BREAKING NEWS Paul Simon, 83, cancels concerts due to 'unmanageable' chronic condition
Paul Simon has been a touring musician since the 1960s—and at 83, he's still hitting the road.
But this weekend, the Bridge Over Troubled Water singer was forced to cancel two scheduled shows in Philadelphia due to 'chronic and intense back pain.'
Simon shared a statement on Instagram just hours before he was set to perform at the city's historic Academy of Music, informing fans and ticket holders of the cancellation.
'Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain,' the statement read.
'Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention. Unfortunately, we have to cancel these shows at this time, as we don't have the ability to reschedule them,' the statement continued.
'However, we are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates,' the statement explained.
The Bridge Over Troubled Water singer has canceled two shows in Philadelphia this weekend as a result of 'chronic and intense back pain.' Seen here November 7, 2016
'In the meantime, please go to your point of purchase or local ticket provider for a full refund.'
Simon performed at the venue on Thursday night—the first of what was meant to be a three-show run in Philadelphia as part of his A Quiet Celebration Tour.
His next scheduled performance is set for July 7 at the Terrace Theater in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, California.
Simon announced the tour in February, marking his return to the stage after retiring from touring in 2018 due to hearing loss.
The tour has been hitting smaller, intimate venues including Austin's Bass Concert Hall, Denver's Paramount Theatre and New York City's Beacon Theater in mini-residencies.
After his stop in Long Beach, Simon is scheduled to continue the tour with stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Seattle, before wrapping in early August.
Born in 1941 in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Queens, New York, Simon never measured up to his father's hopes and dreams that his son become a lawyer rather than a singer-songwriter, a path he, himself, unsuccessfully tried to follow.
Adding to his parental disappointment was his stature. Although he was smart, athletic and personable, Simon was 'small like a mouse, small like a pip squeak, small like the punch line to every short-guy joke the other kids could image,' Peter Ames Carlin wrote book Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon.
Teased by classmates, they'd swipe his Yankees cap until he finally went after them with fisticuffs, always getting his hat back.
Silencing the self-abuse was harder when he barely grew an inch while his classmates stretched upwards.
On a spring afternoon in 1952 when school buses were late and a teacher ushered all the students into the auditorium to hear fourth-grader Art sing, something was awakened inside Simon.
When Garfunkel sang Nat King Cole's hit, They Try to Tell Us We're Too Young, Simon knew he, too, wanted to perform – outside of his bedroom behind closed doors, in search of the same applause and cheers.
So Simon sought out the company of Garfunkel, and they became pals talking about songs they heard on the radio.
Garfunkel tracked the weekly Hit Parade with his mathematical graphs while Simon listened to Latin dance band music.
Eventually Simon and Garfunkel broke out of Queens with their music and became American sensations.
Paul and Art were inspired by the music of the Everly Brothers and in the early days, called themselves the Urban Everly Brothers.
As they became more and more successful they seemed to argue more over artistic discrepancies that began to splinter their bond.
In the end, Simon and Garfunkel's increasing troubled relationship, as friends and working colleagues, led to their breakup in 1970.
Paul, who composed nearly all of their original songs, enjoyed a successful career following their split.
While they never got back together to record a new album, the duo did reunite for the first time to play a free concert in New York's Central Park in September 1981, attracting some 500,000 people, that at the time was the largest concert ever.
Warner Bros. Records released a live album of the show, The Concert In Central Park, which went on to go double platinum in the US.
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