Art Garfunkel Jr.'s first memory. of him singing on stage with his father is pretty blurry, but he knows it took place in Japan just before his third birthday. “I think they pushed me out in a cart, wearing a traditional Japanese kimono,” he says Rolling rock. “My parents took me and I sang a bit of his high part [Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 hit] “Feelin' Groovy.”
For most rock star kids, this would be little more than a sweet, one-of-a-kind moment. For Art Garfunkel Jr., 33, it was the start of a career singing his father's music that continues to this day. And although he toured across America as part of his dad's solo show, helping him hit high notes he can't quite reach as an octogenarian, his career really took off a few years back in his adopted country of Germany when he started to release covers. of his father's music in German. He plays shows all over Germany to large, enthusiastic audiences.
“I feel blessed to have been born into this family,” he says. “I'm so proud to be Art Garfunkel Jr. I am so proud of my dad's legacy. I'm walking in his footsteps.”
He's so proud of his father that he legally changed his name — from James Arthur Garfunkel to Arthur Garfunkel Jr. a few years ago. “I prefer the name, I just do,” he says. “I'm also a very international person and Arthur is a name that is compatible with most European languages.”
Long before Germany and the name change, Garfunkel lived on the Upper East Side of New York and attended the Rudolf Steiner School. he came of age in the 1990s and early 2000s, but his musical taste went back about half a century earlier. “My dad made these three old tapes when I was about five years old of all his songs that he listened to as a teenager and loved,” he says. “It was Little Richard, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and others from the birth of rock & roll. I loved it all. It's my favorite music to date.”
As a child of privilege and celebrity growing up in New York, he had access to one gossip Girl-like the world of debauchery. But he says his teenage years were extremely secular. “I wish I was wilder,” he says. “I have never touched a drug in my entire life. People should do what they want as long as they don't hurt anyone, but I never touch it. I never got into it and have no interest.”
He continues: “I think it's a lot because my dad is an absolute living legend and I'm so proud of him. Paul and Artie were good kids from Queens who didn't fit into that typical wild rock star lifestyle like some of their countrymen. And certainly my father instilled positive values in me. I was a more relaxed guy and I didn't get into trouble.”
It ended up on its cover Rolling rock along with other rock star kids when she was 15 in 2005. “It was a great experience,” she says. “I remember showing up at this photo studio and seeing [Paul Simon’s son] Harper Simon I've always liked, he's a really nice guy. And I saw Rufus Wainwright, Ben Taylor and many others. There was even a DJ there playing chill music, I had a good time.”
At the time of the cover shoot, Art Jr. he looked like a miniature clone of his father, with golden, curly locks of hair. Strangers publicly recognized him, with or without Art Sr. It was the kind of attention that would irritate many others in his position. “I'm loving every minute,” she says. “I ate it. I really did.”
In addition to his unique hair, Art Jr. he also inherited his father's angelic singing voice. Throughout his childhood and teenage years, she would go on stage and duet with him on Simon and Garfunkel hits and classic covers like the Everly Brothers' “Let It Be Me.”
Appearances became slightly less regular when Art Jr. he moved to Germany when he was only 16 years old. His interest in Germany dates back to early childhood, when he toured the country with his father. “My dad was always very popular in Germany,” she says. “When East and West Germany were united, there was a remarkable desire for my father's music. They had just come out of communism and into capitalism and they wanted to consume Western music.”
His grandparents were fluent in German and he studied the language at school, but when he was invited there in 2006 to attend the ECHO Awards – basically Germany's Grammys – he decided to stay. “My parents trusted me a lot,” he says. “I also had some family members in Europe that I could rely on if I needed it.”
Art Garfunkel Sr. was still touring extensively at the time, and Art Jr. it supported itself by attaching it to selected legs. But when Covid hit and Art Sr. pulled off the road, Art Jr. he felt it was time to finally go out on his own. He signed a record deal with BMG as a solo artist and cut an album, Wie du-Hommage An Meinen Vater [Just Like You – A Tribute to My Father]consisting entirely of Simon and Garfunkel and Art Garfunkel solo songs in German.
“I've been toying with the idea for many years,” he says. “I love my dad's music and I'm so proud of him. I am proud to be a German speaker, I respect and love the culture and I wanted to bring these two parts of me together as a fusion. I felt strongly that the idea would work, that it would be well received in my community, in my world here.”
Features German language versions of 'The Boxer', 'The Sound of Silence', 'Mrs. Robinson”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and others. He took the lyric translations from other German covers released in the 60's and 70's. “The rhymes are different,” he said. “I chose the versions that I felt conveyed the best in terms of translation and message.”
To promote the album, he traveled across Germany in a station wagon. He played 51 shows last year and appeared on several television programs. “I'm a one-man operation,” he says. “When the show is over, I don't even go backstage. I usually jump off the stage and go out with the crowd. I go straight to an office in the lobby and take about 10,000 pictures with people and sign lots of autographs. And I always keep my eyes open in case a pretty girl comes along. I've made great new friends just by meeting people who like my music.”
The biggest cheers of the night come when he breaks out giant hits like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' or 'Mrs. Robinson,” but Art Jr. says he prefers darker songs from the catalog such as 'The Dangling Conversation', 'Bleecker Street' and 'Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall'.
He had the opportunity to sing some of these songs with his father at New York's City Winery in July 2023. It was one of the few times that Art Sr. has been on the scene since the pandemic began. And it's a little preview of a tour that's in store for the future.
“My dad wants to get back on the road,” Art Jr. says. “He's waiting for me to start this next chapter with him. That means he wants to perform and hit the road regularly. It wants to be a father and son show. We will both do the show. We're wrapping up the US tour right now.”
Garfunkel and Garfunkel tour likely to hit theaters. A Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour, however, would fill arenas and stadiums around the world. Such a tour may be hard to imagine because Simon retired from the road in 2018, lost much of the hearing in his left ear and was not on good terms with Art Sr. since they last played together in 2010. “No, beside the point,” said Simon Rolling rock in 2016 when asked about a possible Simon and Garfunkel reunion. “We don't even talk.”
Surprisingly, Art Jr. says Simon and Garfunkel fans shouldn't lose hope. “I wouldn't count on it,” he says. “I think it's possible. He's giving me a little insight into something I know better than almost anyone else. I think it's possible, and I'd love to see it happen. I think my dad and Paul will always be the best of friends. There is a lot of love. He is in touch. Things are going in a good direction and I think the possibility is there.
“My dad is healthy and hopefully God will give him many more years,” she continues. “Everyone in their eighties has trials and tribulations. I think Paul is doing pretty well, so I think there's a chance. Wouldn't it be great if there was some charity and opportunity for them to come together to help a great cause? Or maybe it's just Simon and Garfunkel going back on tour the same way Taylor Swift does. We'll have to see. If they come to Germany, I'd love to be their first act.”
A Simon and Garfunkel tour with Art Garfunkel Jr. it would certainly cause many to label the younger Garfunkel a “nepo baby,” but that wouldn't mean much to him. “I've never heard that term,” he says. “I feel so blessed to be part of his family. You can hate me or love me for it, but I am who I am.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/art-garfunkel-jr-father-simon-and-garfunkel-1234953418/