Art Garfunkel

Overview

Born
November 5, 1941 · Forest Hills, New York, USA
Birth name
Arthur Ira Garfunkel
Nicknames
- Artie Garr
- Tom Graph
- Artie
Height
5′ 9″ (1.75 m)

Biography

Family

Spouses
Parents

Trademarks

White shirt and dark vest

Trivia

His all-time favorite pop song is Paul McCartney's "Here, There and Everywhere" and his all-time favorite album is Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours".
Also sang with Paul Simon in the late '50s. As the duo "Tom and Jerry", they had a top 50 hit in 1957 with "Hey, Schoolgirl" (Garfunkel used the stage name "Tom Graph"; Simon was "Jerry Landis".) The duo broke up at the end of the '50s after a string of flop follow-ups, only to reunite a few years later under their real names.
Was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of Simon & Garfunkel) in 1990.
Took 40 excursions on his walk across America to complete the route from New York to Los Angeles from 1983-97.
Was living with Laurie Bird at the time of her suicide in 1979.

Quotes

I asked myself constantly why I didn't marry her, because surely she was the apple of my eye. She was everything I was looking for in a woman. But I was very hurt by my first marriage, so as far as marriage to Laurie was concerned, I was extra scared. I was heartbroken. It laid me low. I used to get very sad when the sun went down. The nights were very lonely for me. [About his relationship with Laurie Bird]
I have a very sure-footed sense of what I like, and exactly how much I like it. Give me two listenings of a song, and I can tell you exactly how it sits with me, and...I know my musical taste. I know my ears, I know what I respond to.
I thought I was going to go to college and pick one of the more reputable professions and be an upright citizen. All of that seems like so much nonsense now. I guess it doesn't do too well to envision these projected scenarios of the future. What happens in just about every case is you fall into whatever you fall into. The next thing you know, you're looking back in retrospect at what it is you've now been doing for the last how many years.
I really got a kick out of some of my performances. I did my job good. I don't listen to past work often. When I'm making it I play 'em hundreds of times, stroking the record and finessing the mix. When it's over, it's gone for years.
[on guitarist Dean Parks] His nuancy guitar support and the loving, caressing guitar work that Paul Simon does on a Martin acoustic guitar, just kills me and makes me sing lovely. I ride that guitar like a jockey on a horse that is having a fabulous little spring.