Paul Simon Tickets

Paul Simon 2011 Tour News and Bio This Spring, Paul Simon is kicking off a U.S. tour at smaller venues, making this an intimate tour that you don't want to miss. The tour, which runs from April 15 through June 5, features songs from his new album, "So Beautiful or So What."

The tour features many two-night gigs, like May 25 at the DAR Constitution Hall and May 27 at the 9:3- Club, both in Washington, D.C., as well as June 1 at the Wang Theatre and June 2 at the House of Blues in Boston. He's also wrapping up the tour with a special two-night performance at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia.

For more than 40 years Paul Simon has been known as an American music icon, both as part of the music group Simon & Garfunkel where he got his start and later as a solo artist. As part of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon wrote No. 1 hits like "Mrs. Robinson," "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "The Sound of Silence." After the group split at the peak of their popularity, Paul Simon went on to record eleven studio albums, including the 5 times Platinum album "Graceland" in 1986.

His music has brought him many achievements, including 13 Grammy Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award. He's also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was the first recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress.

It's no surprise that Paul Simon found a love of music at a young age, as his father was a bassist who eventually went on to lead the band on both the Jackie Gleason and the Arthur Godfrey Show. Meanwhile, his mother was also a musician who gave private lessons when she wasn't working as an elementary school teacher.

When Paul Simon was 11, he met Art Garfunkel while the duo were performing in their sixth grade graduation production. They remained friends and began making original music together by the time they were 13. Following their high school graduation, the two went to different colleges where Simon studied English literature and Garfunkel studied Mathematics. Following graduation, Simon began focusing on his passion for music an released more than 30 songs. Some of the songs were with Garfunkel or, as they were originally known, "Tom & Jerry." Others were Simon's solo and went under various names like True Taylor, Paul Kane and Jerry Landis.

In 1964, Simon and Garfunkel were signed to Columbia Records and released their first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. later that year. One of the singles, "The Sounds of Silence," went on to No. 1 on U.S. pop charts. Though the album was originally a flop, their music eventually received more popularity (especially in the U.S.) and they went on to release four more albums: Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme; Bookends; and Bridge over Troubled Water.

In 1970, Simon and Garfunkel parted ways, but not before their final album Bridge Over Troubled Water, which had three No. 1 songs and won seven Grammy Awards.

After the split, Simon continued songwriting and released his self-titled, second album in January 1972. From there, Simon continued with No. 1 hits like "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard."

Throughout 1976, Simon continued his winning streak with two more No. 1 albums: There Goes Rhymin Simon' in 1973 and Still Crazy After All These Years in 1975. Through the late seventies and early eighties, Simon became less active in music and spent more time on the big screen in the films "Shampoo" and "One Trick Pony." Though he did release his first album in nearly five years in 1980 (also called One Trick Pony), it didn't sell very well because the market was dominated by disco.

From 1986 to 1992, Simon made a comeback that began with his 1986 album, Graceland. The public was taken with the albums eclectic mixture of pop, rock and South African music. This was followed by a highly successful tour and two Grammy Awards for the album. Though his follow-up to Graceland was the highly successful The Rhythm of the Saints (1990), it was his last No. 1 album for roughly two decades.

Between 1993 and 1998, Simon's music began to decline in popularity and he refocused his efforts on The Capeman, a musical based on the true story of a Puerto Rican teen who killed two people in New York while wearing a cape and later went on to become a writer in prison. Simon devoted several years of his life to the project as well as 11 million dollars, but the musical was a flop.

After the musical disaster, Simon decided to focus on his music and has since released three more albums: You're the One (2000), Surprise (2006) and So Beautiful or So What (2011).