They first found prominence as part of the same New York City folk music scene as Bob Dylan, with close harmony singing inspired by the Everly Brothers, married to Simon's acoustic guitar playing. Their first album for [Columbia records]? was a minor hit, but shortly after Simon? moved to England for a while, where he recorded the solo "[/Paul Simon songbook]?". Whilst Simon was in England, the duo's US producer Tom Wilson, who had heard [The Byrds]?' early folk-rock records, added an electric backing band to the track [/Sounds of Silence]?. The resulting single was a massive hit, and Simon returned to record more tracks in a similar style.
The result was a sequence of folk-rock records, which have dated as well as any in the genre. Simon's lyrics were occasionally naive or twee, but leavened by a consistent dry humour. Further hit singles came, including "Scarborough Fair", based on a traditional English ballad with an original counter-melody and "Mrs Robinson", from the soundtrack to the film The Graduate. Their albums became progressively more adventurous, dealing with increasingly complex themes of old age and loss on 1968's classic /Bookends?.
Their final album [/Bridge Over Troubled Water]?(1970), whose title track featuring Garfunkel's soaring vocals was a massive hit, was one of the best selling records of the decade. After the group split Simon went on to a very succesful solo music career and Garfunkel split his time between acting and occasional musical releases, neither to much acclaim. The duo reformed for a free concert in New York's [Central Park]? in 1981, which supposedly attracted a crowd in excess of 500,000 people.
Records:
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