Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941 in New York City ) is an American singer and songwriter . He had top ten hits such as Sweet Caroline , I Am ... I Said , Song Sung Blue , Desireé and Cracklin 'Rosie , especially in the late 1960s and 1970s . With over 125 million records sold (by May 2009), Neil Diamond is one of the most successful musicians worldwide. Diamond also wrote hits like I'm a Believer for the Monkees and Sunflower for Glen Campbell.
Life
Neil Diamond grew up in a Polish-Russian immigrant family of Jewish faith in Brooklyn, New York . After attending school, he mostly had to help out in his father's shop. For his 16th birthday he was given a guitar that he learned to play.
He went with Barbra Streisand on the Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush and sang with her in freshmen -Chor ( english freshman Chorus ) of high school .
Diamond was married to Jaye Posner from 1963, and the marriage resulted in two daughters. The separation took place in 1967 and the marriage was divorced in 1969. From his second marriage to Marcia Murphey, he has two sons, born in 1970 and 1978. Neil Diamond and Murphey separated in 1994 and divorced in 1995 after 26 years. In April 2012, the 71-year-old married his 42-year-old manager, producer Katie McNeil, in Los Angeles.
Musical career
In the early 1960s, Diamond initially worked as a songwriter with rather modest success (for example with Sunday and Me , which he wrote for Jay and the Americans and which landed at number 18). With the title I'm a Believer , which he made available to the Monkees , he had his first world success. Then came the well-known own hits, many also in the repertoire of other pop stars like Roy Orbison , Elvis Presley , Frank Sinatra , Shirley Bassey , Harry Belafonte , Engelbert Humperdinck , Julio Iglesias , Tom Jones , Daliah Lavi , Tina Turner or Johnny Cash could be found or are.
His first composed and self-sung track in the US music charts Billboard Hot 100 from 1966 Solitary Man landed at number 55 and stayed for nine weeks; the later single version of the track stayed in these charts for 24 weeks (number 21) in 1970. With the next published in autumn 1966 Single Cherry Cherry his first Top Ten hit succeeded to twelve weeks Bestplatzierung to 6. The first number 1 hit in 1970 Cracklin 'Rosie , I Am ... I Said in 1971 reached the Top 5 in England and the US, and Song Sung Blue topped the US charts again in 1972. In the same year he received the bronze Bravo Otto as a singer through a vote of the readership of the German-language youth magazine Bravo .
The most successful song that was sung by him but not written by him is He Ain't Heavy ... He's My Brother , a # 20 hit from 1970 previously recorded by the Hollies .
In 1976 Diamond recorded the album Beautiful Noise , which was produced by Robbie Robertson . The album also reached the top of the album charts in German-speaking countries (1976 Austria, 1977 Germany).
In 1977 he released the song You Don't Bring Me Flowers on the album I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight . The song was covered by Barbra Streisand on her album Songbird . A radio DJ mixed both versions together and caused a stir. Diamond and Streisand finally re-recorded the song together. This recording became another No. 1 hit.
In 1980 the film The Jazz Singer was released, in which Neil Diamond played the lead role alongside Laurence Olivier and also provided the film music. With the song America , which reached number 8 on the Billboard Singles Chart, and the ballad Love on the Rocks (number 2), the soundtrack was hugely successful and reached number 1 on the Billboard charts ; the film, however, flopped. After that, Diamond largely withdrew as an actor from the film world, only a good 20 years later he had a guest appearance in Zickenterror - The Devil is a Woman (Saving Silverman) .
1973 Diamond recorded the soundtrack of the same name for the novel adaptation of Richard Bach's Die Möwe Jonathan ( English Jonathan Livingston Seagull ). In 1982, the film ET inspired his hit Heartlight .
In 1996 he recorded a country album with Tennessee Moon , which earned him a 14th place. In 2000, Neil Diamond received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York . In November 2005 his album 12 Songs was released (No. 4 on the Billboard Charts ). It was produced by Rick Rubin , who had also produced the last four studio albums by Johnny Cash . On May 9, 2008 - again in collaboration with Rubin - his 29th studio album entitled Home Before Dark was released , on which a duet with Natalie Maines , the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks , can be heard. The album was Diamond's first number one album on the Billboard charts. In the summer of 2008, Neil Diamond was again on a concert tour in Europe; he performed in Hamburg, Cologne and Munich and for the first time at the Glastonbury Festival .
In 1997, his song Sweet Caroline was first played at the beginning of a football game in the United States . In the following years, playing Sweet Caroline at the beginning of American football games became a tradition for several football teams. It became a stadium anthem to which the audience sang along before the start of the games. This is now also happening with European soccer teams.
On his 2009 album A Cherry Cherry Christmas , Diamond covered the popular music track The Chanukah Song by comedian Adam Sandler . The music video for this was produced by DJ Ashba, guitarist for Guns N 'Roses . Neil Diamond delivered a musical work here in time for the eight-day Jewish festival Hanukkah on the eve of December 12, 2009.
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On March 14, 2011 Diamond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , introduced by Paul Simon .
On August 10, 2012, Diamond received a Star in the Music Recordings category on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 North Vine Street , across from the Capitol Tower . In 2015, Rolling Stone listed Diamond 47th among the 100 best songwriters of all time . After that, Neil Diamond developed a love for country music ("Melody Road").
In January 2018, Diamond announced that he had Parkinson 's disease. Therefore, he will not only cancel his current Australian and New Zealand tour, but will generally not give any more concerts. But he still wants to record music in the studio. In July 2018, he appeared at the command center of fire fighters fighting a bush and forest fire in Colorado. Diamond has lived in Basalt , Colorado for a good 20 years .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1966 | The Feel of Neil Diamond Bang 214 |
- | - | - | - |
US137 (4 weeks) US |
|
| 1967 | Just for You Bang 217 |
- | - | - | - |
US80 (19 weeks) US |
First published: September 1967
Producers: Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry |
| 1968 | Velvet Gloves and Spit UNI 124 |
- | - | - | - | - | |
| 1969 | Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show UNI 73047 |
- | - | - | - |
US82  (25 weeks)US |
|
| 1970 | Touching You, Touching Me UNI 73071 |
- | - | - | - |
US30th (47 weeks)US |
First published: December 1969
Producers: Tommy Cogbill, Tom Catalano |
| Tap Root Manuscript UNI 73092 |
- | - | - |
UK18 (14 weeks) UK |
US13th  (45 weeks)US |
First published: November 1970
Chart entry in UK only in March 1971 Producers: Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano |
|
| 1971 | Stones UNI 93106 |
DE28 (4 months) DE |
- | - |
UK17 (21 weeks) UK |
US11 (25 weeks)US |
First published: November 1971
Producer: Tom Catalano |
| 1972 | Moods UNI 93136 |
DE9 (9 months) DE |
- | - |
UK7 (19 weeks) UK |
US5 (41 weeks)US |
First published: July 1972
Producers: Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano |
| 1974 | Serenade Columbia 32919 |
DE1 (13 months)DE |
AT7 (6 months) AT |
- |
UK11 (14 weeks)UK |
US3 (27 weeks)US |
First published: October 1974
Producer: Tom Catalano |
| 1976 | Beautiful Noise Columbia 33965 |
DE1 (11 months)DE |
AT1 (9 months) AT |
- |
UK10 (26 weeks)UK |
US4th (33 weeks)US |
First published: June 1976
Producer: Robbie Robertson |
| 1977 | I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight Columbia 34990 |
DE13 (7 months) DE |
AT8 (7 months) AT |
- |
UK16 (11 weeks)UK |
US6th × 2
(24 weeks)US |
|
| 1979 | You Don't Bring Me Flowers Columbia 35625 |
DE38 (6 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK15th (23 weeks)UK |
US4th × 2
(29 weeks)US |
First published: December 1978
Producer: Bob Gaudio |
| 1980 | September Morn ' Columbia 36121 |
DE28 (11 weeks) DE |
AT13 (2 months) AT |
- |
UK14th (11 weeks)UK |
US10 (20 weeks)US |
First published: December 1979
Producer: Bob Gaudio |
| 1981 | On the Way to the Sky Columbia 37628 |
DE56 (3 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK39  (13 weeks)UK |
US17th (27 weeks)US |
First published: November 1981
Chart entry in the USA only 1982 Producer: Neil Diamond |
| 1982 | Heartlight columbia 38359 |
- | - | - |
UK43 (10 weeks)UK |
US9 (34 weeks)US |
First published: October 1982
Producers: Alan Lindgren, Burt Bacharach , Carole Bayer Sager , David Foster , Michael Masser , Neil Diamond, Richard Bennett |
| 1984 | Primitive Columbia 39199 |
DE21 (8 weeks) DE |
- |
CH20 (7 weeks) CH |
UK7th (10 weeks)UK |
US35 (25 weeks)US |
First published: August 1984
Producers: Denny Diante, Neil Diamond, Richard Bennett, Richard Perry |
| 1986 | Headed for the Future Columbia 40368 |
DE65 (1 week) DE |
- | - |
UK36 (8 weeks) UK |
US20th (22 weeks)US |
First published: May 1986
Producers: Alan Lindgren, Neil Diamond, Tom Hensley, David Foster, Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Maurice White , Stevie Wonder |
| 1989 | The Best Years of Our Lives Columbia 45025 |
- | - | - |
UK42 (6 weeks) UK |
US46 (16 weeks)US |
First published: December 1988
Producer: David Foster |
| 1991 | Lovescape Columbia 48610 |
- | - | - |
UK36 (13 weeks)UK |
US44 (32 weeks)US |
First published: August 27, 1991
Producers: Neil Diamond, Albert Hammond , Don Was , Humberto Gatica , Peter Asher , Val Garay |
| 1993 | Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building Columbia 57529 |
- | - | - |
UK28 (10 weeks)UK |
US28 (15 weeks)US |
First published: September 28, 1993
Producer: Peter Asher |
| 1996 | Tennessee Moon Columbia 67382 |
- | - | - |
UK12th (14 weeks)UK |
US14th (18 weeks)US |
First published: February 1996
Producers: Bob Gaudio , Don Cook, James Stroud, Richard Landis, Paul Worley |
| 2001 | Three Chord Opera Columbia 85500 |
- | - | - |
UK49 (2 weeks) UK |
US15th (14 weeks)US |
First published: July 24, 2001
Producers: Alan Lindgren, Peter Asher |
| 2005 | 12 songs Columbia 88697 03958 2 |
DE20 (7 weeks) DE |
AT11 (6 weeks) AT |
CH43 (7 weeks) CH |
UK5 (14 weeks)UK |
US4th (16 weeks)US |
|
| 2008 | Home Before Dark Columbia 88697 28078 2 |
DE14 (15 weeks) DE |
AT11 (7 weeks) AT |
CH16 (7 weeks) CH |
UK1 (15 weeks)UK |
US1 (18 weeks)US |
First published: May 6th, 2008
Producer: Rick Rubin |
| 2010 | Dreams Columbia 88697 79839 2 |
DE51 (2 weeks) DE |
AT31 (2 weeks) AT |
CH53 (2 weeks) CH |
UK8th (8 weeks)UK |
US8 (8 weeks) US |
First published: November 2nd, 2010
Producer: Neil Diamond |
| 2014 | Melody Road Capitol B002214902 |
DE24 (3 weeks) DE |
AT25 (1 week) AT |
CH40 (2 weeks) CH |
UK4th (16 weeks)UK |
US3 (10 weeks) US |
First published: October 21, 2014
Producers: Jacknife Lee, Don Was |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
Neil Diamond songs in films
- A woman becomes her man (Switching Channels) , 1988, with Kathleen Turner , Burt Reynolds and Christopher Reeve
- Pulp Fiction (1994) with John Travolta and Bruce Willis (Song: Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon )
- An American Quilt (1995) with Winona Ryder (Song: Cherry, Cherry )
- Beautiful Girls (1996) with Matt Dillon (song: Sweet Caroline )
- Donnie Brasco (1997) with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp (song: Love on the Rocks )
- Austin Powers - Spy in a secret missionary position (1999) with Mike Myers (Song: I'm a Believer )
- Bringing Out the Dead (1999) with Nicolas Cage , directed by Martin Scorsese (song: Red, Red Wine )
- Holy Smoke (1999) with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel (song: Holly Holy )
- The Monkees Story (2000) ( I'm a Believer in the Monkees version )
- Shrek (2001) (Song: I'm a Believer )
- Zickenterror - Der Teufel ist ein Frau (Saving Silverman) (2001) with guest appearance by Neil Diamond (song: I Believe in Happy Endings )
- Wonderland (2003) with Val Kilmer (song: Love on the Rocks )
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) with Will Ferrell (Song: Cherry, Cherry )
- Fever Pitch (Fever Pitch) (2005) with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon (Song: Sweet Caroline )
- The Heavyweight (2012) with Kevin James and Salma Hayek (song: Holly Holy )
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt (songs: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show and Kentucky Woman )
- The Midnight Sky (2020) with George Clooney (Song: Sweet Caroline )
Web links
- www.neildiamond.com
- www.neildiamondhomepage.com
- Neil Diamond at laut.de
- Neil Diamond at the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual references and sources
- ↑ Spelling according to record cover , requested on July 14, 2010.
- ↑ Radically serious. In: Augsburger Allgemeine , March 3, 2006.
- ^ Richar Alleman: New York: The Movie Lover's Guide . Random House. New York City, 1988. pp. 415-416. ISBN 0-767-91634-4 .
- ↑ a b c d Neil Diamond, 71, Marries His Manager, 42 . In: Us Weekly . April 22, 2012.
- ^ Karen S. Schneider: Period of Change. People on April 29, 1996.
- ↑ Clay Cole: Sh-Boom !: The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953–1968) . Morgan James. New York City, 2009. p. 256. ISBN 978-1600-37638-2 .
- ↑ More information on this title in: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 282
- ^ Fenway Park's anthem started innocuously. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original
- ↑ These pop songs made it into the fan curves By Lutz Wöckener, Die Welt May 20, 2017
- ↑ Why "Sweet Caroline" Is A Boston Anthem
- ^ Neil Diamond Reveals the Cute, Pervy Roots of 'Sweet Caroline' , Intelligencer November 21, 2007
- ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Jan Wiehle, "I said yes, and then nobody was there", In: FAZ from January 23, 2021
- ↑ dpa: Neil Diamond ends tour because of Parkinson's. In: FAZ.net . January 23, 2018, accessed October 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Parkinson's! Neil Diamond announces retirement from touring life. Retrieved July 30, 2019 .
- ↑ Neil Diamond thanks firefighters battling wildfire with surprise performance , ABC News , July 29, 2018
- ↑ dpa-infocom GmbH: Neil Diamond surprises with serenades. In: welt.de . July 30, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK1 UK2 US
- ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
- ↑ Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood (2019) in the Internet Movie Database , accessed November 30, 2020
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Diamond, Neil |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Diamond, Neil Leslie; Kaminsky, Noah |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American singer and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 24, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn , New York |