Celebrate Paul Simon's birthday with some of his most enduring songs [Videos]

Paul Simonone of the most prolific songwriters of the 20th century, celebrates his 83rd birthday today. Born in Newark, New Jersey, the musician spent his formative years in Flushing, Queens. Simon met each other during elementary school Art Garfunkeland finally the duo formed Simon & Garfunkeland writes hit folk songs such as “The Sound of Silence,” “The Boxer,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and “Mrs. Robinson.”

After Simon & Garfunkel’s initial breakup in 1970, Simon’s official solo career began with his album of the same name Paul Simon in 1972 with “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” and the reggae-infused “Mother And Child Reunion.” Perhaps his best-known solo album is 1986 Gracelandsaw Simon travel to Johannesburg, South Africa to record with a number of African musicians of various genres including Zydeco, Mbaqanga, Pop and Isicathamiya. The result of these meetings in the USA was Gracelandwho won one grammy “Album of the Year” in 1987, including “Under African Skies”, “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” and the title track.

Simon didn’t slow down much in his later years of touring Bob Dylanmet with Art Garfunkel several times and released a number of new albums, including the 2000s It’s youthe collaborative album from 2006 Surprise with super producer Brian Eno2011 Pretty or somethingand his latest release, the ambitious one Seven Psalms which came out earlier this year. With over 60 years of songwriting, calling Paul Simon prolific is almost an understatement. Let’s take a look at some songs from his storied career as we celebrate his 83rd birthday today:

Simon & Garfunkel – “Sound Of Silence” – Live, 1967

[Video: Brainbuck Seven]