Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. Neil Diamond Quiz

Answer: 1941 in New York

Singer, song-writer, actor, musician, Neil Leslie Diamond made his debut in Brooklyn, NY on January 24, 1941 to parents of Russian and Polish descent. As a child he changed schools nine times, was quite shy and introverted and had difficulty making friends easily, so he got much of his enjoyment from watching the singing cowboy heroes from his favorite early TV westerns.

Interesting fact: When he turned 16, with his interest in music growing, he asked for and received his first guitar as a birthday present.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln H.S.

While in the first high school he attended, Erasmus High, he sang in a 100 member glee club that also included a young girl singer you may have heard about named Barbra Streisand. Later he collaborated with Alan and Marilyn Bergman on "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" which had originally been a 45 second theme song for a forgettable TV show called "All That Glitters" (1977). He would release it as a solo on his 1977 album "I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight". Babs would sing it on her 1977 "Songbird" album and again in a duet with Neil on his CD "The Very Best of Neil Diamond" (2011).

Interesting fact: Ms. Streisand also sang it at the 1979 Grammy Awards.

Answer: Fencing

I kid you not, when he was at Lincoln High he enjoyed playing on the school's fencing team and his specialty in saber earned him the ticket to N.Y.U.
He enrolled in pre-med because his grandmother had died of cancer and he wanted to try to find a cure. However, when he was a senior, a music publisher made him, as they say in N.Y. "an offer he couldn't refuse": $50 a week for song-writing, and so he dropped out of college with just six months to go until graduation.

Interesting fact: He was a member of N.Y.U.'s N.C.A.A championship fencing team in 1960.

Answer: The Monkees

Although Neil had originally written and recorded those tunes with the intention of releasing them himself they were sold to and released by The Monkees first.

Interesting fact: Another song that he wrote and sang, "Kentucky Woman" (1966) was recorded by the U.K group, Deep Purple (1968).

Answer: Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park

I suspect many of you knew that Red Sox Nation enjoys that exhilarating song as the unofficial middle of the 8th inning anthem, but did you know that it was a picture of Caroline Kennedy on the cover of "Life" magazine which inspired him to write it?
That photo created an image in his mind and he wrote the song about five years after seeing the shot of young Caroline in full equestrian gear astride a horse, with her parents in the background. He said he did the writing and composing in just about an hour while in a hotel room in Memphis, TN.
Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley have also recorded it.

Interesting fact: Neil sang "Sweet Caroline" to Caroline Kennedy via satellite in 1997 at the celebration of her 50th birthday and it was on that occasion, after all the years, he revealed that she had been the inspiration for what he calls the most important song of his career.
The song has since gone platinum with sales of over a million copies.

Answer: I'm a Believer

"I'm a Believer" was recorded by The Monkees with Mickey Dolenz as the lead vocalist. For seven consecutive weeks starting December 31, 1966, it hit the number one spot on the U.S. "Billboard Hot 100 Chart".

Interesting fact: It was the best selling record for the year of 1967.

Answer: Neil and Jack

Neil and a high school buddy, Jack Packer (A.K.A. Jack Parker) comprised a duo known for obvious reasons as Neil and Jack, a duo that was envisioned as being an Everly Brothers type act. While they didn't quite (!) reach the heights of Phil and Don they did manage to record a couple of forgettable tunes: "You Are My Love At Last" and "Till You've Tried Love" both in 1962.
He signed his next contract (this time as a solo act) with the slightly better known "Columbia Records" in 1962 and although his "Clown Town" (1963) received a highly favorable review from "Billboard" magazine it turned out to be a commercial failure.

Interesting fact: In the "what have you done for me lately" category, it was only very shortly thereafter that he was dropped by the Columbia label with whom he would later sign a long term contract.

Answer: I Am...I Said

"I Am...I Said" was written by Diamond and he released it as a single in March 1971. It reached number four on the U.S. Pop Singles Chart by May and it was later included in his album, "Stones" released in November, 1971. It also provided him with his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

Interesting fact: For his role in "The Jazz Singer" (that of Yussel Rabinovitch) he became the first winner of the Razzie Award for worst actor to also receive a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for the same role.

Answer: Beautiful Noise

"Beautiful Noise" was from the album of the same name released in 1976 by Columbia Records. It's a concept song that is an homage to, and his emergence from, the Brooklyn streets where he spent his early youth.

Interesting fact: "Beautiful Noise" and the other three songs listed above are all on the great twenty three track C.D. "The Very Best of Neil Diamond" (2011).

Answer: Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Neil's 1984 induction into to the Songwriters Hall of Fame was the first of these awards to come his way.
The second one came in 2000 when he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award.
The most coveted recognition of his career came in 2011 when the museum by the lake in Cleveland, Ohio better known as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame welcomed Neil as a member of this elite club.
His induction into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame came in 2008.

Interesting fact: When Neil was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame another co-inductee that day was one of his old high school glee club members, Barbra Streisand.