Simon & Garfunkel

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel started singing together as teenagers in Queens, New York, before finding their footing in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s. Their first album, 'Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.,' didn't make much noise initially. Then a producer took the acoustic version of 'The Sound of Silence' and added electric guitars and drums, turning it into a surprise hit that reached number one in 1965.

Simon wrote the songs, and Garfunkel sang the high harmonies. That combination gave them hits like 'Mrs. Robinson' from 'The Graduate' soundtrack and 'The Boxer,' with its layered production and that famous 'lie-la-lie' chorus. Their final studio album together was 1970's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' which included the title track and 'El Condor Pasa (If I Could).' They broke up shortly after its release.

They recorded five proper studio albums in about six years. The work holds up because the songs are specific and the singing is clean, two voices that fit together without much fuss. People still know the words to 'The Sound of Silence' and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' songs that feel both of their time and oddly permanent.