Paul Simon

Back on the American East Coast, radio stations began receiving requests for one of the Wednesday Morning tracks, Simon's "The Sound of Silence". Their producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass, and drums, releasing it as a single that eventually went to No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts.

The song's success drew Simon back to the United States to reunite with Garfunkel. Together they recorded four more influential albums: Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme; Bookends; and the hugely successful Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the Mike Nichols film The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally 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! Read Less

In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony (1980) and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998) with the poet Derek Walcott.

Simon has earned 12 Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. Read Less

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 celebrated album Graceland, an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Simon felt that he had nothing to lose. He travelled to South Africa in an attempt to embrace the culture and find the most comfortable environment for recording the album. Sessions in Johannesburg took place 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 artists of his own culture, singing a memorable duet with Linda Ronstadt in "Under African Skies", and playing with Los Lobos in "All Around the World or The Myth of the Fingerprints". Warner Bros. Records had serious doubts about releasing an album of this eclecticism to the mainstream, but when it did in August 1986, Graceland was praised by critics and the public and became Simon's most successful solo album. Slowly climbing the worldwide charts, it reached #1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and peaked at #3 in the US. It was the second-best-selling album of 1987 in the US, selling five million copies and eventually reaching 5x Platinum certification. Read Less