Paul Simon announced on Tuesday (30) a “farewell show” in London. The show called “Homeward bound – The farewell performance” was set for July 15 at the British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park. He will be joined by James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt, who do the opening performances.
The 76-year-old American singer and guitarist had given interviews in recent years saying he was thinking of retiring from the song. In 2016, he told The New York Times: “Showbiz does not interest me anymore.”
Paul Simon became famous in the 1960s on the set with Garfunkel, with hits like “The sound of silence” and “Bridge over troubled water”. From the 70’s he also had a solo career, with albums like “Graceland” (1986).
Career
American Paul Frederic Simon had his first successes with Simon & Garfunkel, a pair formed in 1964 with Art Garfunkel. He was responsible for the composition of almost all the songs of the pair, including three that reached the number one of the US singles charts: “The sound of silence”, “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge over troubled water”.
The duo split in 1970 at the height of their popularity and Simon embarked on a successful solo career (in 1981 they would return to a concert in Central Park in New York to more than 500,000 people who turned the record “The concert in Central Park “).
In 1986, Paul Simon released “Graceland,” an album inspired by South African music, which sold 14 million copies worldwide in its release and remains his most popular solo work. Already in 1990, he recorded in Brazil, with the battery of Olodum, the album “The rhythm of the saints”, of the hit “The obvious child”.