Neil Diamond Totally Explained

Everything about Neil Diamond totally explained

Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor.
   Neil Diamond is one of pop music's most enduring and successful singer-songwriters. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Critic William Ruhlmann wrote of Diamond, "As of 2001, he claimed worldwide record sales of 115 million copies, and as of 2002 he was ranked third, behind only Elton John and Barbra Streisand, on the list of the most successful adult contemporary artists in the history of the Billboard chart." As of May 2005 Diamond had sold 750 million records worldwide, including 48 million records in the U.S.
   Though his record sales declined somewhat after the 1980s, Diamond continues to tour successfully, and maintains a very loyal following. Diamond's songs have been recorded by a vast array of performers from many different musical genres.
   Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, and in 2000 received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award.

Biography

Early life and career

Neil Diamond was born into a Jewish Russian-Polish family. He grew up in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, attending Erasmus Hall and Abraham Lincoln High Schools. At Erasmus Hall, he took part in SING! and sang in the school choir with Barbra Streisand, who then spelled her name "Barbara." 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 épée. He is famous for having rather large ears, a lot like Adam Payne.
Diamond’s first recording contract was in 1960 with the Duel Records label. Billed as "Neil and Jack," an Everley Brothers type duo, Diamond appeared with a high school friend, Jack Packer. They recorded the unsuccessful single "What Will I Do" b/w "You are My Love at Last". Another unsuccessful single, "I'm Afraid" b/w "Till You've Tried Love" was released in 1962 with Jack Packer. 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. Despite a tour of radio stations, the single failed to make the music charts. Billboard magazine gave an excellent review to "Clown Town" in their July 13, 1963 issue, predicting it would be a hit. Unfortunately sales were once again disappointing and Columbia soon thereafter dropped Diamond from their label. Soon after, Diamond was back to writing songs on an upright piano above the Birdland Club.
Diamond spent his early career as a writer in the Brill Building, and had an early success writing "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)," and Love to Love which were recorded by The Monkees. There is a popular misconception that Diamond wrote and composed these songs specifically for the "Pre-Fab Four." In reality, Diamond had written, composed and recorded these songs to release himself, but the cover versions were released before his own . The unintended, but happy, consequence of this was that Diamond began to gain fame not only as a singer and performer, but also as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" was the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.

The 1960s

In 1966 Diamond signed a deal with Bert Berns' Bang Records label. "Solitary Man" was his first hit. Diamond followed it with "Cherry, Cherry", "Kentucky Woman," 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 being 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 with Bang, Diamond tried to sign with a new record label, but the result was a series of lawsuits that coincided with a dip in his professional success. Diamond eventually triumphed in court, and secured ownership of his BANG-era master recordings in 1977.

The 1970s

After Diamond had signed a deal with the MCA Records label of Universal Pictures' parent company, MCA Inc., whose label was then called the Uni Records label in the late 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, California in 1970. His sound mellowed, with such songs as "'Cracklin' Rosie," "Sweet Caroline," "Holly Holy", and the country-and-western tinged "Song Sung Blue", which reached #1 on the Hot 100. "Sweet Caroline" was Diamond's first major hit after his slump. Diamond recently admitted in 2007 he'd written "Sweet Caroline" for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her on the cover of LIFE magazine in an equestrian riding outfit. It took him just one hour in a Memphis hotel to pen the song. The 1971 "I Am...I Said" was a top five hit in both the U.S. and UK and was his most intensely personal effort to date.
   In 1972, Diamond played ten sold out concerts at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. During one of these concerts, he's quoted to have said "I'm playing for you too, tree people," referring to the people hiding and listening from the trees on the hills surrounding the theatre. 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; critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory."The album has become a classic, and in Australia, spent a remarkable 29 weeks at number 1 on the music charts; in 2006, it was voted #16 in a poll of favourite albums of all time in Australia. 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, this time returning, at great expense, to the Columbia Records label, where he recorded the soundtrack to Hall Bartlett's film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which grossed more than the film itself did. The film received hostile reviews and did poor box-office business, and even Richard Bach, author of the source story, disowned the film. In 1974, Diamond released the album Serenade, from which the songs "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before" were released. The second of those, though it had been intended for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull score, was completed too late for inclusion on it. In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by The Band's Robbie Robertson.
   On Thanksgiving night, 1976, Neil made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz. He performed one song, "Dry Your Eyes", which he'd jointly written and composed with The Band's Robbie Robertson, and which had appeared on what was then his most recent album, Beautiful Noise. In addition, he joined the rest of the performers onstage at the end in a rendition of Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released.
   In 1977, Diamond released an album titled I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight, which included the selection "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." He had composed its music and collaborated on its lyrics with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman. The song was covered by Barbra Streisand on her album Songbird, which led Gary Guthrie, then Program Director at WAKY Radio in Louisville, Kentucky, to combine the two recordings in a virtual duet. The popularity of the virtual duet motivated Diamond and Streisand to record the real thing, which was a number one hit in 1978 and became his third song to top the Hot 100 to date. His last 1970s album was September Morn, which includes his new recorded version of I'm a Believer. It and Red Red Wine are the two best-known selections of his authorship and composition to have had other artists make them more famous than his own versions.

The 1980s to present

A movie version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" was planned to star Diamond and Streisand, but plans fell through when Diamond starred in a remake of the Al Jolson classic The Jazz Singer in 1980, opposite Sir Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz. Though the movie wasn't a blockbuster hit at the box office, the soundtrack was a hugely successful album, spawning the 3 Top 10 singles "Love on the Rocks", "Hello Again", and "America". For his role in the film itself, Diamond became the first ever Winner of a Worst Actor Razzie Award, yet he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the same role.
   Another Top 10 chart selection, "Heartlight," was inspired by the blockbuster 1982 movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Though the film's title character is never actually mentioned anywhere in the lyrics, Universal Pictures, which had released E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and was the parent company of the Uni Records label, by then referred to as the MCA Records label, for which Diamond had recorded for years, briefly threatened legal action against both Diamond and the Columbia Records label.
   Diamond's record sales slumped somewhat in the 1980s and 1990s; indeed, as of this time, his last single to make the Billboard charts was released in 1986. However, he continued to make profitable tours.
   Diamond sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XXI in January, 1987.
   The 1990s and 2000s saw a resurgence in Diamond's popularity. His song "America" was a theme song for Michael Dukakis's 1988 Presidential campaign, and later used in promotional advertisements for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. "Sweet Caroline" is a popular sing-along at sporting events and Boston College Football and Basketball games, and is, most notably, the theme song for Red Sox Nation (despite Neil Diamond's frequent assertions that he's been a lifelong "Yankees fan"); the song also gets playing time during the 8th inning of every Mets home game at Shea Stadium, and Washington Nationals games. The New York Rangers also have adopted it as their own and play in when they're winning at the end of the 3rd period. Urge Overkill recorded a memorable version of Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" for Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, released in 1994. In the 2001 comedy film Saving Silverman the main characters play in a Neil Diamond cover band, and Diamond made an extended cameo appearance as himself. 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 Not Ready For Prime Time Player in May 2002. The Finnish band HIM covered "Solitary Man" on their album . Other notable artists who have covered Neil Diamond songs are Elvis Presley, who interpreted "Sweet Caroline" and "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind," the musical team Deep Purple, which interpreted "Kentucky Woman," Lulu, who covered "The Boat That I Row," 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. UB40, whose version of "Red Red Wine", like the Monkees's version of "I'm a Believer", became, as previously noted, better known than Diamond's original, and T. G. Sheppard and Johnny Cash, who each covered "Solitary Man." Despite Diamond's Jewish faith, he's released two Christmas albums.
   Diamond has always had a somewhat polarizing effect, best exemplified by the 1991 film What About Bob? There the protagonist posits, "There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't." The character "Bob" attributes the failure of his marriage to his fiancee's fondness for Neil Diamond.
Smash Mouth covered Diamond's "I'm a Believer" for their 2001 self-titled album.
   Diamond continues to tour and record. 12 Songs, recorded with producer Rick Rubin was released on November 8, 2005 in two editions: 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, and has received generally positive reviews; Earliwine describes the album as "inarguably Neil Diamond's best set of songs in a long, long time." (External Link

) 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 the 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal.)
   On December 31, 2005 Diamond appeared on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006.
   On January 15, 2006, Diamond performed a concert on the opening night of the new Stockton Arena in Stockton, California. Diamond had been paid a $1,000,000 fee to perform, but, due to slow ticket sales and inadequate time to promote the event, the city budget suffered a nearly $400,000 loss that resulted in the dismissal of the Stockton city manager several days later.
   In December 2007, a 2008 UK tour was announced calling at Manchester on June 7th & 8th, Birmingham on June 10th & 11th, & London on the June 21st, 23rd & 24th.
   In January 2008 further UK dates were added including Hampden Park in Glasgow on the 5th June, Rose Bowl, Southampton on the 17th June & the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on the 19th June.
   On Sunday January 13, 2008, The UK's Mail on Sunday issued a free DVD of The Jazz Singer.
   On January 31, 2008 it was announced that he'll appear at the upcoming Glastonbury Festival in the UK.
   He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, 2007.
   On May 27, 2006 he was given an Honorary Doctorate from San Francisco State University (SFSU).
   Diamond's new album "Home Before Dark" was released on May 6th 2008.
   On March 19, 2008, it was announced on the TV show, American Idol, that Neil Diamond would be a guest mentor to the remaining Idol contestants who would be singing Diamond songs on shows to be broadcast on April 29th and 30th 2008.
   On April 8, 2008, Diamond made a surprise announcement in a big-screen broadcast at Fenway Park (home of the world champion Boston Red Sox), that he'd be appearing there "live in concert" on August 23, 2008 as part of his World Tour. The announcement, which marked the first official confirmation of any 2008 concert dates in the USA, came during the traditional eighth-inning sing-along of his "Sweet Caroline," which has become an anthem for Boston fans.
   On April 15, 2008, Diamond announced a summer US Tour schedule, hitting 37 cities starting July 19th and ending October 30th.
   On April 28, 2008, Diamond appeared on the roof of the Jimmy Kimmel building to sing Sweet Caroline after Kimmel was jokingly arrested after trying to sing the song.
   On April 30, 2008, Diamond appeared on American Idol singing his song Pretty Amazing Grace from his new album Home Before Dark.
   On May 2, 2008 the start of Neil Diamond Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio.
   On May 15, 2008 Diamond appeared on the British morning television programme, This Morning, in an interview with Alison Hammond.
   On May 15, 2008, the Billboard Hot 200 listed Diamond's album, Home Before Dark, at number one. This marks the first chart-topping album of Diamond's storied career.
   On May 18, 2008, Diamond's newest album Home Before Dark also enters the UK Album Chart at number one. It's his second British number one on that chart, after hitting the summit in 1992 with a compilation-album. As a result, Diamond, whose debut album was released in 1966, becomes the artist who has taken the longest to top the album chart with an original work.
   The New York-based singer is enjoying his career being revitalised, with Home Before Dark also topping the US chart.

Personal life

Though later divorced in 1969, Diamond married school teacher Jaye Posner in 1963. They had two children, Marjorie and Elyn. In 1969, Diamond married Marcia Murphey; they also had two children, both sons; the first was Jesse, and the second was Micah. Diamond's second marriage ended in 1995. He has been involved with Australian native Rachel Farley, since 1996, having met her while she was handling his Marketing for the Promoter during his 1996 Australian tour.
Diamond is a fan of the Australian Rules Football team the Brisbane Lions as his girlfriend is a native of Brisbane, Australia. He stated this in newspaper interviews that appeared leading up to and during his March 2005 tour of Australia. "Dinkum Diamond barracks for Lions," which correspondent Paul Stewart reported from Los Angeles in The Sunday Mail, August 22, 2004, and "Diamond lustre," published in The Courier Mail on March 11, 2005, tell more of the story.
Diamond belongs to that group of a small number of performers such as David Bowie, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson (under his MJJ Productions banner), Pink Floyd (from 1975's Wish You Were Here onward), Bruce Springsteen, Queen, Genesis (though under the members' individual names and/or the pseudonym Gelring Limited) Johnny Rivers and Van Morrison (Exile Prod. Ltd.; he also produces his own albums) who have their name as the copyright owner on their recordings. (Most records have the recording company as the named owner of the recording.)

Charitable work

In April 1992, Diamond worked with Australian artist Sharon Davson to launch the Hands Up project of Artists For Life. Diamond originally just donated his autographed hand prints to raise funds and awareness for the charity, but the impact of the initiative spread, and over the years, Davson personally painted the hands of over 400 world leaders from many fields of endeavor. The concept has been copied by many other people and causes leading to countless funds raised for numerous causes.

Discography

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."
"Because my musical training has been limited, I've never been restricted by what technical musicians might call a song."
"I've always thought of music as something which gives the words their flight and their wings and the music often comes first, although sometimes I'll have a concept, a title idea, a lyric idea that I want to write and the lyric will come first."

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