Art Garfunkel

Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel. In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split.. Art Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the son of housewife Rose and traveling salesman Jacob "Jack" Garfunkel on November 5, 1941. Art has two siblings; the older one named Jules and the younger one named Jerome, who was an actor in his earlier years in Dayton, Ohio, before becoming a travelling menswear salesman. He is Jewish. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Iași in Romania. His cousin is con-artist and founder of 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, Lou Pearlman, on his mother's side. Garfunkel attended the Forest Hills High School. According to the Across America DVD, Garfunkel's love for singing "Came in the first grade. when we were lined up in size order, and after everyone else had left, I'd stay behind and enjoy the echo sound of the stairwell tiles and sing "Unchained Melody" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", learning to love this goose-bumps song from the tender age of five." Later, Garfunkel's father bought him a wire recorder and from then on, Garfunkel spent his afternoons singing, recording and playing it back, so he could listen for flaws and learn how to improve.. At his bar mitzvah in 1954, Garfunkel performed as a cantor performing over four hours of his repertoire to his family. As a young teen, Garfunkel was struck with a lung infection leading to a love for basketball. He explained his love for the sport in a 1998 Interview: "In the summer of ’55, I had a lung infection. I couldn’t run around, but I love basketball and there was a hoop nearby. Much of the summer I spent methodically hitting 96, 98 foul shots out of 100. Then 102! I never played on a team after Junior High School. Just 3 against 3, half court pick up games in the schoolyard." He met his future singing partner, Paul Simon, in the sixth grade – PS 164, Queens, when they were both cast in the elementary school graduation play, Alice In Wonderland. It has been said by Garfunkel that Simon first became interested in singing after hearing Garfunkel sing a rendition of Nat King Cole's "Too Young" in a school talent show....
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