Neil Diamond was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Erasmus Hall High School where he sang in the school choir with Barbara Streisand. He learned to play guitar after receiving one as a gift on his 16th birthday.
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 his desire to pursue a career in music.
His 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. They recorded the single "What Will I Do," but it was unsuccessful. In 1962, Diamond signed with Columbia Records as a solo performer. He released the single "At Night," but despite a tour of radio stations the single failed to make the music charts, and Columbia dropped Diamond.
Neil 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," which were recorded by The Monkees. There is a popular misconception that Diamond wrote these songs specifically for the "Pre-Fab Four." In reality, Diamond had written and recorded these songs for release himself, but the cover versions were released before his own. The unintended, but happy, consequence was that Diamond began to gain fame not only as a singer and performer, but as a songwriter. "Believer" was the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.
Diamond signed a deal with Bang Records in 1966. "Solitary Man" was his first hit on the music charts, and Diamond followed it with "Kentucky Woman," "Cherry, Cherry" and other hits. 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.
After signing a deal with MCA Records (then called Uni Records) in the late 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, California. In the 1970s his sound mellowed, with such songs as "'Cracklin' Rosie", "Sweet Caroline" and the country-and-western tinged "Song Sung Blue." "Sweet Caroline" was Diamond's first major hit after his slump.
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 demonstrated Diamond's skills as a performer and showman.
In 1973, Diamond hopped labels again, this time to Columbia Records, where he recorded the soundtrack to Jonathan Livingston Seagull (which grossed more than the film itself). In 1974, he released the album Serenade with the songs "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before." In 1976, he released "Beautiful Noise," produced by the band's Robbie Robertson.
In 1977, he released the album I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight, which included the track "You Don't Bring Me Flowers". The song was covered by Barbara Streisand on her album Songbird, which led Gary Guthrie, then Program Director at WAKY Radio (Louisville) to combine the two 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 hit the top of the Billboard chart to date.
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. Another Top 10 hit, "Heartlight", was inspired by the blockbuster 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Since the 1990s, there has been a resurgence in Diamond's popularity. His song "America" was the theme song for Michael Dukakis' 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, most notably being the theme song for the Red Sox Nation and at Boston College Football and Basketball games. Urge Overkill recorded a memorable version of Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" for Quentin Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction in 1994.
Today, Diamond continues to tour and record. The album 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. On December 31, 2005 Diamond appeared on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006. He will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (www.limusichalloffame.org) in 2007.
Diamond married school teacher Jaye Posner in 1963, and they had two children, (Marjorie and Elyn), but divorced in 1969. That same year, Diamond married Marcia Murphey; they also had two children (Jesse Michael Diamond born in 1970 and Micah Joseph Diamond, born February 14, 1978), but divorced in 1995. Diamond paid a divorce settlement to Marcia of around $150,000,000, the fourth-most expensive divorce in history.
