Neil Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present. As of 2001, Diamond had sold over 115 million records worldwide including 48 million in the United States alone.[1][2] He is considered to be the third most successful adult contemporary artist ever on the Billboard chart behind Barbra Streisand and Elton John.[1] His songs have been covered internationally by many performers from various musical genres. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and in 2011 was an honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors. He has eight number one hit singles with "Cracklin Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Desiree", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "Love on the Rocks", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight". Diamond continues t! o record and release new material and maintains an extensive touring schedule as well . Contents 1 Early life and career 2 1960s 3 1970s 4 1980s 5 1990s to present 6 Personal life 7 Discography 8 References 9 External links Early life and career Neil Diamond was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family descended from Russian and Polish immigrants. His father, Akeeba Diamond, was a dry-goods merchant. Diamond grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, attending Abraham Lincoln High School.[3][4] At Lincoln, the school from which he received his high school diploma, he was a member of the fencing team. He later attended NYU on a fencing scholarship, specializing in saber, and was a member of the 1960 NCAA men's championship team; into his adult life he maintained his swordsmanship skills and continued to warm up with fencing exercises before his concerts.[citation needed] In a live interview with TV talk show host Larry King, Diamond explained his decision to stu! dy medicine by pointing out: I actually wanted to be a laborat! ory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer. However, during his senior year in NYU, a music publishing company made him an offer he could not refuse: an offer to write songs for $50 a week. This started him on the road to stardom. 1960s Diamond's first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an Everly Brothers–type duo comprising Diamond and high school friend Jack Packer *(Jack Parker). They recorded two unsuccessful singles, "You Are My Love At Last" b/w "What Will I Do" and "I'm Afraid" b/w "Till You've Tried Love", both released in 1962. Later in 1962, Diamond signed with the Columbia Records label as a solo performer. Columbia Records released the single "At Night" b/w "Clown Town" in July, 1963. Billboard gave an excellent review to "Clown Town" in their July 13, 1963, issue, ! predicting it would be a hit. Despite a tour of radio stations, the single failed to make the music charts. Furthermore, sales and Top 40 airplay were disappointing, and Columbia dropped Diamond from the label shortly there after. Diamond was back to writing songs on an upright piano above the Birdland Club in New York City. Diamond spent his early career as a songwriter in the Brill Building. His first success as a songwriter came in November, 1965, with "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans on the Billboard Charts. Greater success as a writer followed with "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", and "Love to Love", all by The Monkees. There is a popular misconception that Diamond wrote and composed these songs specifically for the made-for-TV quartet. In reality, Diamond had written and recorded these songs for himself, but the cover versions were released before his own.[5] The unintended, but happy, cons! equence was that Diamond began to gain fame not only as a singer and pe! rformer, but also as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" was the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966. Other notable artists who recorded early Diamond songs were Elvis Presley, who interpreted "Sweet Caroline" as well as "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind"; Mark Lindsay, former lead singer for Paul Revere & the Raiders, who covered "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"; the English hard-rock band Deep Purple, which interpreted "Kentucky Woman"; Lulu, who covered "The Boat That I Row", and Cliff Richard, who released versions of "I'll Come Running", "Solitary Man", "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", "I Got The Feelin' (Oh No No)", and "Just Another Guy". In 1966 Diamond signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. His first release on that label, "Solitary Man", became his first hit. Prior to the release of "Solitary Man", Diamond had considered using a stage name; he came up with two possibilities, "Noah Kaminsky" and "Eice Charry".[6] But w! hen asked by Bang Records which name he should use, Noah, Eice, or Neil, he thought of his grandmother, who died prior to the release of "Solitary Man". Thus he told Bang, "...go with Neil Diamond and I'll figure it out later". Diamond later followed with "Cherry, Cherry", "Kentucky Woman", "Thank the Lord for the Night Time", "Do It", and others. Diamond's Bang recordings were produced by legendary Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, both of whom can be heard singing background on many of the tracks. His first concerts saw him as a "special guest" of, or opening for, everyone from Herman's Hermits to, on one occasion, The Who, which he confirmed on an installment of VH1's documentary series program Behind The Music. Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang Records, wanting to record more ambitious, introspective music. Finding a loophole in his contract, Diamond tried to sign with a new label, but the result was a series of lawsuits that coincided wi! th a dip in his professional success. Diamond eventually triumphed in c! ourt, and secured ownership of his Bang-era master recordings in 1977. 1970s After Diamond had signed a deal with MCA Records, whose label at the time was Uni (after MCA's parent company, Universal Pictures), he moved to Los Angeles in 1970. His sound mellowed, with such songs as "Sweet Caroline", a US hit in 1969, "Holly Holy", "'Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue", the last two reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100. "Sweet Caroline" was Diamond's first major hit after his slump. Diamond admitted in 2007 that he had written "Sweet Caroline" for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her on the cover of Life in an equestrian riding outfit.[7] It took him just one hour, in a Memphis hotel, to write and compose it. The 1971 release "I Am...I Said" was a Top 5 hit in both the US and UK, and was his most intensely personal effort to date, taking upwards of four months to complete.[8] In 1972, Diamond played 10 sold-out concerts at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The August 24 performance wa! s recorded and released as the live double album Hot August Night (the title being the opening words of Diamond's song "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"). That fall, he appeared over 20 consecutive nights at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City; the small (approximately 1,600-seat) Broadway venue provided an intimate concert setting not common at the time. Reportedly, every performance was a sellout. Hot August Night demonstrates Diamond's skills as a performer and showman, as he reinvigorated his back catalogue of hits with new energy. Many consider it his best work; critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory".[9] The album has become a classic. It was remastered in 2000 with three additional selections: "Walk on Water", "Kentucky Woman" and "Stones". In Australia, the album spent a remarkable 29 weeks at No. 1; in 2006, it was voted #16 in a poll of favourite albums! of all time in Australia.[10] Also, Diamond's final concert of his 197! 6 Australian Tour (The "Thank You Australia" Concert) was broadcast to 36 television outlets nationwide on March 6.[citation needed] It also set a record for the largest attendance at the Sydney Sports Ground.[citation needed] The 1977 concert Love At The Greek, a return to the Greek Theatre, includes a version of "Song Sung Blue" with duets with Helen Reddy and Henry Winkler, a.k.a. Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli of Happy Days. In 1973, Diamond hopped labels again, returning to the Columbia Records for a lucrative million-dollar-advance-per-album contract.[11][1] His first project, released as a solo album, was the soundtrack to Hall Bartlett's film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The film received hostile reviews and did poorly at the box office. The album grossed more than the film did. Richard Bach, author of the best-selling source story, disowned the film. Both Bach and Diamond sued the film's producer.[1] Diamond felt the film butchered his score. Despite the s! hortcomings of the film, the soundtrack was a success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. Diamond would also garner a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture.[11] From there, Diamond would often include a Jonathan Livingston Seagull suite in his live performances, as he did in his 1977 "Love at The Greek" concert. In 1974, Diamond released the album Serenade, from which "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before" were issued as singles. The latter had been intended for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull score, but was completed too late for inclusion. In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band. On Thanksgiving night, 1976, Diamond made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz, performing "Dry Your Eyes",
amazon com neil diamond songs albums pictures bios
Visit Amazon.com's Neil Diamond Store to s! hop for Neil Diamond albums (CD, MP3, Vinyl), concert tickets, and othe! r Neil Diamond-related products (DVDs, Books, T-shirts). Read the rest
the original neil diamond home page since 1995
Neil Diamond music information on the web: the largest and most in depth Neil Diamond coverage available anywhere! Read the rest
neil diamond in concert
Official site from Columbia Records features tour dates, store, biography, and discography. Read the rest
neil diamond wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Neil Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the ! 1960s until the present. As of 2001, Diamond Read the rest
neil diamond npr
Neil Diamond artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music Read the rest
neil diamond rhapsody
thumbnail · Tim Anderson · Colin Drewick Read the rest
neil diamond news photos videos bio free music downloads at
Get news updates, watch videos, listen to Neil Diamond radio on MP3.com. In a career that began in the 1960s, Neil Diamond became a major ! recording artist, Read the rest
neil diamond on yahoo music
Neil Diamond music profile on Yahoo! Music. Find lyrics, free streaming MP3s, music videos and photos of Neil Diamond on Yahoo! Music Read the rest
neil diamond free music tour dates photos videos
Neil Diamond's official profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates. Read the rest
neil diamond katie mcneil his manager engaged people com
Neil Diamond has found his muse, and she happens to be his manager. The "Sweet Caroline" singer, 70, announced Wednesday on Twitter that he is engaged to Read the rest