A revelatory account of the life of beloved American music icon, Paul Simon, by the bestselling rock biographer Peter Ames Carlin To have been alive during the last sixty years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon. The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957, just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era. As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel, his work helped define the youth movement of the '60s. On his own in the '70s, Simon made radio-dominating hits. He kicked off the '80s by reuniting with Garfunkel to perform for half a million New Yorkers in Central Park. Five years later, Simon’s album “Graceland” sold millions and spurred an international political controversy. And it doesn’t stop there. The grandchild of Jewish immigrants from Hungary, the nearly 75-year-old singer-songwriter has not only sold more than 100 million records, won 15 Grammy awards and been installed into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame twice, but has also animated the meaning—and flexibility—of personal and cultural identity in a rapidly shrinking world. Simon has also lived one of the most vibrant lives of modern times; a story replete with tales of Carrie Fisher, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, Shelley Duvall, Nelson Mandela, drugs, depression, marriage, divorce, and more. A life story with the scope and power of an epic novel, Carlin’s Homeward Bound is the first major biography of one of the most influential popular artists in American history.
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“Narrator Adam Grupper gives an unflashy performance of this fact-driven biography, which traces Paul Simon from his roots to the work he’s doing today. Simon’s many relationships…are engaging enough without a narrator’s embellishment, and Grupper’s style helps listeners track the many names and places that feature in Simon’s life. Grupper does set off quotes with a credible version of Simon’s voice, as well as other familiar voices, adding to clarity.”
— AudioFile
“You can almost hear the melodic anthems Simon created through Carlin’s exhaustively researched, deeply-felt prose.”
— Harper’s Bazaar“Thoroughly researched…Homeward Bound reveals many sides of a complicated, ambitious, insecure figure.”
— New York Times Book Review“Definitive… Simon’s personal life, drug problems and marriages are intimately detailed, and figures from Bob Dylan to Woody Allen make cameos…Carlin has gone deeper than anyone yet.”
— Rolling Stone“This compelling period in Simon’s career is expertly detailed—along with the rest of his life, musical and otherwise—in Peter Ames Carlin’s exceedingly well-written book.”
— Houston Press“Few stories are as unlikely and as absorbing as that of the Jewish kid from Queens turned folk superstar…A good story, and Carlin tells it well.”
— Washington PostBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Peter Ames Carlin is a regular speaker on music, writing, and popular culture and the author of several books, including Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, published in 2021, and Bruce, the biography of Bruce Springsteen published in 2012. Carlin has also been a freelance journalist, a senior writer at People in New York City, and a television columnist and feature writer at The Oregonian in Portland.
Adam Grupper, award-winning narrator, has garnered honors from AudioFile magazine, Publishers Weekly, iTunes, the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, and the Audio Publishers Association. He has been in eleven Broadway productions, including the acclaimed revival of Fiddler on the Roof. His film and television credits include The Rebound, Homeland, Master of None, Music and Lyrics, Two Weeks Notice, Elementary, and Allegiance.