Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond This article is about the American singer-songwriter. For ers", "America", "Yesterday’s Songs", "Heartlight" and the Cree filmmaker, see Neil Diamond (filmmaker). "I'm a Believer". "Sweet Caroline" is played frequently at Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an sporting events, and has become an anthem for the Boston Red Sox.[3] 1 Early life and education Neil Leslie Diamond was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family descended from Russian and Polish immigrants. His parents were Rose (née Rapaport) and Akeeba “Kieve” Diamond, a dry-goods merchant.[4][5] He grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, having also spent four years in Cheyenne, Wyoming where his fa- ther was stationed in the army.[6] In Brooklyn he attended Erasmus Hall High School[7] and was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club along with classmate Barbra Streisand.[5]:155 They were not close friends at the time, Diamond recalls: “We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes.”[8] After his family moved he then attended Abraham Lincoln High School,[9][10] and was a member of the fencing team.[6] When he was 16, and still in high school, Diamond spent a number of weeks at Surprise Lake Camp,[11]:21 a camp for Jewish children in upstate New York, when folk singer Pete Seeger came and performed a small concert.[12] See- ing the widely recognized singer perform, and watching other children singing songs for Seeger that they wrote Diamond (2015) themselves, had an immediate effect on Diamond, who then became aware of the possibility of writing his own songs. “And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got American singer-songwriter and musician with a career that began in the 1960s. Diamond has sold over 100 mil- back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost im- mediately began to write songs,” he said.[12] He adds that lion records worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time.[1] He is the third most suc- his attraction to songwriting was the “first real interest” he Billboard had growing up, besides helping him release his youthful cessful adult contemporary artist on the charts [12] behind Elton John and one-time duet partner Barbra “frustrations.” Streisand.[2] His songs have been covered internationally He used his newly developing skill at writing lyrics to also by many performers from various musical genres. write poetry. By writing poems for girls he was attracted Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame to in school, he soon learned it often won their hearts. His in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in male classmates took note and began asking him to write poems for them which they would sign and use with equal 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Life- [5]:10 time Achievement Award in 2000 and in 2011 was an success. He spent the summer following his gradua- tion as a waiter in the Catskills resort area. There, he met honoree at Kennedy Center. On the Hot 100 and Adult [11]:26 Contemporary charts, he has had eleven No. 1 singles: Jaye Posner, who would years later become his wife. "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Ser- Diamond next attended New York University as a pre- enade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know med major on a fencing scholarship.[note 1] His skill at What I Mean", "Desiree", "You Don't Bring Me Flow- fencing made him a member of the 1960 NCAA men’s 1 2 2 CAREER championship team.[13] However, he was often bored in popular misconception that he wrote and composed these classes, and found writing song lyrics more to his liking. songs specifically for the band. In reality, Diamond had He began cutting classes and taking the train up to Tin written, composed, and recorded them for himself, but Pan Alley where he tried to get some of his songs heard the cover versions were released before his own.[15] The by local music publishers.[12] By his senior year, and just unintended, but happy, consequence was that Diamond 10 units short of graduating, Sunbeam Music Publish- began to gain fame not only as a singer and performer, ing offered him a 16-week job writing songs for $50 a but also as a songwriter. “I'm a Believer” was the Popular week, and he dropped out of college to accept it.[12][note 2] Music Song of the Year in 1966. Later in his career, he said, “If this darn songwriting thing [11]:26 “And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind” brought covers from hadn't come up, I would have been a doctor now.” Elvis Presley (who also interpreted “Sweet Caroline”) and Mark Lindsay, former lead singer for Paul Revere & the Raiders. Other notable artists who recorded his 2 Career early songs were the English hard-rock band Deep Pur- ple, who interpreted “Kentucky Woman;" Lulu, who covered “The Boat That I Row;" and Cliff Richard, who re- 2.1 1960s leased versions of “I'll Come Running,” "Solitary Man,” "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon,” “I Got the Feelin' (Oh After his 16 weeks at Sunbeam Music were up, he was not No No),” and “Just Another Guy.” rehired and then began writing and singing his own songs In 1966, Diamond signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang for demo purposes. “I never really chose songwriting,” Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic. His first release he says. “It just absorbed me and became more and more on that label, "Solitary Man", became his first true hit as important in my life.”[12] a solo artist. Prior to the release of “Solitary Man,” he Diamond’s first recording contract was billed as “Neil and had considered using a stage name; he came up with two Jack,” an Everly Brothers-type duo comprising Diamond possibilities, “Noah Kaminsky” and “Eice Charry.”[16] [6] and high school friend Jack Parker. They recorded two But when asked by Bang Records which name to use, unsuccessful singles: “You Are My Love At Last” b/w Noah, Eice, or Neil, he thought of his grandmother, who “What Will I Do” and “I'm Afraid” b/w “Till You've Tried had died prior to the release of “Solitary Man.” Thus Love,” both released in 1962. Later in 1962, Diamond he told Bang, "...go with 'Neil Diamond' and I'll figure signed with the Columbia Records label as a solo per- it out later.” (He never did, and his real name remained former. Columbia released the single “At Night” b/w the identity by which he became known.) Diamond later “Clown Town” in July 1963, which Billboard gave an ex- followed with "Cherry, Cherry,” "Kentucky Woman,” cellent review, but still failed to chart. Columbia dropped “Thank the Lord for the Night Time,” “Do It,” and others. him from their label and he was back to writing songs, in Diamond’s Bang recordings were produced by legendary and out of publishing houses for the next seven years. Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Green- He did songwriting wherever he could, including on wich, both of whom can be heard singing background on buses, and used an upright piano above the Birdland Club many of the tracks. in New York City. One of the causes of this early no- His early concerts saw him as a “special guest” of, or madic life as a songwriter was due to his songs having opening for, everyone from Herman’s Hermits to, on one too many words: “I'd spent a lot of time on lyrics, and occasion, the Who, which he confirmed on an installment they were looking for hooks, and I didn't really under- of VH1's documentary series program Behind the Music. stand the nature of that,” he says.[12] During those lean Unfortunately, Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang years, he was only able to sell about one song a week, Records. He wanted to record more ambitious, introspec- barely enough to survive on. He found himself only earn- tive music, like his autobiographical “Brooklyn Roads” ing enough to spend 35-cents a day on food.[12] However, from 1968. Finding a loophole in his contract, he tried to the privacy he had above the Birdland Club allowed him sign with a new label, but the result was a series of law- to focus on writing without distractions: “Something new suits that coincided with a dip in his professional success. began to happen,” he says. “I wasn't under the gun, and He eventually triumphed in court, and secured ownership suddenly interesting songs began to happen, songs that of his Bang-era master recordings in 1977. had things none of the others did.”[12] Among them were "Cherry, Cherry" and "Solitary Man.” Diamond spent his early career as a songwriter in the 2.2 1970s Brill Building. His first success as a songwriter came in November 1965, with "Sunday and Me,” a Top 20 hit After Diamond had signed a deal in 1968 with Uni for Jay and the Americans. Greater success as a writer Records (named after Universal Pictures, whose owner, followed with "I'm a Believer,” "A Little Bit Me, a Lit- MCA Inc., later consolidated its labels into MCA tle Bit You,” “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow),” and Records), he moved to Los Angeles in 1970.

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