New Book Claims Paul Simon Is A Jerk

An audio engineer who worked with Simon claims he was not a nice guy. Which kind of confirms what others had been saying about him.

If you believe what you read, Paul Simon hasn't always been a nice guy. Glenn Berger, an engineer and producer at A&R Recording Studios, writes in his book "Never Say No To A Rock Star" that the singer is a "pr*ck" who "didn’t seem to care much about other human beings."

Berger recalls one instance when Simon was recording his solo music after the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel. The iconic singer allegedly told the producer "I used to have a partner named Art Garfunkel, and this would mean so much to me if I could just show . . . that it was, it was all me!"

Another memory Berger has of the Simon was a run in he had with Karen Carpenter. After getting an early listen to Carpenter's disco album, her first solo work without her brother Richard, Simon called it "awful" "in a voice that combined derision, snobbishness, concern, and alarm."

While Berger admits Simon was right, he feels "his insensitivity was stunning" considering Carpenter was clearly suffering from anorexia. She didn't release the album and died "within a few short years."

Berger's book, "Never Say No To A Rock Star," is out now.

This account rivals another story by a member of the band Los Lobos, Steve Berlin, who claimed Simon appropriated a song he helped write for the album, Graceland.