In the upcoming Robert Hilburn biography, titled Paul Simon: The Life, Paul Simon finally comes clean as to why he and Art Garfunkel will never perform again. The book, which will be published on May 8th, is culled from Hilburn’s years of covering Simon’s life and music — along with over 100 hours of recent and exclusive interviews with the singer-songwriter. In the book, the events surrounding Simon & Garfunkel‘s disastrous appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Fest on April 24th, 2010 — in which Garfunkel lost his voice onstage — are chronicled.
Promoter John Scher, who managed Art Garfunkel for 19 years before parting ways in 2013 revealed, “I got him the best doctors and the prognosis was that one of his vocal cords was slightly paralyzed. They recommended vocal therapy. They said that if he worked hard at it for six months, maybe a year, he’d be okay. The problem is Art didn’t follow through. He went to a voice therapist once or twice, but he thought he could take care of it himself. Meanwhile, he kept telling Paul that things would be fine, not to worry.”
Hilburn went on to explain how Simon at first was supportive of Garfunkel — but in the end believed he had been deceived by his partner: “The remaining tour dates were pushed back to July to give Garfunkel’s vocal cords time to rest. But by mid-June, it was obvious the shows would have to be canceled again. At the time, Simon decided Garfunkel had been underplaying the vocal problems all along — and he was angry. . . Simon & Garfunkel had to pay nearly $1 million each in cancellation fees, but it wasn’t the money that upset Simon. It was the lack of candor, reminding him of the final days of Simon & Garfunkel when he believed Garfunkel had betrayed him by accepting (the acting role in Carnal Knowledge) without telling him.”
Simon explained the situation to Hilburn that led to, presumably, the final split of the two childhood friends and partners: “He could’ve said he couldn’t do this after New Orleans, but he didn’t. There was all this denial. He let us all down. I was tired of all the drama. I didn’t feel I could trust him anymore.”
Hilburn went on to write that although Garfunkel held out hope that as his voice regained its strength, he and Simon would reignite their reunion plans, but that “Simon moved on with his career. The break was complete — personally and professionally.”
Art Garfunkel — who has grabbed headlines over the past few years by slamming Simon for refusing to commit to a Simon & Garfunkel reunion — talked about the status of his relationship with Paul Simon these days: “I observe myself as a man who is devoted to music and musicianship. And if somebody is your old friend from the old neighborhood, and he’s a brilliant musician, you are very deeply connected to him. Because the music has captured you. So, I can see how much a blood brother Paul Simon is because his musicianship is first rate.”
Paul Simon admits he has no regrets about his life — and especially about his musical decisions: “I wouldn’t change anything — even the mistakes, because you never know what you’re changing. Change it for what? Things turned out pretty well for me. I really can’t complain about much. I’m really lucky that I really enjoy it, y’know, it’s what I wanted to be when I was 12 and I’ve remained that person. In a lot of ways.”
Art Garfunkel North American tour dates (subject to change):
May 5 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music
May 6 – Ithaca, NY – State Theatre
May 8 – Wilkes-Barre, PA – F.M. Kirby Center for Performing Arts
May 10 – Concord, NH – Concord City Auditorium
May 11, 12 – Boston, MA – City Windery
May 16 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
May 17 – Tarrytown, NY – Music Hall
June 26 – New York, NY – Town Hall
September 28 – Saginaw, MI – Temple Theatre
September 29 – Muskegon, MI – Frauenthal Center for the Arts
Paul Simon tour dates (subject to change):
May 16 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
May 18 – Seattle, WA – Key Arena
May 19 – Portland, OR – MODA Center
May 22, 23 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
May 25 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
May 27 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 28 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
May 30 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green
June 1 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Arena
June 2 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
June 4 – Austin, TX – Frank Erwin Center
June 6 – Chicago, IL – United Center
June 8 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
June 10 – Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Center
June 12 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
June 13 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
June 15 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
June 16 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
June 19 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
June 20 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
June 30 – Stockholm, Sweden – Ericsson Globe
July 1 – Oslo, Norway – Spektrum
July 3 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
July 5 – Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis
July 7, 8 – Amsterdam, Holland – Ziggo Dome
July 10 – Manchester, England – Manchester Arena
July 11 – Glasgow, Scotland – SSE Hydro
July 13 – Dublin, Ireland – RDS Arena
July 15 – London, England – Hyde Park, BST Festival
September 5 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center
September 7 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
September 8 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center
September 11 – Orlando, FL – Amway Center
September 12 – Atlanta, GA – Cellairis Amphitheatre
September 14 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
September 15 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
September 17 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
September 20, 21 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
September 22 – New York, NY – Venue TBA
