Paul Simon: A Life

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Synopsis: The definitive biography of legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon.

Paul Simon, one of the country's most popular musicians, has been a dynamic creative force for more than half a century. Now New York Times bestselling biographer Marc Eliot draws on extensive research and original interviews to trace the incredible life and career of this iconic musician. Along the way Eliot examines Simon's early struggles to succeed as a singer-songwriter, the ups and downs of his decades-long collaboration with Art Garfunkel, his at-times obsessive admiration and competitive drive with Bob Dylan, his musical triumphs such as Still Crazy After All These Years and Graceland, the spectacular failure of his Broadway musical The Capeman, and much more.

• The first comprehensive biography of Paul Simon and his music
• Explores the complex relationship between Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel through years of their musical breakups and reunions
• Reveals personal details, with interviews, of Simon's life away from music
• Includes dozens of exclusive photographs, several published for the first time

Whether you grew up listening to classic Simon and Garfunkel songs or came to love Paul Simon's music through his solo albums, this highly entertaining biography will give you a new understanding of this talented artist and the many surprising twists and turns of his life and work as a songwriter, a performer, and an icon of Boomer Generation.

From the Inside Flap: How did a young doo-wop singer and Brill Building wannabe transform himself into a giant of the tumultuous rock revolution of the 1960s? What did Paul Simon's idol Bob Dylan do to earn Simon's enduring ire? And what is it that makes Paul's friendship with Art Garfunkel the longest, most successful, most complicated, and weirdest relationship in modern music history?

In Paul Simon: A Life, New York Times bestselling biographer Marc Eliot presents the most detailed and comprehensive account to date of the incredible life and career of this multitalented, dynamic, and influential music icon.

This definitive biography reveals how Simon's immigrant parents encouraged his musical development from an early age, how he became friends with a tall gangly schoolmate who threatened to steal his musical thunder in a grade-school production of Alice in Wonderland, and how their pattern of breaking up and reuniting began long before they became "Simon & Garfunkel."

Drawing on extensive interviews with many of Simon's friends, fellow musicians, and collaborators, Eliot relates how the duo was discovered at Gerde's Folk City in 1963, what exactly Paul was doing in England while the re-engineered recording of "The Sound of Silence" was becoming a monster hit back home, and how a song that he hadn't even finished writing became one of the biggest of Simon & Garfunkel's many huge hits.

You'll find a detailed review of the crucial role Paul played in the Monterey Music Festival, how Art Garfunkel's acting career delayed the recording and release of the Bridge over Troubled Water album, and how that landmark and last Simon & Garfunkel record documents their long and contentious friendship.

You'll also discover the enormous efforts Paul made to ensure that his first solo album would sound completely different from Simon & Garfunkel; the long and complex process that led to the creation of Graceland, the album that reinvigorated his career in the 1980s; and the whole story behind The Capeman, his disastrous 1998 attempt at a Broadway musical.

Complete with more than two dozen photos, many never before published, this highly entertaining biography will give you a new understanding of this talented artist.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Paul Simon: A Life
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2010
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Very Good