Paul Simon 1971-1976 What happened in 1971? I don't know. What songs did he write and record? "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right" -- did he write any other music during this time? "Mother and Child Reunion Did he produce any solo albums? "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list.
Did he ever tour?
Did Paul Simon ever tour?
After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970, Simon began writing and recording solo material again. His album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", at the time one of the few songs by a non-Jamaican musician to use prominent elements of reggae. The single was a hit, reaching both the American and British Top 5. The album received universal acclaim, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the UK and Japan. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". Simon's next project was the pop-folk album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings. The lead single, "Kodachrome," was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock" was even bigger, topping the Cashbox charts. Other songs like the weary "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right" -- a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Song of the Year -- became standards in the musician's catalog. Critical and commercial reception for this second album was even stronger than for his debut. At the time, reviewers noted how the songs were fresh and unworried on the surface, while still exploring socially and politically conscious themes on a deeper level. The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next, in 1974 it was released as a live album, Live Rhymin', which was moderately successful and displayed some changes in Simon's music style, adopting world and religious music. Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce. Preceded by the feel-good duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone at Last" (a Top 25 hit) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a No. 9 on Billboard), the album was his only No. 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year and Simon's performance the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. With Simon in the forefront of popular music, the third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list. Also, on May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also performed. The concert produced over $30,000 for the Library. CANNOTANSWER
The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next,
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music.

Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in the borough of Queens in New York City. He began performing with his schoolfriend Art Garfunkel in 1956 when they were still in their early teens. After limited success, the pair reunited after an electrified version of their song "The Sound of Silence" became a hit in 1966. Simon & Garfunkel recorded five albums together featuring songs mostly written by Simon, including the hits "Mrs. Robinson", "America", "Bridge over Troubled Water", and "The Boxer".

After Simon & Garfunkel split in 1970, Simon recorded three acclaimed albums over the following five years, all of which charted in the top 5 on the Billboard 200. His 1972 self-titled album contained the hit songs "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". The 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years, which featured guest vocals from Garfunkel, was his first number-one solo album, and featured the number 1 hit single "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", among other top-40 songs such as "Still Crazy After All These Years", "Gone at Last", and "My Little Town".

Simon reunited with Garfunkel for a performance in New York Central Park in 1981, drawing half a million spectators, followed by a world tour with Garfunkel. After a career slump, Simon released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music, which sold 14 million copies worldwide and remains his most popular and acclaimed solo work.  A number of hit singles were released from the album, including "You Can Call Me Al", "The Boy in the Bubble", and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes". It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987.

Simon continued to tour throughout the 1990s, wrote a Broadway musical, The Capeman, and recorded a companion album, Songs from The Capeman which was released in 1997. His 2000 album You're the One was nominated again for Album of the Year honors. He followed that album up with several years of touring, including another reunion tour with Garfunkel, and released Surprise, his last album of the decade, in 2006. In 2016 he released Stranger to Stranger, which debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Album Chart and number 1 the UK Albums Chart, and marked his greatest commercial and critical success in thirty years. His most recent album is 2018's In the Blue Light, which contains re-arrangements of lesser-known songs from his prior albums.

Simon has earned sixteen Grammy Awards for his solo and collaborative work, including three for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years, and Graceland), and a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: first in 1990 as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and again in 2001 for his solo career. In 2006 he was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time. In 2011, Rolling Stone named Simon one of the 100 greatest guitarists, and in 2015 he was ranked eighth in their list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.

Early life
Simon was born on October 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey, to Hungarian-Jewish parents. His father, Louis (1916–1995), was a college professor, double-bass player, and dance bandleader who performed under the name Lee Sims. His mother, Belle (1910–2007), was an elementary-school teacher. In 1945, his family moved to the Kew Gardens Hills section of Flushing, Queens, in New York City.

The musician Donald Fagen described Simon's childhood as that of "a certain kind of New York Jew, almost a stereotype, really, to whom music and baseball are very important. I think it has to do with the parents. The parents are either immigrants or first-generation Americans who felt like outsiders, and assimilation was the key thought—they gravitated to black music and baseball looking for an alternative culture." Simon, upon hearing Fagen's description, said it "isn't far from the truth". Simon played baseball and stickball as a child. He described his father as funny and smart, but said he worked late and did not see his children much.

Simon met Art Garfunkel when they were both 11. They performed in a production of Alice in Wonderland for their sixth-grade graduation, and began singing together when they were 13, occasionally performing at school dances. Their idols were the Everly Brothers, whom they imitated in their use of close two-part harmony. Simon also developed an interest in jazz, folk, and blues, especially in the music of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly.

At 12 or 13 Simon wrote his first song, "The Girl for Me", for him and Art Garfunkel. According to Simon, it became the "neighborhood hit." His father wrote the words and chords on paper for the boys to use. That paper became the first officially copyrighted Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel song, and is now in the Library of Congress. In 1957, in their mid-teens, they recorded the song "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name "Tom & Jerry", a name that was given to them by their label Big Records. The single reached No. 49 on the pop charts.

After graduating from Forest Hills High School, Simon majored in English at Queens College, graduating in 1963, while Garfunkel studied mathematics education at Columbia University in Manhattan. Simon was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and went on to attend Brooklyn Law School for one semester in 1963.

Career

Early career

Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded and released more than 30 songs, occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel as Tom & Jerry for some singles, including "Our Song" and "That's My Story". Most of the songs Simon recorded during that time were performed alone or with musicians other than Garfunkel. They were released on minor record labels including Amy, Big, Hunt, King, Tribute, and Madison. He used several pseudonyms for these recordings, usually "Jerry Landis", but also "Paul Kane" and "True Taylor". By 1962, working as Jerry Landis, he was a frequent writer/producer for several Amy Records artists, overseeing material released by Dotty Daniels, The Vels and Ritchie Cordell.

Simon enjoyed moderate success with singles as part of the group Tico and the Triumphs, including "Motorcycle", which reached No. 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. Also in 1962, Simon reached No. 97 on the pop charts as Jerry Landis with the novelty song "The Lone Teen Ranger". Both chart singles were released on Amy Records.

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 that the two would be called Simon & Garfunkel instead of Tom & Jerry; 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, with 12 songs, five of which were written by Simon. The album initially flopped.

After the album release, Simon moved to England and performed in folk clubs. Simon enjoyed his time there; he said in 1970, "I had a lot of friends there and a girlfriend there. I could play music there. There was no place to play in New York City. They wouldn’t have me." In England, he produced Jackson C. Frank's first and 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". Woodley's co-author credit was omitted from "Cloudy" on the Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album. The American group the Cyrkle recorded a version of "Red Rubber Ball" that reached No. 2 in the U.S. Simon also contributed to the Seekers' catalogue with "Someday One Day", which was released in March 1966, charting around the same time as Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" (a Top 10 hit from their second UK album, Sounds of Silence and later included on their third U.S. album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme).

Back on the American East Coast, radio stations 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, releasing it as a single that eventually went to No. 1 on the US pop charts. Wilson did not inform the duo of his plan, and Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it. The success drew Simon back to the US to reunite with Garfunkel, and they recorded the albums Sounds of Silence (1966), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) and Bookends (1968); their final album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), became at that time the bestselling album of all time.

Simon & Garfunkel also contributed to the soundtrack of the Mike Nichols film The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. 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 returned to the UK in the fall of 1968 and made a church concert appearance at Kraft Hall, which was broadcast on the BBC, and also featured Paul's brother Ed on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".

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.

1970–1976: Solo success
In 1970, Simon taught songwriting at New York University. He said he had wanted to teach for a while, and hoped to help people avoid some of the mistakes he had made; he said at the time, "You can teach somebody about writing songs. You can't teach someone how to write a song, I don't think ... I'd go to a course if the Beatles would talk about how they made records because I'm sure I could learn something."

Simon pursued solo projects, reuniting occasionally with Garfunkel for various projects. Actor Warren Beatty brought Simon into a solo performance at the Cleveland Arena in April 1972—a benefit concert for the George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign—and after that, Beatty obtained the duo's agreement to reunite in mid-June at Madison Square Garden, another political concert called Together for McGovern. Garfunkel joined Simon again on the 1975 Top Ten single "My Little Town". Simon wrote it for Garfunkel, whose solo output Simon judged to be lacking "bite". The song was included on their respective solo albums: Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel's Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not autobiographical of Simon's early life in New York City. Simon also provided guitar on Garfunkel's 1973 album Angel Clare, and added backing vocals to the song "Down in the Willow Garden".

Simon's album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion"; it reached both the American and British Top 5. The album received universal acclaim, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the UK and Japan. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Simon's next project was the pop-folk album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings. The lead single, "Kodachrome", was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock" was even bigger, topping the Cashbox charts. Other songs like the weary "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right"—a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy—became standards in the musician's catalog. Critical and commercial reception for this second album was even stronger than for his debut. At the time, reviewers noted how the songs were fresh and unworried on the surface, while still exploring socially and politically conscious themes on a deeper level. The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next, in 1974 it was released as a live album, Live Rhymin', which was moderately successful and displayed some changes in Simon's music style, adopting world and religious music.

Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce. Preceded by the feel-good duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone at Last" (a Top 25 hit) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a No. 9 on Billboard), the album was his only No. 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year and Simon's performance the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. With Simon in the forefront of popular music, the third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list. Also, on May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also performed. The concert produced over $30,000 for the Library.

1977–1985: Career slump
After three successful studio albums, Simon became less productive during the second half of the 1970s. He dabbled in various projects, including writing music for the film Shampoo, which became the music for the song "Silent Eyes" on the Still Crazy album, and acting (he was cast as Tony Lacey in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall). He achieved another hit in this decade, with the lead single of his 1977 compilation, Greatest Hits, Etc., "Slip Slidin' Away", reaching No. 5 in the United States.

In 1980, Simon released One-Trick Pony, his debut album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. It was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. Although it produced his last Top 10 hit with the upbeat "Late in the Evening" (also a No. 1 hit on the Radio & Records American charts), the album did not sell well.

Simon & Garfunkel included eight songs from Simon's solo career on the set list for their September 19, 1981, concert in Central Park. Five of those were rearranged as duets; Simon performed the other three songs solo. The resulting live album, TV special, and videocassette (later DVD) releases were all major hits. It was followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album, to have been entitled Think Too Much, which was eventually released (without Garfunkel) as Hearts and Bones.

Simon released Hearts and Bones in 1983. This was a polished and confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but the album did not sell well when it was released. This marked a low point in Simon's commercial popularity; both the album and the lead single, "Allergies", missed the American Top 40. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song partly about Johnny Ace, an American R&B singer, and partly about slain Beatle John Lennon. In January 1985, Simon lent his talent to USA for Africa and performed on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".

1986–1992: Graceland and return to success
As he commented years later, after the disappointing commercial performance of Hearts and Bones, Simon felt he had lost his inspiration to a point of no return, and that his commercial fortunes were unlikely to change. While driving his car in late 1984 in this state of frustration, Simon listened to a cassette of the Boyoyo Boys' instrumental Gumboots: Accordion Jive Volume II which had been lent to him by Heidi Berg, a singer-songwriter he was working with at the time. Lorne Michaels had introduced Simon to Berg when Berg was working as the bandleader for Michael's The New Show. Interested by the unusual sound, he wrote lyrics to the number, which he sang over a re-recording of the song. It was the first composition of a new musical project that became the Grammy Award-winning album Graceland, a mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, zydeco and mbaqanga.

Simon travelled to South Africa to embark on further recording the album. Sessions with African musicians took place in Johannesburg in February 1985. Overdubbing and additional recording was done in April 1986, in New York. The sessions featured many South African musicians and groups, particularly Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon also collaborated with several American artists, singing a duet with Linda Ronstadt in "Under African Skies", and playing with Los Lobos in "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints". Simon was briefly listed on the UN Boycott list but was removed after he indicated that he had not violated the cultural boycott.

Graceland was praised by critics and the public and became Simon's most successful solo album. Slowly climbing the worldwide charts, it reached No. 1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—and peaked at No. 3 in the U.S. It was the second-best-selling album of 1987 in the US, selling five million copies and eventually reaching 5x Platinum certification. Another seven million copies sold internationally, making it his best-selling album. The lead single was "You Can Call Me Al", utilising a synthesizer riff, a whistle solo, and an unusual bass run, in which the second half was a reversed recording of the first half. "You Can Call Me Al" was accompanied by a humorous video featuring actor Chevy Chase (who lip synced all of Simon's lyrics while Simon sits next to him, silently playing various instruments), which was shown on MTV. The single reached UK Top 5 and the U.S. Top 25. Further singles, including the lead track, "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", were not commercial hits but became radio standards and were highly praised.

At age 45, Simon found himself back at the forefront of popular music. He received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 and also Grammy Award for Record of the Year for the title track one year later. He also embarked on the very successful Graceland Tour, which was documented on music video. Simon found himself embracing new sounds, which some critics viewed negatively—however, Simon reportedly felt it was a natural artistic experiment, considering that world music was already present on much of his early work, including such Simon & Garfunkel hits as "El Condor Pasa" and his early solo recording "Mother and Child Reunion", which was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. One way or another, Warner Bros. Records (who by this time controlled and reissued all his previous Columbia albums) re-established Simon as one of their most successful artists. In an attempt to capitalize on his renewed success, WB Records released the album Negotiations and Love Songs in November 1988, a mixture of popular hits and personal favorites that covered Simon's entire career and became an enduring seller in his catalog.

After Graceland, Simon decided to extend his roots with the Brazilian music-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989, and took place in Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring guitarist J. J. Cale and many Brazilian and African musicians. The tone of the album was more introspective and relatively low-key compared to the mostly upbeat numbers of Graceland. Released in October 1990, the album received excellent critical reviews and achieved very respectable sales, peaking at No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, became his last Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints was received as a competent successor and consistent complement on Simon's attempts to explore (and popularize) world music, and also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.

Simon's ex-wife Carrie Fisher said in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her. It's one of several she claimed, followed by the line, "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it."
 
The success of both albums allowed Simon to stage another New York concert. On August 15, 1991, almost a decade after his concert with Garfunkel, Simon staged a second concert in Central Park with African and South American bands. The success of the concert surpassed all expectations, and reportedly over 750,000 people attended—one of the largest concert audiences in history. He later remembered the concert as "...the most memorable moment in my career." The success of the show led to both a live album and an Emmy-winning TV special. In the middle, Simon embarked on the successful Born at the Right Time Tour, and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof"—accompanied with a humorous video that again featured Chevy Chase, and added Steve Martin. On March 4, 1992, he appeared on his own episode of MTV Unplugged, offering renditions of many of his most famous compositions. Broadcast in June, the show was a success, though it did not receive an album release. Simon and Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

1993–1998: The Capeman
After Unplugged, Simon's place in the forefront of popular music dropped notably. A Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in September 1993, and in another attempt to capitalize on the occasion, Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993 in September, a three-disc compilation that received a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995 he made news for appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he performed the song "Ten Years", which he composed specially for the tenth anniversary of the show. Also that year, he was featured on the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 once it was released as a single in November.

Since the early stages of the nineties, Simon was fully involved on The Capeman, a musical that finally opened on January 29, 1998. Simon 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 tells the story of real-life Puerto Rican youth Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in 1959 New York, and went on to become a writer in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Rubén Blades as the older Agron, the play received terrible reviews and very poor box office receipts from the very beginning, and closed on March 28 after just 68 performances; a failure that reportedly cost Simon 11 million dollars.

Simon recorded an album of songs from the show, which was released in November 1997. It was received with very mixed reviews, though many critics praised the combination of doo-wop, rockabilly and Caribbean music that the album reflected. In commercial terms, Songs from The Capeman was a failure; Simon missed the Top 40 of the Billboard charts for the first time in his career. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online.

1999–2007
After the disaster of The Capeman, Simon's career was again in an unexpected crisis. However, entering the new millennium, he maintained a respectable reputation, offering critically acclaimed new material and receiving commercial attention. In 1999, Simon embarked on a North American tour with Bob Dylan, where each alternated as headline act with a "middle" section where they performed together, starting on the first of June and ending September 18. The collaboration was generally well-received, with just one critic, Seth Rogovoy from the Berkshire Eagle, questioning the collaboration.

In an attempt to return successfully to the music market, Simon wrote and recorded a new album very quickly, with You're the One arriving in October 2000. The album consisted mostly of folk-pop writing combined with foreign musical sounds, particularly grooves from North Africa. While not reaching the commercial heights of previous albums, it managed at least to reach both the British and American Top 20. It received favorable reviews and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. He toured extensively for the album, and one performance in Paris was released to home video.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, 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 opening 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 reunited once again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a US tour—the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series—followed by a 2004 international encore that culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome that drew 600,000 people. In 2005, the pair sang "Mrs. Robinson" and "Homeward Bound", 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 together in a limited-edition nine-CD boxed set, Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972–2000. At the time, Simon was already working on a new album with Brian Eno called Surprise, which was released in May 2006. Most of the album was inspired by the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq invasion, and the war that followed. In personal terms, Simon was also inspired by the fact of having turned 60 in 2001, which he humorously referred to on "Old" from You're the One. Surprise was a commercial hit, reaching No. 14 in the Billboard 200 and No. 4 in the UK. Most critics also praised the album, and many of them called it a "comeback". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic wrote that "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, which makes Surprise all the more remarkable." The album was supported with the successful Surprise Tour from May–November 2006.

In March 2004, Walter Yetnikoff published a book called Howling at the Moon, in which he criticized Simon personally and for his tenuous business partnership with Columbia Records in the past. In 2007 Simon was the inaugural recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, awarded by the Library of Congress, and later performed as part of a gala of his work.

2008–2013

After living in Montauk, New York, for many years, Simon relocated to New Canaan, Connecticut.

Simon 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 of the recording). This noteworthy development was spearheaded by the Bee Gees after their successful $200 million lawsuit against RSO Records, which remains the largest successful lawsuit against a record company by an artist or group. All of Simon's solo recordings, including those originally issued by Columbia Records, are currently distributed by Sony Records' Legacy Recordings unit. His albums were issued by Warner Music Group until mid-2010. In mid-2010, Simon moved his catalog of solo work from Warner Bros. Records to Sony/Columbia Records where Simon and Garfunkel's catalog is. Simon's back catalog of solo recordings would be marketed by Sony Music's Legacy Recordings unit.

In February 2009, Simon performed back-to-back shows in New York City at the Beacon Theatre, which had recently been renovated. Simon was reunited with Art Garfunkel at the first show as well as with the cast of The Capeman; also playing in the band was Graceland bassist Bakithi Kumalo. In May 2009, Simon toured with Garfunkel in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. In October 2009, they appeared together at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The pair performed four of their most popular songs: "The Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", "Cecilia", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In April 2010, Simon & Garfunkel performed again in New Orleans at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Simon's album So Beautiful or So What was released on the Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011. The album received high marks from the artist, "It's the best work I've done in 20 years." It was reported that Simon attempted to have Bob Dylan guest on the album.

On November 10, 2010, Simon released a new song called "Getting Ready for Christmas Day". It premiered on National Public Radio, and was included on the album So Beautiful or So What. The song samples a 1941 sermon by the Rev. J.M. Gates, also entitled "Getting Ready for Christmas Day". Simon performed the song live on The Colbert Report on December 16, 2010. The first video featured J.M. Gates' giving the sermon and his church in 2010 with its display board showing many of Simon's lyrics; the second video illustrates the song with cartoon images.

In the premiere show of the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 10, 2010, Simon surprised Oprah and the audience with a song dedicated to Oprah and her show lasting 25 years (an update of a song he did for her show's 10th anniversary).

Rounding off his 2011 World Tour, which included the United States, the U.K., the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany, Simon appeared at Ramat Gan Stadium in Israel in July 2011, making his first concert appearance in Israel since 1983. On September 11, 2011, Paul Simon performed "The Sound of Silence" at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, site of the World Trade Center, on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

On February 26, 2012, Simon paid tribute to fellow musicians Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen who were the recipients of the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1986, Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he has served on the board of trustees.

On June 5, 2012, Simon released a 25th anniversary box set of Graceland, which 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'" as told by Paul Simon, and other interviews and paraphernalia. 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.

On June 14, 2013, at Sting's Back to Bass Tour, Simon performed his song "The Boxer" and Sting's "Fields of Gold" with Sting.

In September 2013, Simon delivered the Richard Ellmann Lecture in Modern Literature at Emory University.

2014–present
In February 2014, Simon embarked on a joint concert tour titled On Stage Together with English musician Sting, playing 21 concerts in North America. The tour continued in early 2015, with ten shows in Australia and New Zealand, and 23 concerts in Europe, ending on April 18, 2015.
On September 11, 2015, Simon appeared during the premiere week of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Simon, who performed "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" with Colbert for his surprise appearance, had been promoted prior to the show as "Simon and Garfunkel tribute band Troubled Waters." Simon's additional performance of "An American Tune" was posted as a bonus on the show's YouTube channel.

Simon also wrote and performed the theme song for the comedian Louis C.K.'s show Horace and Pete, which debuted January 30, 2016. The song, which can be heard during the show's opening, intermission, and closing credits, is sparse, featuring only Simon's voice and an acoustic guitar. Simon made a cameo appearance onscreen in the tenth and final episode of the series.

On June 3, 2016, Simon released his thirteenth solo studio album, Stranger to Stranger via Concord Records. He began writing new material shortly after releasing his twelfth studio album, So Beautiful or So What, in April 2011. Simon collaborated with the Italian electronic dance music artist Clap! Clap! on three songs—"The Werewolf", "Street Angel", and "Wristband". Simon was introduced to him by his son, Adrian, who was a fan of his work. The two met up in July 2011 when Simon was touring behind So Beautiful or So What in Milan, Italy. He and Clap! Clap! worked together via email over the course of making the album. Simon also worked with longtime friend Roy Halee, who is listed as co-producer on the album. "I always liked working with him more than anyone else," Simon noted. Following the release of the album, Simon noted that "showbiz doesn't hold any interest for me" and discussed future retirement, stating: "I am going to see what happens if I let go".

On July 25, 2016, he performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. On May 24, 2017, he debuted a new version of "Questions for the Angels" with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

On February 5, 2018, Simon announced his retirement from touring in a letter to fans, citing time away from family and the death of longtime guitarist Vincent Nguini as key factors, but he did not rule out performing live altogether. At the same time, it was announced that he would embark on his farewell concert tour on May 16 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Rogers Arena. Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour encompassed shows across North America and Europe, and Simon played his final concert in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York on September 22, 2018.

On September 7, 2018, Simon released his fourteenth album, In the Blue Light, consisting of re-recordings of select lesser-known songs from his catalog, often altering their original arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics.

Simon announced his return to the live stage to close San Francisco's Outside Lands festival on Sunday, August 11, 2019, with an appearance at the Golden Gate Park event and planned to donate his net proceeds to local environmental non-profit organization(s).

On March 31, 2021, Simon sold his music publishing catalogue to Sony Music Publishing. Simon was previously signed to Universal Music Publishing Group.

Songwriting
In an in-depth interview reprinted in American Songwriter, Simon discusses the craft of songwriting with music journalist Tom Moon. In the interview, Simon explains the basic themes in his songwriting: love, family, and social commentary; as well as the overarching messages of religion, spirituality, and God in his lyrics. Simon goes on in the interview to explain the process of how he goes about writing songs, "The music always precedes the words. The words often come from the sound of the music and eventually evolve into coherent thoughts. Or incoherent thoughts. Rhythm plays a crucial part in the lyric-making as well. It's like a puzzle to find the right words to express what the music is saying."

Projects

Music for Broadway
In the late 1990s, Simon wrote and produced a Broadway musical called The Capeman, which lost $11 million during its 1998 run. In April 2008, the Brooklyn Academy of Music celebrated Paul Simon's works, and dedicated a week to Songs From the Capeman with a good portion of the show's songs performed by a cast of singers and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Simon himself appeared during the BAM shows, performing "Trailways Bus" and "Late in the Evening". 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.

Film and television
Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey, a supporting character, in the 1977 Woody Allen feature film Annie Hall. He wrote and starred in 1980's One Trick Pony as Jonah Levin, a journeyman rock and roller. Simon also wrote all the songs in the film. Paul Simon also appeared on The Muppet Show (the only episode to use only the songs of one songwriter, Simon). In 1990, he played the character of—appropriately enough—Simple Simon on the Disney Channel TV movie, Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme.

In 1978, Simon made a cameo appearance in the movie, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash.

He has been the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre, the first on Graceland, the second on The Capeman.

On November 18, 2008, Simon was a guest on The Colbert Report promoting his book Lyrics 1964–2008. After an interview with Stephen Colbert, Simon performed "American Tune".

Simon performed a Stevie Wonder song at the White House in 2009 at an event honoring Wonder's musical career and contributions.

In May 2009, The Library of Congress: Paul Simon and Friends Live Concert was released on DVD, via Shout! Factory. The PBS concert was recorded in 2007.

Simon appeared at the Glastonbury Festival 2011 in England.

Saturday Night Live
Simon has appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL), either as host or musical guest, 14 times. On one appearance in the late 1980s, he worked with the politician who shared his name, Illinois Senator Paul Simon. Simon's most recent SNL appearance on a Saturday night was on the October 13, 2018 episode hosted by Seth Meyers. Prior to that, he appeared in the March 9, 2013 episode hosted by Justin Timberlake as a member of the Five-Timers Club. In one SNL skit from 1986 (when he was promoting Graceland), Simon plays himself, waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazes his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but draws a complete blank when approached by Art Garfunkel, despite the latter's numerous memory prompts. 

Simon appeared alongside George Harrison as musical guest on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL (November 20, 1976). The two performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound" together, while Simon performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" solo earlier in the show. On that episode, Simon opened the show performing "Still Crazy After All These Years" in a turkey outfit, since Thanksgiving was the following week. About halfway through the song, Simon tells the band to stop playing because of his embarrassment. After giving a frustrated speech to the audience, he leaves the stage, backed by applause. Lorne Michaels greets him positively backstage, but Simon is still upset, yelling at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This is one of SNLs most played sketches. Simon closed the 40th anniversary SNL show on February 15, 2015, with a performance of "Still Crazy After All These Years". Simon also played a snippet of "I've Just Seen a Face" with Sir Paul McCartney during the special's introductory sequence. Simon was the musical guest on the October 13, 2018, episode, with host Seth Meyers (in addition they showed much of the Thanksgiving episode from 1976 described above as the Prime Time special from 10–11pm). It was also his 77th birthday.

On September 29, 2001, Simon made a special appearance on the first SNL to air after the September 11, 2001, attacks. On that show, he performed "The Boxer" to the audience and the NYC firefighters and police officers. He is also a friend of former SNL star Chevy Chase, who appeared in his video for "You Can Call Me Al" lip synching the song while Simon looks disgruntled and mimes backing vocals and the playing of various instruments beside him. Chase would also appear in Simon's 1991 video for the song "Proof" alongside Steve Martin. He is a close friend of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who produced the 1977 TV show The Paul Simon Special, as well as the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central Park four years later. Simon and Lorne Michaels were the subjects of a 2006 episode of the Sundance Channel documentary series, Iconoclasts.

Awards and honors

Simon has won 12 Grammy Awards (one of them a Lifetime Achievement Award) and five Album of the Year Grammy nominations, the most recent for You're the One in 2001. He is one of only six artists to have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year more than once as the main credited artist. In 1998 he was entered in the Grammy Hall of Fame for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for the song "Father and Daughter" in 2002. He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; as a solo artist in 2001, and in 1990 as half of Simon & Garfunkel.

Brit Awards

|-
| 1977
| Bridge over Troubled Water
| International Album
| 
|-
| 1987
| rowspan="2" | Paul Simon
| International Solo Artist
| 
|-
| 1991
| International Male Solo Artist
| 
|}

Grammy Awards

|-
| rowspan="5" | 1969
| Bookends
| Album of the Year
| 
|-
| rowspan="3" | "Mrs. Robinson"
| Record of the Year
| 
|-
| Song of the Year
| 
|-
| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
| 
|-
| The Graduate
| Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
| 
|-
| rowspan="6" | 1971
| rowspan="2" | Bridge over Troubled Water
| Album of the Year
| 
|-
| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
| 
|-
| rowspan="4" | "Bridge over Troubled Water"
| Record of the Year
| 
|-
| Song of the Year
| 
|-
| Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals
| 
|-
| Best Contemporary Song
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1974
| rowspan="2" | There Goes Rhymin' Simon
| Album of the Year
| 
|-
| Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
| 
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1976
| rowspan="2" | Still Crazy After All These Years
| Album of the Year
| 
|-
| Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
| 
|-
| "My Little Town"
| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
| 
|-
| 1977
| "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
| Record of the Year
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1981
| "Late in the Evening"
| Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
| 
|-
| One-Trick Pony
| Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
| 
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1987
| rowspan="2" | Graceland
| Album of the Year
| 
|-
| Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
| 
|-
| Himself
| Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" | "Graceland"
| Song of the Year
| 
|-
| 1988
| Record of the Year
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1992
| The Rhythm of the Saints
| Album of the Year
| 
|-
| Himself
| Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
| 
|-
| 2001
| You're the One
| Album of the Year
| 
|}

In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year. The following year, he was one of the five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists.
In 2005, Simon was saluted as a BMI Icon at the 53rd Annual BMI Pop Awards. Simon's songwriting catalog has earned 39 BMI Awards including multiple citations for "Bridge over Troubled Water", "Mrs. Robinson", "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". As of 2005, he has amassed nearly 75 million broadcast airplays, according to BMI surveys.

In 2006, Simon was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World".

In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this new award recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world's culture. On being notified of the honor, Simon said, "I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed my words and music far better than I. I'm excited at the prospect of that happening again. It's a songwriter's dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was professionally filmed and broadcast and is now available as Paul Simon and Friends.

In 2010, Simon received an honorary degree from Brandeis University, where he performed "The Boxer" at the main commencement ceremony.

In October 2011, Simon was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the induction ceremony, he performed "American Tune".

In 2012, Simon was awarded the Polar Music Prize.

Personal life
When Simon moved to England in 1964, he met Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Chitty (born 1947) on April 12 at the first English folk club he played, the Railway Inn Folk Club in Brentwood, Essex, where Chitty worked part-time selling tickets. She was 16 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year they visited the U.S. together, touring around mainly by bus.

Kathy returned to England on her own, with Simon returning to her some weeks later. When Simon returned to the U.S. with the growing success of "The Sounds of Silence", Kathy, who was quite shy, wanted no part of the success and fame that awaited Simon and they ended their relationship. She is mentioned by name in at least two of his songs: "Kathy's Song" and "America", and is referred to in "Homeward Bound" and "The Late Great Johnny Ace". There is a photo of Simon and Kathy on the cover of his 1965 album The Paul Simon Songbook.

Simon has been married three times, first to Peggy Harper in 1969. They had a son, Harper Simon in 1972, and divorced in 1975. Simon wrote about this relationship in the song "Train in the Distance" from his 1983 album Hearts and Bones.

Simon's 1972 song, "Run That Body Down", from his second solo album, casually mentions both himself and his then-wife ("Peg") by name. Paul and Peggy, misheard as Al and Betty by Pierre Boulez, are also referenced in Paul Simon's 1986 hit single "You Can Call Me Al".

In the late 1970s, Simon lived in New York City next door to Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, who has been described as Simon's "best friend" during the period.

He and Shelley Duvall lived together as a couple for two years until she re-introduced him to Carrie Fisher, with whom he'd had an intermittent relationship since 1978, when mutual friend Richard Dreyfuss played "matchmaker" to them. Simon's second marriage, from 1983 to 1984, was to Fisher. He proposed to her after a New York Yankees game. The song "Hearts and Bones" was written about their time together, and the song "Graceland" is believed to be about seeking solace from the end of the relationship by taking a road trip. A year after divorcing, Simon and Fisher resumed their relationship, which lasted for several years. The final song in the sequence of three about Carrie Fisher is "She Moves On". This song marks the end of the post-marriage relationship, and was an album track on Simon's 1990 album The Rhythm of The Saints.

Simon married singer Edie Brickell on May 30, 1992. They have three children: Adrian, Lulu, and Gabriel.

Paul Simon and his younger brother, Eddie Simon, founded the Guitar Study Center, sometime before 1973. The Guitar Study Center became part of The New School in New York City, sometime before 2002.

Simon is an avid fan of the New York Rangers ice hockey team, the New York Knicks basketball team and the New York Yankees baseball team.

Philanthropy
Simon is a proponent of music education for children.
In 1970, after recording his "Bridge Over Troubled Water", at the invitation of the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Simon held auditions for a young songwriter's workshop. Advertised in The Village Voice, the auditions brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform for Simon. Among the six teenage songwriters Simon selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tommy Mandel and rock/beat poet Joe Linus, with Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joining the workshop in progress through an impromptu appearance.

Simon invited the six teens to experience recording at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording the album Self-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern also visited the group with a CBS film crew, speaking to the young musicians about lyrics and music after Joe Linus performed his song "Circus Lion" for Stern.

Manchester later paid homage to Simon with her recorded song "Ode to Paul". Other musicians Simon has mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who co-founded the band The Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes has credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life in a Northern Town".

In 2003, Simon signed on as a supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools in the U.S. He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to take medical care to children in medically underserved areas, urban and rural. Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City, but they now operate in 12 states, including on the Gulf Coast. It has expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's health and medical care.

In May 2012, Paul Simon performed at a benefit dinner for the Turkana Basin Institute in New York City, raising more than $2 million for Richard Leakey's research institute in Africa.

For his 2019 performance at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Simon donated his appearance fee to the San Francisco Parks Alliance and Friends of the Urban Forest.

Discography

This discography does not include compilation albums, concert albums, or work with Simon and Garfunkel.
Simon's solo concert albums often have songs he originally recorded with Simon and Garfunkel, and many Simon and Garfunkel concert albums contain songs Simon first recorded on solo albums.
Finally, Paul Simon has a few songs that appear on compilation albums and nowhere else.
For example, "Slip Slidin' Away" appears only on the compilation albums Negotiations and Love Songs (1988) and Greatest Hits, Etc. (1977).

Solo Studio Albums
 The Paul Simon Songbook (1965)
 Paul Simon (1972)
 There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)
 Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)
 One-Trick Pony (1980)
 Hearts and Bones (1983)
 Graceland (1986)
 The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)
 Songs from The Capeman (1997)
 You're the One (2000)
 Surprise (2006)
 So Beautiful or So What (2011)
 Stranger to Stranger (2016)
 In the Blue Light (2018)

Filmography

Work on Broadway
 Rock 'n Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982) – revue – featured songwriter for "Mrs. Robinson"
 Asinamali! (1987) – play – co-producer
 Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway (1992) – concert – performer
 The Capeman (1998) – composer, co-lyricist and music arranger – Tony Nomination for Best Original Score
 The Graduate (2002) – play – featured songwriter

See also
 List of songs written by Paul Simon

References

Bibliography

External links

 Official website for Paul Simon
 
 Talking about Paul Simon at Emory University (Videos)

 
1941 births
20th-century American composers
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century American singers
American acoustic guitarists
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American folk guitarists
American folk rock musicians
American folk singers
American folk-pop singers
American male comedy actors
American male composers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
American pop guitarists
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American street performers
American world music musicians
Brit Award winners
Brooklyn Law School alumni
Columbia Records artists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fingerstyle guitarists
Forest Hills High School (New York) alumni
Gershwin Prize recipients
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from New Jersey
Jewish American male actors
Jewish American musicians
Jewish American songwriters
Jewish folk singers
Jewish singers
Kennedy Center honorees
Living people
Musicians from Newark, New Jersey
Musicians from Queens, New York
People from Kew Gardens, Queens
People from Montauk, New York
People from New Canaan, Connecticut
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Queens College, City University of New York alumni
Record producers from New York (state)
Simon & Garfunkel
Singer-songwriters from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Warner Records artists
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Giuseppe "Pino" Cerami (28 April 1922 – 20 September 2014) was a Belgian road bicycle racer. He joined the professional peloton in 1946 as an independent. Born in Misterbianco, Sicily, Italy he was naturalised as a Belgian on 16 March 1956.

Cerami won the 1960 Paris–Roubaix Classic with Tino Sabbadini of France second and Miguel Poblet of Spain in third place. Cerami also won La Flèche Wallonne Classic in 1960. Cerami was 3rd in the 1960 World Championship Road Race behind Rik Van Looy of Belgium and Frenchman André Darrigade. At the 1963 Tour de France, Cerami won the 9th stage at 41 years old; Cerami is the oldest Tour de France stage winner ever.

Since 1964 the Grand Prix Pino Cerami professional cycling race has taken place every year in Belgium.
Cerami died on 20 September 2014 after a long illness.

Major results

1951
 3rd stage Tour of Belgium
 5th stage Tour of Belgium
1954
1st Ninove
 12th stage Tour of Europe
 13th stage Tour of Europe
1957
 1st stage Tour of Belgium
 General Classification - Tour of Belgium
1958
 2nd stage Tour de Picardie
1959
 3rd stage Tour de Luxembourg
1960
 Paris–Roubaix
 Flèche Wallonne
1961
 Paris–Brussels
 Brabantse Pijl
1963
 9th stage Tour de France

Tour de France 
1949 - did not finish
1957 - 35th
1958 - did not finish
1962 - 81st
1963 - did not finish; winner 9th stage

References

External links 
Pino Cerami's palmares at memoire-du-cyclisme.net (in French)
Pino Cerami at cyclinghalloffame.com

1922 births
2014 deaths
Sportspeople from the Province of Catania
Belgian male cyclists
Belgian Tour de France stage winners
Walloon sportspeople
Naturalised citizens of Belgium American singer-actress Cher has embarked on seven concert tours and three concert residencies. As a solo artist, Cher has made concerts in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Cher's first ever concert was with her ex-husband Sonny Bono in 1966 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

In 1979, Cher started her first solo concert tour, the Cher in Concert Tour, with performances in Europa and North America in 1979. After the success with disco music, Cher and her boyfriend at the time, Les Dudek, formed the new wave band Black Rose with which she did her first mini-tour, The Black Rose Show. Black Rose band during their tour were the opening act for Bob Seger in Europe and for Hall & Oates during the 1980 summer in North America.

After eight years off the road, Cher did her second solo sold-out tour in 1990, the Heart of Stone Tour, which was followed up by 1992's Love Hurts Tour. The Love Hurts Tour is well known by fans for cancellations due to Cher's illness.

After the huge success of the Believe album, she did her 1999/2000 Do You Believe? tour.
Finally, in 2002, she embarked on her so far last concert tour, the marathon Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, which lasted from June 2002 until April 2005. The tour featured a total 325 shows, the most ever for a concert tour by a female solo artist, and grossed more than $250 million, becoming Cher's highest-grossing tour ever. Cher closed the farewell tour in April 2005 at the Hollywood Bowl. It was the most successful tour by a single female solo artist at that time.

From May 2008 until February 2011, Cher performed at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada with her new show, Cher at the Colosseum. She signed for 200 shows over the span of three years. She was paid $60 million for her return.

After her residency at the Caesars Palace which lasted from 2008-2011, Cher began touring with the Dressed to Kill Tour in 2014 after the release of her album Closer to the Truth. Cher is one of the most successful touring artists, she was placed at number three among most successful female artists and at number twenty three overall on Billboard Top Live Artists From 1990-2014 list.

Concert tours

Concert residencies

References

 
Cher

hu:Cher filmjei