More than half a century after he wrote “The Sound of Silence,” American singer Paul Simon says he is ready to hang up his guitar and stop making music.
“You’re coming toward the end,” he tells The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday. “Showbiz doesn’t hold any interest for me,” says the 74-year-old. “None.”
The folk star turned world music champion, whose US tour ends Friday, released his most recent album, “Stranger to Stranger” on June 3 to rave reviews.
Its single “Wristband” is one of the most played songs on college radio.
His current tour ends in Queens, the New York borough where he grew up and met his now estranged music partner Art Garfunkel.
He is then scheduled to begin a month-long tour of Europe on October 17 in Prague, shortly after his 75th birthday.
Following that, he tells the Times that his intention is to drift and travel for a year, perhaps with his third wife, the musician Edie Brickell.
“It’s an act of courage to let go,” Simon tells the newspaper. “I am going to see what happens if I let go. Then I’m going to see, who am I?”
If he does quit music, Simon will bring to a close an extraordinary career that has spanned six decades, won him more than a dozen Grammys and produced songs tracking 50 years of social awakenings.
— AFP
The way they were: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel perform during the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)
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