[18]

Garfunkel has been arrested twice for the possession of cannabis: in early 2004 and again in August 2005.[19]

Garfunkel is the brother of Jerome Garfunkel, the former member of the American (ANSI) and International (ISO) Committees that wrote the specification for the COBOL programming language.

Garfunkel is the younger brother of Jules B. Garfunkel, a United States Navy Veteran and financial analyst. Jules Garfunkel died on September 17, 2006 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In March 2009, a rumour stated that Garfunkel insulted a disabled person whilst at one of his poem readings. Whilst reading one of his original poems, he stopped twice, finally saying, "I try to be kind to the handicapped, but I’m trying to put on a show here." A person in a wheelchair was taken out of the area shortly after. Nothing has been confirmed, but many blogs have recalled the event, stating that Garfunkel is "ignorant," "arrogant" and a "jerk." The talent manager of the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Terri Torrey, confirmed that something did happen, but did not explain exactly what, saying, "Art Garfunkel did have a concert here recently and yes, there was an incident."[20]

[edit] Awards

  • 1969 Grammy Award, Record of the Year, for "Mrs. Robinson" (with Paul Simon)
  • 1969 Grammy Award, Best Contemporary Pop Performance, for "Mrs. Robinson" (with Paul Simon)
  • 1970 Grammy Award, Best Album, for Bridge Over Troubled Water
  • 1970 Grammy Award, Best Single Record, for "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
  • 1970 Grammy Award, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, for Bridge Over Troubled Water
  • 1977 Britannia Award, Best International Pop LP and Single, 1952-77, for "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

[edit] Discography

See Simon & Garfunkel discography for joint works with Paul Simon.

[edit] Solo albums

[edit] Singles

  • 1973 – "All I Know" (US #9, US AC #1)
  • 1973 – "I Shall Sing" (US #38, US AC #4)
  • 1974 – "Traveling Boy" (US #102, US AC #30)
  • 1974 – "Second Avenue" (US #34, US AC #6)
  • 1975 – "Breakaway" (US #39, US AC #1)
  • 1975 – "I Only Have Eyes for You" (US #18, US AC #1, UK #1)
  • 1977 – "Crying in my Sleep" (US AC #25, UK #25)
  • 1977 – "Wonderful World" (with Paul Simon and James Taylor) (US #17, US AC #1)
  • 1979 – "In A Little While (I'll Be On My Way)" (US AC #12)
  • 1979 – "Since I Don't Have You" (US #53, US AC #5, UK #38)
  • 1979 – "Bright Eyes" (US AC #29, UK #1)
  • 1981 – "A Heart in New York" (US #66, US AC #10)
  • 1984 – "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" (UK #77)
  • 1988 – "So Much in Love" (US #76 AC #11)

[edit] Soundtracks

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3663214/Garfunkel%27s-ageless-art.html
  2. ^ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB33C7F03AF8302&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
  3. ^ Martin, Douglas. "About New York; Just Simon in the Park, to Garfunkel's Disappointment", The New York Times, August 14, 1991. Accessed June 2, 2009. "Soon, he and Paul Simon, two sons of Forest Hills, Queens, who became bards of the 60's, would stride to the shimmering center of a vast Central Park stage, and a generation growing overweight and apart would for a few fleeting hours feel forever young."
  4. ^ http://www.artgarfunkel.com/articles/cjn.html
  5. ^ http://www.artgarfunkel.com/articles/exponent.html
  6. ^ http://www.artgarfunkel.com/articles/dayton.html
  7. ^ http://www.studentloaninfo.org/blog/rockstars-academic-degrees/
  8. ^ I Only Have Eyes For You (1975 version)
  9. ^ simon and garfunkel the sound at jgarfunkel.com
  10. ^ http://www.artgarfunkel.com/chrono/1998.html
  11. ^ New Art Garfunkel CD - Rhino Press Release #455
  12. ^ http://www.artgarfunkel.com/concerts.html
  13. ^ Art Garfunkel - Official Website
  14. ^ Baker, KC, "Art Garfunkel a Father Again at 64", People (December 7, 2005)
  15. ^ Art Garfunkel - Official Website
  16. ^ Art Garfunkel - Official Website
  17. ^ Art Garfunkel - Official Website
  18. ^ Art Garfunkel - Official Website
  19. ^ Garfunkel arrested over marijuana possession. 31/08/2005. ABC News Online
  20. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1163682/Art-Garfunkel-stops-concert-insult-disabled-fan.html

[edit] External links

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Simon & Garfunkel
Paul Simon · Art Garfunkel
Studio albums
Live albums
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Hit singles
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