Art Garfunkel

Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and actor, best known as half of the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel.

Career

Arthur Ira Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, in New York City. He is of Romanian Jewish ancestry.

He met his future singing partner, Paul Simon, in the sixth grade. Between 1956 and 1962, the two had performed together as Tom & Jerry. Garfunkel ("Tom Graph") chose his nickname because he liked to track, or "graph" hits, on the pop charts. Garfunkel attended Columbia University in the early sixties, where he sang with the Kingsmen, an all-male a cappella group, and was a Brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. In 1962, Garfunkel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in art history, followed by a Master's degree in mathematics.

In the 1970s, Garfunkel released several solo albums. He scored hits with "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a 1934 song originally written by Harry Warren ) and "Bright Eyes" (both British #1 hit singles), and "All I Know" (#9 in the United States). A version of "Bright Eyes" also appeared in the movie (based off the famous novel) Watership Down. Garfunkel briefly reunited with Paul Simon in the 1975 hit "My Little Town".

During this time, he also starred in major motion pictures Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge (1971).

Following disappointing sales of his 1981 album Scissors Cut, Garfunkel reunited with Paul Simon for The Concert in Central Park and a world tour. They had disagreements during the tour, and Simon excluded Garfunkel's voice from a new album, intially slated to be a Simon and Garfunkel album, but released as a Paul Simon solo album (Hearts and Bones). Garfunkel then left the music scene until his 1988 album, Lefty and later 1993's Up 'til Now, neither of which received significant critical or commercial success. His live 1996 concert Across America, recorded at the registry hall on Ellis Island features musical guests James Taylor, Garfunkel's wife, Kim, and his son James .

Garfunkel also performed the theme song for the 1991 television series, "Brooklyn Bridge", and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" for a 1998 episode of the PBS Kids cartoon Arthur.

In 2003, Garfunkel made his debut as a songwriter on his well-received Everything Waits to Be Noticed album. Teaming up with singer-songwriters Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock, the album contained several songs whose origins were poems penned by Garfunkel. The album is recognized as his first effort at songwriting since his teenage years with Tom and Jerry.

In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a successful world tour that extended into 2004. Also in early 2004, he was arrested for possession of cannabis, and again in August 2005. In 2005, his song "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" from The Art Garfunkel Album (1984) (written by Mike Batt) was re-recorded by ex-ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her album My Colouring Book.

In 2006, Garfunkel signed with Rhino Records (revived Atco Records,) and his first Rhino/Atco album Some Enchanted Evening was released in America on January 30, 2007. In late February 2007 during a German television interview to promote the new album, he expressed interest in reuniting with Paul Simon on a new Simon and Garfunkel album.