The legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon will appear Saturday as a special guest at the “Lōkahi: A Celebration of Maui” benefit concert at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center

One of America’s greatest singer-songwriters, Paul Simon, who is set to receive a lifetime achievement award in late January, will return to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center as a special guest Saturday for the “Lōkahi: A Celebration of Maui” benefit concert.

Simon’s “A Quiet Celebration Tour” across the U.S. in the spring and summer featured the live debut of his Grammy-nominated album, “Seven Psalms.” The part-time Maui resident will head out on a European tour in April.

Interviewed for The Maui News in 2019 before his concert debut at the MACC, Simon had been living on Maui for part of the year for several years. He said the benefit concert was to show the performers’ respect and affection for Maui and “a perfect opportunity to say a big thank you to our new home.”

Some of Simon’s best-loved songs include “Graceland,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “The Boy in the Bubble,” “The Sound of Silence,” “Mother and Child Reunion,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” “You Can Call Me Al” and “Still Crazy After All These Years.”

On “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in June, he was asked about “The Sound of Silence.” “When I wrote it, I thought, that’s pretty good,” Simon said. “I think, if any of my songs have a chance of making it to be lasting 100 years, I think it may be that one.”

Simon’s most recent album, “Seven Psalms,” came to him in a dream. Intended to be listened to as one continuous piece, he told The Guardian in 2024 that the dream told him: “You are working on a piece called ‘Seven Psalms.'” He described it as a contemplation of faith, spirituality and the struggle to maintain belief.

“That’s very much an album about belief and mortality, issues with which I’m reckoning myself,” Simon said.

Named one of the 100 greatest songwriters of all time, as well as one of the 100 greatest guitarists, by Rolling Stone, Simon has earned 16 Grammy Awards, including three for album of the year (“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “Graceland”).

Before heading out solo, Simon and Art Garfunkel were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, with hits such as “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” reaching No. 1 on charts worldwide.

By the time of their third work, “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme,” the duo had produced their first masterpiece, from the exquisite “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” to the poetic yearning of “Homeward Bound” and the delightful exuberance of “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).”

With their crowning achievement of “Bookends” and the marvelous “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” they had become the biggest rock duo in the world.

Then came the breakup, followed by an even more gloriously acclaimed career for Simon.

For any fans wondering if his solo work could live up to the duo’s greatness, “Paul Simon” in 1972, blew out any doubts.

It would have been hard to imagine Garfunkel singing the funky reggae of “Mother and Child Reunion” (partly recorded in Jamaica with Jimmy Cliff’s backing band), or the exuberant samba flavored “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” (with Brazilian legend Airto Moreira on percussion).

The complexity of the album prompted Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn to declare: “Only Stevie Wonder, among major sellers, demonstrated as much consistent musical sophistication and ambition as Simon.”

Then the dazzling “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” cemented his genius as a “consummate master of the contemporary narrative,” noted Rolling Stone. There were so many standouts from the jubilant gospel of “Loves Me Like a Rock” and New Orleans’ Dixieland groove of “Take Me to the Mardi Gras,” to the feel-good “Kodachrome,” the soulful Randy Newman-ish “One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor,” and the delicate beauty of the “St. Judy’s Comet” lullaby.

Recording with some top jazz players, more success followed with “Still Crazy After All These Years,” which earned him four hit singles and two Grammy Awards.

As much as Simon was admired, no one expected a stunning project like the landmark “Graceland.”

Released in 1986, at a time when he doubted his talent — “It could be that I’ve reached the point in my career where I can’t be a viable commercial force in popular music,” he had told The New York Times — “Graceland” became Simon’s most successful studio album, selling around 16 million copies worldwide.

Heading to record in Johannesburg with South African musicians, and later with American roots artists like Rockin’ Dopsie and Los Lobos, Simon created such classics as “The Boy in the Bubble,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” and “Graceland,” which Simon told The Maui News, “That’s a good one. I like the track a lot.”

Four years later, Simon returned with another extraordinary cultural project, “The Rhythm of the Saints,” which saw him infuse music of Latin America into his songs, working with Brazilian artists like percussion groups like Olodum and legendary singer Milton Nascimento.

While many of his peers creatively peaked, Simon kept innovating into the 21st century.

The metaphysically inclined “So Beautiful Or So What” in 2011, with deep songs like “Afterlife,” “Love is Eternal Sacred Life,” and the sublime “Questions for the Angels,” was widely lauded. “A profound statement from a master of his craft,” praised the BBC.

In 2016, he delivered “Stranger to Stranger,” an experimental work utilizing custom-made instruments by Harry Partch and collaborations with the Italian electronic artist Clap! Clap! PopMatters lauded: “Nobody can do what he does. In fact, it’s hard to even imagine anyone attempting to try.”

He followed up with the remarkable “In the Blue Light,” which featured rearrangements of some of the legendary musician’s older songs, and some that were partially rewritten.

In a 2018 CNN interview, Simon talked about the magic of songwriting and how with a song like “Graceland,” “you feel as if you are a conduit and the song is coming through you. You’re shaping it, but you’re absolutely surprised at what’s happening, and you don’t know why, and you don’t know where it comes from. But I recognize that happens sometimes, and it’s led me to be a more spiritual person because of the mystery of it.”

“Lōkahi: A Celebration of Maui” will take place Saturday at the MACC’s Alexander & Baldwin Amphitheater and Yokouchi Pavilion.

The lineup features Lukas Nelson, Paul Simon, Pat Simmons, Mick Fleetwood, Stephen Wilson Jr., Lily Meola, Pat Simmons Jr., Gretchen Rhodes and the Maui Country Band. Gates open at 4:30 p.m.. The show starts at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $65, $85 and $125, with a limited number of gold circle seating at $175. Prices increase the day of the show. The gold circle includes preferred seating and exclusive access to courtyard bars and restrooms.