Paul Simon performs in New York in this 2011 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

More than half a century after he wrote The Sound of Silence, American singer Paul Simon says he is ready to hang up his guitar and stop making music.

"You're coming toward the end," the 74-year-old says in a recent interview.

"Showbiz doesn't hold any interest for me. None."

The folk star turned world music champion, whose US tour ends on Friday, released his most recent album, Stranger to Stranger, on June 3 to rave reviews.

Its single Wristband is one of the most played songs on college radio.

His current tour ends in Queens, the New York borough where he grew up and met his music partner Art Garfunkel.

He is then scheduled to begin a month long tour of Europe on Oct 17 in Prague.

Following that, he says that his intention is to drift and travel for a year, perhaps with his third wife, the musician Edie Brickell.

"It's an act of courage to let go," Simon says. "I am going to see what happens if I let go. Then I'm going to see, who am I?"

If he does quit music, Simon will bring to a close an extraordinary career that has spanned six decades, won him more than a dozen Grammys and produced songs tracking 50 years of social awakenings.

He and Garfunkel were a signature act of the 1960s, starting off with clean-cut folk songs before delving into fusion.

Simon has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World", collected more than a dozen Grammys and been named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.