Paul Simon, 83, announces tour 7 years after health issues forced him to quit music

Paul Simon is returning to the stage after a seven-year break due to severe hearing loss.

The star, 83, who shot to fame in the 1960s as part of the iconic duo Simon & Garfunkel, with pal Art Garfunkel, has many beloved hits, including The Sound of Silence, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Mrs Robinson.

The legendary singer-songwriter has announced he is set to embark on his A Quiet Celebration Tour, to the delight of fans all over the world.

The tour will consist of a series of intimate concert performances that will take place in spring and summer 2025.

The tour will kick off in New Orleans on 4 April and travel throughout North America and Canada.

A press release states: ‘Simon chose to perform in intimate venues where the acoustics are optimal in consideration of the severe hearing loss that he incurred over the last few years.’

When Simon first quit touring seven years ago, he released a statement that read: ‘I’ve often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I’d consider bringing my performing career to a natural end. Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a relief.

‘I love making music, my voice is still strong, and my band is a tight, extraordinary group of gifted musicians. I think about music constantly.’

But it seems like the icon has managed to adapt to the loss of hearing, as he and pop star Sabrina Carpenter gave a moving performance of his hit song Homeward Bound to open the 50th year celebration of Saturday Night Live this past weekend.

In 2024 Simon revealed, during an appearance on CBS Mornings, that due to his hearing loss, he is now unable to play certain songs from his catalogue, including his 1986 hit You Can Call Me Al.

‘I’m going through my repertoire and reducing a lot of the choices that I make to acoustic versions,’ he said on the show. ‘It’s all much quieter. It’s not You Can Call Me Al, that’s gone. I can’t do that one.’

Simon discussed his battle with hearing loss in depth during the appearance, which he is trying to prevent others from having to endure by working with the Stanford Initiative on hopefully finding a cute.

The star first noticed he was losing his hearing in 2023 when recording his most recent album, Seven Psalms. ‘It was incredibly frustrating. I was very angry at first, y’know, that this had happened,’ he said. 

Paul continued to explain: ‘I guess what I’m most apprehensive about would be if I can’t hear well enough to really enjoy the act of making music.’ 

‘Quite suddenly, I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it. So, everything became more difficult,’ Simon told The Times at the time.

Currently, Simon says he has lost 94% of hearing in his left ear and has been told by doctors that there is no cure for the problem, which can affect people of any age and up to 11 million people in the UK alone.

Speaking to The Guardian in October 2024, he said: ‘I’m hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert. I’m optimistic. Six months ago I was pessimistic.’

It’s been a tumulrious couple of years for the icon, who reunited with Art Garfunkel in 2023 for the first time in many years. According to Garfunkel, their estrangement was caused by him saying some things that ‘hurt’ Paul in a past interview.

‘I cried when he told me how much I had hurt him’, Garfunkel told The Sunday Times. ‘Looking back, I guess I wanted to shake up the nice guy image of Simon & Garfunkel. Y’know what? I was a fool!’

Buy tickets to Paul Simon’s 2025 tour here.

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