The two had a lot of similarities. Both were born in 1941, and both lived in Queens, New York, living only a few blocks away from each other in the Kew Garden Hills neighborhood. They attended the same schools, including Public School 164, Parsons Junior High School, and Forest Hills High School.
Both were fascinated by music and the growing rock-n-roll scene, and in 1956 they wrote their first song, “The Girl for Me.” They were overheard recording their first hit by promoter Sid Prosen, who signed them when they were only fifteen.
How They Met
You may think that these two discovered a mutual interest in music and the rest was history, but you'd be wrong. It was a grade-school play that first brought them together. Their shared interest in music soon became common knowledge and they started their careers. The play was "Alice in Wonderland" – Simon played the White Rabbit, and Garfunkel played the Cheshire Cat.
It's possible that the play was a musical, which would have made sense since the two both loved music. Simon as the White Rabbit and Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat both make a lot of sense though.
Not Just Music
Other than music, the boys had plenty of other interests. For example, Paul Simon was one of the stars of his high school baseball team. Garfunkel, after a lung infection, sidelined his singing when he was in his early teens, found a love of basketball, which he could play without tiring himself out too much.
Garfunkel was also a member of the tennis, skiing, fencing, and bowling teams while he was at college, and often assisted his roommate with homework after said roommate went blind. Simon was part of the Alpha Epsilon Phi fraternity while in college.
Parents and Families
We all know that our parents largely affect how our adult lives develop. In this case, both Simon and Garfunkel got lucky. Garfunkel's family was Jewish and enjoyed listening to him sing in the synagogue so much that they wanted him to continue. He sang for four hours at his own bar mitzvah. Simon too prospered. His father, a musician himself, was extremely supportive of his son's musical aspirations.
Since his father was part of the music business, Simon was greatly inspired and took his father's words to heart, leading to the creative drive that would continue throughout his life.
The First Name They Took
Simon and Garfunkel had been together since the sixth grade. Even at that tender young age, they were singing and playing together, and conducting radio shows. All the way back in 1957 they signed to the independent record company Big Records under the name...Tom & Jerry.
Their first single, “Hey Schoolgirl,” did relatively well for first-timers; getting all the way to number forty-nine on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and selling over a hundred thousand copies. Since the two were only teenagers, this was quite a success. They each earned about two thousand dollars, or about $18,000 today.