At Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School, Neil sang in the 100-member fixed chorus, with classmate Barbra Streisand, although the two would not formally meet until over 20 years later. Neil and a friend, Jack Packer, formed a duo singing group called Neil & Jack which they sang at Long Island’s Little Neck Country Club and recored a single for Shell Records.
Neil Diamond then went to work for Sunbeam Music on Manhattan’s famous Tin Pan Alley. Making $50 a week, Neil worked at tailoring songs to the needs and abilities of the company’s B-grade performers. Finding the work unrewarding, Neil soon quit. Renting a storage room in a printer’s shop located above the famed Birdland nightclub on Broadway, Neil began to live there and installed a $30 piano, a pay telephone, and set about writing his songs his own way.
In 1966, Neil Diamond recorded his first album, featuring hit singles such as ‘Solitary Man’ and ‘Cherry, Cherry’. That same year, Diamond appeared twice on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand TV musical variety show. Also, The Monkees recorded several of his songs which he wrote the music to, including ‘I’m a Believer’ which was a hit in 1967. Filling a musical void that existed between ‘Frank Sinatra’ and Elvis Presley, Diamond found wide acceptance among the young and old with his songs.
In December 1971, Diamond signed a $5 million contract with Columbia Records which led to more recording contracts and live concert appearances. In 1972, Diamond took a 40-month break from touring during which he agreed to score the film Jonathan Livingston Seagull which earned him a Grammy Award.
In 1979 he was given the script for the lead role in a planned remake of the 1927 early sound film, The Jazz Singer. Signing a $1 million contract to appear as the lead role as a Jewish cantor trying to succeed in the music industry, Diamond, in his first acting role, was cast opposite the legendary Laurence Olivier and Broadway actress Lucie Arnaz, the production grossed three times it’s budget when released late in 1980. In 1981, Diamond’s hit single, ‘America’, which was part of the film’s soundtrack, was used on news broadcasts to underscore the return of the American hostages from Iran.
