Harper James Simon (born September 7, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He is the son of Paul Simon and Peggy Harper. Simon has appeared on several studio albums, and has been featured in films and television shows, including HBO's Girls. In 2010, Simon released his self-titled solo album, followed by his second album Division Street released in 2013.
Simon is also a journalist, and has conducted interviews with cultural and political figures. He has contributed to several publications, including LA Review of Books, Purple, Issue, and Hesperios Journal. Simon is also a producer of film, music and charity events, and sits on the board of Waterkeeper Alliance.[1][2][3][4]
Early life
Harper James Simon grew up in New York City as the eldest son of musician Paul Simon and his first wife, Peggy Harper. His stepmother was the late actress and writer Carrie Fisher.[5] Simon made appearances in film and television shows growing up, including Sesame Street where he sang "Bingo" with his father in a segment that demonstrated how a record is made,[6] as well as Lorne Michaels’ The New Show and Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. Many of Paul Simon's lyrics include references to the younger Simon, most notably "St. Judy's Comet", "Slip Slidin' Away" and "Graceland."[7] His mother, Peggy, is the "silver girl" referred to in the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water."[8] The feature film One Trick Pony is loosely based on the relationships between Paul, Peggy and Harper. After high school, Simon moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music.[9]
Simon performed in the band Lavender Diamond for two shows at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles in 2013. Simon has regularly performed at the Los Angeles venue Largo, including two residencies at the venue, and has performed frequently with Largo regulars Jon Brion, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Benmont Tench (Brion and Tench also appear on Division Street).
Simon has performed several times with various members of the Grateful Dead. In 2010, he performed with Bob Weir at the benefit for Rainforest Action Network. In 2012, Simon performed at the Jerry Garcia 70th birthday tribute along with Bob Weir, Cass McCombs, and members of Vampire Weekend. He shared the bill with the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh at a benefit for Rainforest Action Network in 2013, and performed along with Weir, Lesh and others at the memorial for Grateful Dead lyricist John Barlow at the Fillmore Auditorium in 2018.
Simon has worked in collaboration with producer Hal Willner on two occasions. He performed for a two-week run in 2016 at the Adelaide Festival in Eric Mingus’ re-imagining of The Who's Tommy, which was produced by Willner, and performed in The Bells, a tribute to Lou Reed at the Lincoln Center in 2018, which was produced by Willner and Laurie Anderson.
Simon produced the 30th Anniversary of Repo Man along with Steve Hanft at The Regency Theater in Los Angeles in 2016. The event consisted of a film screening, and a concert musically directed by Simon featuring Fear's Lee Ving, Luna's Dean Wareham, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Simon also produced a benefit concert for the film non-profit Vidiots honoring Stanton the following year. The Harry Dean Stanton Award was held at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles in 2017. Simon performed and acted as musical director alongside Karen O, Father John Misty, Inara George, John C. Reilly, Kris Kristofferson, and Harry Dean accompanied by Mariachi Los Reyes. The award was presented by director David Lynch.
Simon has presented several films in Los Angeles in the past several years, and has conducted Q&A's and has served as a panel moderator for many of the screenings. He presented the unreleased cult film Nothing Lasts Forever and interviewed the director, original SNL writer Tom Schiller, at Cinefamily in 2014, and interviewed Buck Henry following the presentation of Miloš Forman’s Taking Off in 2016. He was the panel moderator at the screenings of Jimi Hendrix and Monterey Pop presented by Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2015. Simon also presented John Waters’ Female Trouble with Fred Armisen for American Cinematheque, and appeared in conversation with Armisen following the screening.
In 2017, Harper played guitar on Lady Gaga’s title track for her album Joanne, produced by Mark Ronson.
In 2018, he played Bram Stoker in an episode of Drunk History.
