Paul Simon - Did You Know?
June 5, 2018Music facts, music trivia, interesting stories and much more. Introducing the "Did You Know" page about American singer and songwriter, Paul Simon.
Enjoy!
Paul Simon is an American singer and songwriter. His musical career has spanned seven decades, with his fame and commercial success beginning with Art Garfunkel as half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, which was formed in 1964.
In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the two decided to part ways and Paul Simon started a successful solo career, as he recorded three acclaimed albums over the next five years.
Our interesting fact of the day tells about the time before Paul Simon found fame and popularity and basically tells how it all began for him. After high school, Simon studied English literature at Queens college. He wrote and recorded many songs during that time, but got his start in the music industry when he worked for E.B. Marks, a song publishing company.
Simon's job was to sell songs to record companies, but at one point he got frustrated and left the company. From that moment on, he decided to self-publish any songs that he wrote, which turned out to be a smart thing to do.
Paul Simon has won no less than 16 Grammy Awards for his solo and collaborative work, including three awards for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years and Graceland). He also earned a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2001, Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 he was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine.
In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine named him as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and in 2015, Simon was also named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time by the same Rolling Stone magazine.
Compare ticket prices to Paul Simon concerts
Paul Simon started recording the song "You Can Call Me Al" in South Africa, where he worked with local musicians and experimented with their sounds.
The song "You Can Call Me Al" is about a self-obsessed person who is becoming aware of his surroundings. The names "Al" and "Betty" in the song come from a 1970 party that Paul Simon and his wife, Peggy Harper, hosted.
A friend of Simon brought along a composer named Pierre Boulez, who was French. When Boulez left the party, he called Paul Simon "Al" and his wife "Betty," but he wasn't being rude, as it was just his interpretation of what he heard: Paul = Al, Peggy = Betty.
Compare ticket prices to Paul Simon concerts
Back to TixSearcher.com's Blog
