Next year will see the 50th anniversary of the debut of Art Garfunkel’s angelic tenor voice in the charts with ‘Hey Schoolgirl’, sung back in 1957 by Tom and Jerry – an early incarnation of the magnificent hitmaking duo Simon and Garfunkel. Since that first flush of success, both in tandem with Paul Simon and as a solo artist, Garfunkel has enjoyed hits in every decade, sold hundreds of millions of singles and albums and performed all over the world to millions of adoring fans.
Garfunkel’s appearance at Live At The Marquee is merely the latest leg of a substantial tour of Europe that will keep him on this side of the Atlantic for much of the summer. But he is no more a stranger to these shores than he is to the people who present artists with platinum discs, having played several times in this country, both alongside his partner Paul Simon and as a solo performer. He has other past musical connections with top Irish artists, having invited The Chieftains to guest on his solo 1977 opus Watermark on a moving version of the Irish traditional song ‘She Moved Through The Fair’. This pioneering move was perceived in Ireland as the first glimmering that Irish music had a genuine resonance for musicians from other cultures, and The Chieftains later returned the favour by featuring ‘Morning Has Broken’, sung by Garfunkel with Diana Krall on one of their recent albums. But the New Jersey artist’s links with Irish music were in evidence right from the beginning of his post-Paul Simon career, his solo album Angel Clare in 1973 containing a shimmering version of Van Morrison’s ‘I Shall Sing’.
Garfunkel’s most recent album, Everything Waits To Be Noticed, was released in 2002 to widespread acclaim. It saw the consolidation of Garfunkel as a worthy songsmith, a fact overlooked in the past, given that his musical sidekick Paul Simon was an acknowledged master of the art. Six of the tracks on Everything Waits... were co-written by Art, including the superb ‘Perfect Moment’. The single ‘Bounce’ received significant airplay on radio stations around the globe.
Although his painstaking commitment to high standards both on stage and in the studio means that he’s hardly the most prolific man in show business, a new album from him is under way, with Richard Perry, the producer of his 1975 album Breakaway again handling desk duties. The rekindling of the Garfunkel-Perry partnership will remind folks that the Breakaway album cracked the UK top 10 and was a major seller here in Ireland too. It spawned several classic Garfunkel tracks, including the title song, the perennial favourite ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, ‘Disney Girls’, ‘Looking For The Right One’, ‘Rag Doll’ and ‘99 Miles From L.A’. His other solo hits, such as ‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘Since I Don’t Have You’, suggest that this man has a wealth of material to draw on for a show that can be expected to scale the heights of quality sound and precise musicianship, as well as featuring the unmistakeable allure of one of the most distinctive voices in popular music over the past five decades.
Although they have reunited on several occasions, Garfunkel’s relationship with his schooldays friend Paul Simon has not always been as smooth as their delicate harmonies. But their occasional differences have not stopped the normally reticent Simon from expressing unstinting praise for the man who played a pivotal role in turning most of his musical creations into worldwide hits, including the extraordinary ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. Deeply regretting his unappreciative attitude to his partner in the past, Paul has said of the man he calls Artie, “Here’s a guy who has one of the finest voices in popular music, who has a very intelligent mind, who was enthusiastic about his work and who offered very useful ideas.”
Anyone who doubts the validity of those words will be confounded when Garfunkel takes the stage at Live At The Marquee.
So, with a hugely successful European tour under his belt and a new album in the works, life is pretty good these days for Art Garfunkel. Why there was even the addition of a new baby boy, Beau Daniel, to the Garfunkel household late last year to celebrate!