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| Birth Name(s) : Neil Leslie Diamond |
Date of Birth: January 24, 1941 |
| Status:
N/A
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Partner:
N/A |
| Profession:
Actor/Musician |
Official Site
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Full Neil Diamond Biography
Neil Diamond is renowned for his charismatic performances and reputation as one of his generations premier musicians. His career started off with the hit single "Cherry Cherry" in 1966 and he has yet to fail to delight his fans with fresh approaches to new music.
Neil also made it to the big screen in the starring role of "The Jazz Singer" (1980). He declined the role of "Lenny", which ended up going to Dustin Hoffman. |
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Additional Neil Diamond Biography
Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, and then in 2000 was given its Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been eligible for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame since 1989, but has thus far been ignored.
Diamond was awarded a fencing scholarship to New York University, and was a pre-med student, interested in biology, but dropped out with less than a year left, both due to his dislike of organic chemistry and to pursue a career in music.
At some point during this time, Neil considered changing his name to Noah Kaminsky, as reported in a New York Times article on October 1, 1972. Some sources, including pre-2000 editions of Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" book, subsequently incorrectly reported that this was his real name. Neil also considered changing his name to Eice Cherry, as he told Barbara Walters in a 1985 televised interview.
He spent his early career as a writer in the Brill Building, and had an early success writing the songs "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," and "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)," 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 for 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. "Believer" was the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.
Diamond then signed a deal with the Bang Records label in 1966. "Solitary Man" was his first hit on the music charts, and Diamond followed it with "Kentucky Woman," "Cherry, Cherry" and other hits. An alternate version of "Cherry Cherry" can be found on the "In My Lifetime" album. Diamond'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.
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.
However, Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang Records, and wanted 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 Diamond's professional success. Diamond eventually triumphed in court, and secured ownership of his BANG-era master recordings in 1977.
In 1972, Diamond played ten 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; critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... 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.
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 was not a blockbuster hit at the box office, the soundtrack was a hugely successful album, spawning the 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.
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 ex-wife's fondness for Neil Diamond.
Diamond is a fan of the Australian Rules Football team the Brisbane Lions. 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 is one of a small number of performers such as Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd from 1975's Wish You Were Here onward, Queen, Genesis (though under the members' individual names and/or the pseudonym Gelring Limited) and Johnny Rivers who have their name as the copyright owner on their recordings. (Most records have the recording company as the named owner of the recording.) |
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Neil Diamond Quote(s)
| It's very difficult for me to say 'I love you' but to sing 'I love you' for me is easier. |
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