Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer/songwriter of Jewish descent who had a number of hits in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, and who maintains a very loyal following with popular live performances to this day.

Diamond was born and raised in Brooklyn, attending Abraham Lincoln High School with Barbra Streisand (and singing with her in the school choir). He learned to play guitar after receiving one as a gift on his 16th birthday.

He spent his early career as a writer in the Brill Building, and had an early success writing the songs "I'm a Believer" and "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" for The Monkees.

Neil married school teacher Jaye Posner and they had two children, Marjorie and Elyn. They eventually divorced.

Career

Diamond’s first recording contract was in 1960 with “Duel” records, as “Neil and Jack" an Everly Brothers type duo, with a high school friend Jack Packer, together released “What Will I Do”,. In 1962 he signed with Columbia for the first time as a recording artist, for a single release of “At Night” and “Clown Town”. Despite a tour of radio stations the Single failed to chart. Soon after Diamond was back to writing songs on a upright piano above the Bird Land club

Then Diamond signed a deal with Bang! Recordsin 1966, and had a string of singles as the primary performer, including "Kentucky Woman," "Cherry, Cherry," and "Solitary Man." Neil's Bang recordings were produced by legendary Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, both of whom can be heard singing backgrounds on many of the tracks.

He moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1970, and signed a deal with MCA Records (then called Uni Records). His sound mellowed, with such songs as "Cracklin' Rosie", "Sweet Caroline" and the country-and-western tinged "Song Sung Blue". "Sweet Caroline" has since become a rallying cry of Red Sox Nation, however unlikely this may seem. Neil married Marcia Murphey, whom he had met while doing a television appearance. They had two sons, Jesse Michael Diamond born in 1970 and Micah Joseph Diamond, born February 14, 1978. Neil and Marcia divorced in 1995.

In 1972, Diamond played 10 sold out concerts at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The performance on Thursday August the 24th was recorded and released as the live double album Hot August Night. This album demonstrates Diamond's skills as a performer and showman, as he reinvigorated his back catalogue of hits with new energy that make the original studio versions pale by comparison..The album has become a classic, and in Australia, spent a remarkable 29 weeks at number 1 on the music charts. The 1977 concert Love at The Greek, a return to the Greek Theatre includes a verison of "Song Sung Blue" with duets with Helen Reddy and Henry Winkler aka The Fonz.

In 1973, Diamond hopped labels again, this time to Columbia Records, where he recorded the soundtrack to Jonathan Livingston Seagull. In 1974, he released the album Serenade (songs: "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before"). In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by The Band's Robbie Robertson.

Though the movie was not a blockbuster hit at the box office, the soundtrack was a hugely successful album, spawning the singles "America," "Love On The Rocks," and "Hello Again." This would be the apex of his recording career.

In 2000, he was awarded the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In recent years, there has been a resurgence in Diamond's popularity. His songs have become nearly iconic. The 2001 comedy film Saving Silverman (starring Jack Black, Steve Zahn, and Jason Biggs) plays up this theme. The main characters play in a Neil Diamond cover band, and Diamond made a cameo appearance. During this period, Will Ferrell did a recurring impersonation of Neil on Saturday Night Live, with Diamond himself appearing alongside Ferrell on his final show as a cast member in May 2002.

As of May 2005 he has sold 120 million records worldwide (Source: NY Times), including 48 million records in U.S. (Source: RIAA).

Today, Diamond continues to tour and record. He recently completed and released a new album entitled 12 Songs with producer Rick Rubin. It was released on November 8, 2005 in two editions, one a standard 12-song release, and a special edition with two bonus tracks, including one featuring backing vocals by Brian Wilson. The album debuted at#4 on the Billboard album chart. 12 Songs also ended up being infamous for being one of the last albums to be pressed and released by Sony BMG with the infamous XCP digital rights management software embedded onto the disc (see 2005 Sony CD copy protection controversy).

On December 31, 2005 Diamond appeared on Dick Clark's New Year Rockin' Eve 2006.

Discography

Singles Discography

Chart positions in bold italic denote Top 10 singles. Chart positions in bold denote Top 40 singles. Information on chart positions from 1961-1971 obtained at http://www.neildiamondhomepage.com/sd1.htm Information on chart positions from 1971-1980 obtained at http://www.neildiamondhomepage.com/sd2.htm Information on chart positions from 1980-1995 obtained at http://www.neildiamondhomepage.com/sd3.htm

Trivia

• Diamond's hit song "Heartlight" was inspired by the blockbuster 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
• Is a fan of Australian Rules Football team The Brisbane Lions.
• In the 1991 film What About Bob?, the protagonist posits,"There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't". He attributes the failure of his marriage to his ex-wife's fondness for Neil Diamond.
• Diamond is one of a small number of performers such as Paul Simon, Pink Floyd (1975 onward) and Johnny Rivers who have their name as the copyright owner on the phonograph records they perform. (Most phonorecords have the recording company as the named owner of the recording.)
• Was forced to pay $150,000,000 to former wife Marcia Murphey in their divorce settlement. This holds the record as the fourth most expensive divorce in history. ^*
• For his role in The Jazz Singer (1980), Diamond became the first ever "Winner" of a Worst Actor 'Razzie' Award, yet he was nominated for a Golden Globe for the same role.
• Went to NYU on a fencing scholarship.
• Was a top fencer during his time at NYU.
• Was a Pre-Med student, interested in Biology, at NYU, but left with less than a year left, due to his dislike of Organic Chemistry.
• Seriously considered "Eyce Charry" for his professional name.
• When he and Barbra Streisand had a smash hit in 1978 with "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", it was not the first time that the Brooklyn-born superstars had sung together. While students at New York City's Erasmus High School, they both sang in the school choir.
• His soundtrack to the film Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973) grossed more than the movie itself.

Quotes

• "It's very difficult for me to say 'I love you' but to sing 'I love you' for me is easier."
• "My voice is unadorned. I don't try for perfection. I try to be honest and truthful and soulful with the voice I have. If I make mistakes in notes, or there are cracks in notes, I don't fix them. That's the way it is."

External links

• Official Site
• Neil Diamond's MySpace
• I Am...I Said A Fan of Neil Diamond (The Internet's Premiere Source for Neil Diamond Information)
• Neil Diamond @ the SoundtrackINFO project
• Neil Diamond Lyrics
• An Online Neil Diamond Group
• Neil Diamond's Beautiful Noise Internet Mailing List
• Neil Diamond Photo Book with unreleased images

1941 births | American male singers | American pop singers | People from Brooklyn | Boys & Girls Club alumni | Living people | The Monkees | Worst Actor Razzie | American singer-songwriters

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