Paul Simon announces his upcoming tour will be his last
Veteran singer-songwriter says he's retiring due to death of his friend and lead guitarist, desire to spend more time with family
The Iconic American singer-songwriter Paul Simon announced Monday that he will be hanging up his guitar after his upcoming tour, which ends in July, bringing to an end an extraordinary career that has spanned six decades, won him more than a dozen Grammys and produced songs tracking 50 years of social awakenings.
Simon, 76, took to social media Monday to say his upcoming tour will be his last, citing the personal toll of touring and the death of his lead guitarist, Vincent N’guini.
“I feel the travel and time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts from the joy of playing,” he wrote. Retiring from the road “feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief.”
Tickets for his “Homeward Bound — The Farewell Tour” will go on sale February 8. It kicks off in May in Vancouver, Canada, and will take him across North America and Europe. His last date is July 15 in London with James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt as special guests.
Simon’s duo with Art Garfunkel was a signature act of the 1960s, starting off with clean-cut folk songs before delving into fusion.
Simon, who is Jewish, has been named by Time Magazine one of the “100 People Who Shaped the World” and collected more than a dozen Grammys. He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, both as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and as a solo artist.
Simon’s best-known songs include “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” ”Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”
The singer-songwriter said he will still do the “occasional performance” for charity purposes after his last tour.
Simon signaled his upcoming decision in a New York Times interview in 2016, saying that “showbiz doesn’t hold any interest for me. None.”
“It’s an act of courage to let go,” he told the newspaper. “I am going to see what happens if I let go. Then I’m going to see, who am I?”
Late last month, the 70-year-old Elton John also announced he will retire from touring in three years, saying he wants to spend time with his family. His current “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour will end in 2021.