Friday, December 6, 2024

Exclusive: Grammys Will Salute Paul Simon with TV Special Taping April 6th in Los Angeles

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For the last few years the Grammy Awards have taped a special a few nights after the big show honoring this or that legend.

So far the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder, the sounds of Motown, and Aretha Franklin are among those who’ve had this special recognition.

I’m thrilled to report that the next one is Paul Simon. The great singer songwriter will get a tribute show taped at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood on April 6th. Since the Grammys are being held on April 3rd, the expectation is that a number of that show’s performers will turn up to salute Simon.

Simon’s career stretches back to the mid 60s when he and Art Garfunkel took the world by storm with “The Sound of Silence.” For five years and about half a dozen albums they influenced generations of other singers and songwriters. They broke up in 1970 after the landmark “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” but reunited in 1976 with “My Little Town.” In 1981 they appeared together in the historic Concert in Central Park.

These days, Simon and Garfunkel are not close as they near 80 years old. They’ve known each other for 65 years and are a little like the comedians in “The Sunshine Boys” who won’t speak to each other. It’s doubtful that Garfunkel will be included in this show but they’ll have to handle his part of Simon’s like properly. If it’s given short shrift, the reaction will be instant.

Since the show is being taped April 6th, that means Simon won’t be able to attend Clive Davis’s 90th birthday party in New York. I’m sure they are each disappointed. It was Davis who launched Simon & Garfunkel, and later decided that the title track of ‘BOTW” album would be the first single.

Can’t wait to see this show, though, when it airs on CBS.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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