Profile
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Arthur Ira Garfunkel
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Art Garfunkel
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November 5, 1941
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Forest Hills
New York
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Scorpion
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Jacob (Jack) Garfunkel
Rose Garfunkel
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Moldovan (Romanian) Jews
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Jules Garfunkel
Jerome Garfunkel
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1972 - 1975
Linda Grossman
since September 18, 1988
Kathryn Luce (Kim) Cermak
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Arthur Jr
(born December 15, 1990)
Beau Daniel
(* October 5, 2005)
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Manhattan/Upper East Side
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Bachelor of Arts
​Master in didactics
Masters in Mathematics
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Singer
Actor
poet
Mathematics teacher
Arthur Ira (Art) Garfunkel
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was born on November 5, 1941 in Forest Hills, New York, to Rose and Jack Garfunkel.
He has 2 brothers: the older Jules and the younger Jerôme.
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His ancestors are Moldovan Jews.
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Jack, a traveling salesman, sensed his son's enthusiasm for music and bought Garfunkel a tape recorder.
At the age of four, Garfunkel was already sitting for hours at a tape recorder, singing, listening and tuning his voice and then recording it again. "It made me even more interested in music. Being able to sing and, above all, record is just wonderful," he remembers.
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At Forest Hills Elementary School, young Art Garfunkel was known for singing songs in empty hallways and acting in plays.
In the 6th grade he took part in the school play "Alice in Wonderland" together with classmate Paul Simon.
Simon knew Garfunkel as a singer who was always surrounded by girls.
They lived blocks from each other in Queens, but it wasn't until Simon heard Garfunkel sing that their fates were linked.
The duo soon began singing at school talent shows and practicing their skills in the basement every night.
During their high school years, the future Grammy winners performed as Tom and Jerry because they feared their real names would sound too Jewish and hinder their success.
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They played Simon's original song and raised their money to make their first professional recording.
Their Everly Brothers-influenced track Hey Schoolgirl was a minor hit, and in 1957 he received a recording contract with Big Records.
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They became frequent visitors to the Brill Building and offered their services as demo artists to songwriters. Their hit single earned them a gig on America's Dick Clark Bandstand, which went on right after Jerry Lee Lewis.
After that, their musical career came to a halt and they began to worry that they had peaked at 16.
​Simon and Garfunkel:
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When high school ended, Simon and Garfunkel decided to go their separate ways and go to college.
Garfunkel stayed in his city and attended Columbia University, where he studied art history and joined a fraternity.
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He later received a master's degree in mathematics.
Garfunkel continued his academic work throughout his career and never stopped singing while studying, releasing several solo tracks under the name Artie Garr.
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Once again, parallel talents and interests brought Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel together.
In 1962, the former Tom and Jerry reunited as a new, folk-oriented duo. No longer worried about being misunderstood in any way, they began using their real names, Simon & Garfunkel .
​At the end of 1964 they released the studio album Wednesday Morning, 3 AM. Commercially, not much happened, and Simon went to England, the duo decided to separate professionally.
Producer Tom Wilson remixed and released the song The Sounds of Silence from this album .
A few days later it reached number 1 on the Billboard charts.
Simon returned to Queens, where the duo reunited and decided to record and perform more music together.
Simon & Garfunkel released another hit album and then another and so on, one after the other, each record taking their music and lyrics to new levels.
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Critical and commercial success occurred, increasing with each release: Sounds of Silence (1966), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), and Bookends (1968). While working on Bookends, director Mike Nichols asked them to contribute songs to the soundtrack for The Graduate (1967).
As part of an original film about alienation and conformity, the duo cemented their reputation.
Her song Mrs. Robinson became a No. 1 hit and appeared on both the soundtrack of The Graduate and the Album Bookends .
​A year later, Nichols directed Catch-22 and offered Garfunkel the role. This delayed production of her next album and began to "sow the seeds for their future breakup." Both have moved in new creative directions.
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In 1970 they released their most successful Album , Bridge Over Troubled Water, recorded using innovative and homemade studio techniques and influenced by a variety of musical styles.
The album became a massive commercial hit and won six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year for the title track.
This was their last studio album. They had originally planned to get back together after a break, but after being apart for a while, it seemed more sensible to continue their creative activities separately. Simon & Garfunkel was no more.
Two years after their split, Simon & Garfunkel's Best Hits were released and stayed in the US charts for 131 weeks .
Solo career : Everything I know, I only have eyes for you & more
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Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel separated in 1970, but remained connected professionally and privately.
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They constantly returned to friends and colleagues and met again several times throughout their careers, only to find that they naturally could not work together outside of short-term projects.
Over the years, Garfunkel fondly recalled their time together: "I'm always happy to say a little on behalf of the duo. I'm proud to sing those wonderful songs. Now Paul Simon's songs are even sung in churches and schools as part of the curriculum..."
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In the meantime, he devoted himself entirely to his solo career. His first Album Angel Clare (1973) featured the hit "All I Know", written by Jimmy Webb and produced by Simon & Garfunkel's Roy Haley. (The song was given new life in 2005 when it was featured on the soundtrack of Five For Fighting on the Chicken Little.)
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His next Album Breakway (1975) brought him another hit, a cover of the classic I Only Have Eyes for You. The album featured guest appearances by David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Bishop, as well as the first new track by Simon and Garfunkel in five years, My Little Town, which also appeared on Simon's solo album Still Crazy After All These Years.
At his next On the album Watermark (1977), Garfunkel focused on collaborating with a songwriter. Jimmy Webb wrote all the songs except one: a cover of Sam Cooke's hit What A Wonderful World by Garfunkel, Simon and James Taylor, which reached number 17 in the charts.
The singer got another hit from Watermark with Bright Eyes, the sad-beautiful theme song for Richard Adams' film adaptation of Watership Down.
His album Scissors Cut (1981) was a critical success but a commercial “flop”.
A year later, Simon and Garfunkel played a concert together in Central Park, breaking all existing records and gathering an audience of 500 people.
They then went on a world tour and released a double album and an HBO special for their Central Park show. But the reunion didn't last long. Together they dropped plans to release new material and Simon kept the songs for his own solo album.
Garfunkel returned to his solo career and began forays into acting.
He had already acted in several films with director Mike Nichols, including Carnal Knowledge (1971), and he also appeared in television series, including the episode "Laverne and Shirley." And in 1998, he appeared in the children's television show Arthur Like A Singing Moose.
Garfunkel continued to perform on stage and record new material, and in 1990, at the request of the U.S. State Department, he spoke to a crowd of 1.4 million at a pro-democracy rally in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In the same year, Simon and Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Three years later, he released the Album Up 'Til Now, which included his duet with James Taylor "Crying in the Rain" as well as the song for the show "Brooklyn Bridge" and "Two Sleepy Men" from the hit film A Their Own League.
In October, she and Simon played 21 sold-out shows at the Paramount Theater in New York. In 1997, he took a Album for children, inspired by his son Arthur Jr. with songs by Cat Stevens, Marvin Gay and John Lennon-Paul McCartney.
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In 1998 he made his songwriting debut on his album Everybody Wanna Be Seen.
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In 2003, he returned to the stage with Simon, won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and played Sounds of Silence live.
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Garfunkel continued to perform on stage and record new material, and in 1990, at the request of the U.S. State Department, he spoke to a crowd of 1.4 million at a pro-democracy rally in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In the same year, Simon and Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Three years later, he released the Album Up 'Til Now, which included his duet with James Taylor "Crying in the Rain" as well as the song for the show "Brooklyn Bridge" and "Two Sleepy Men" from the hit film A Their Own League.
In October, she and Simon played 21 sold-out shows at the Paramount Theater in New York. In 1997, he took a Album for children, inspired by his son Arthur Jr. with songs by Cat Stevens, Marvin Gay and John Lennon-Paul McCartney.
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In 1998 he made his songwriting debut on his album Everybody Wanna Be Seen.
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In 2003 he returned to the stage with Simon, won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and played Sounds of Silence live .
Family
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From 1972 to 1975 he was married to Linda Grossman.
He later dated Laurie Bird, who committed suicide in 1979. This contributed to him largely withdrawing from public life in the 1980s.
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Since 1988 he has been married to Kim Cermak (US model, actress and singer),
with whom he has two sons:
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Arthur Jr. (* 15 December 1990)
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Beau Daniel (*5.10.2005)
She supports her husband as a background singer at his concerts.
