Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993 TAG: 9303030092
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THE NEIL DIAMOND STORY.
Not everyone knows the Neil Diamond story.Perhaps everyone should.
To understand him, if nothing else, whether a fan or not. Diamond will play the Roanoke Civic Center on Thursday night.
Born Jan. 24, 1941, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Diamond was the son of first-generation Americans from Poland and Russia. His father ran a dry-goods business.
He was given his first guitar at age 14 and started lessons after a visit from folk singer Pete Seeger to his summer camp.
One of his high school classmates was Barbra Streisand, who later recorded with him the duet, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."
He attended New York University on a fencing scholarship. He was a pre-med major, flunked music appreciation twice and left school 10 credits shy of graduation in 1962 to take a job as a $50-a-week staff songwriter with a small New York song publishing company.
In 1965, he was "discovered" by Ellie Greenwich and husband Jeff Barry, the team that wrote such standards as, "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Leader of the Pack" and "Be My Baby."
Diamond was signed to Bang Records and released, "Solitary Man." He considered changing his name to Noah Kaminsky or Eice Cherry. Yes, Neil Diamond is his real name.
"Solitary Man" became a regional hit and was followed with a string of national chart-toppers: "Cherry, Cherry," "Thank the Lord for the Night Time" and "Kentucky Woman," among them.
Diamond also wrote "I'm a Believer" and "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," which became hits for the Monkees.
From there, he moved to MCA Records and continued the one-man hit factory: "Sweet Caroline," "Shilo," "Cracklin' Rosie," "Holly Holy" and "Song Sung Blue."
Meanwhile, Diamond moved to the West Coast in 1969. He married for a second time - a marriage that endures today.
He was mostly dismissed as a schlock rocker by the rock press but was embraced by the middle-of-the-road and became one of the largest concert draws in the music business.
Diamond is still a big draw.
In 1972, he became the first modern pop/rock icon to headline a one-man show on Broadway.
The following year, he left MCA for Columbia, signing what was then the richest contract in pop history - $5 million.
He continued to record, but gave up live performing until 1976. Diamond said he needed time for his family and for introspection.
His re-emergence that year marked a creative peak for Diamond with the release of "Beautiful Noise," widely considered by critics as his best album.
"Noise" was produced by unlikely collaborator Robbie Robertson of The Band after Diamond approached him about working on the project. They were neighbors at the time in Malibu.
Diamond went on to perform in the film of The Band's last concert, "The Last Waltz," in which he shared the spotlight with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and Eric Clapton.
Strange company for a guy considered so un-hip.
After "Noise," however, Diamond moved more to the middle of the road, courting the more adult contemporary niche. He released "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with Streisand in 1978.
He starred in the movie, "The Jazz Singer," with Laurence Olivier in 1980. The movie was a flop.
To keep a sense of humor about its failure, Diamond has said that he filled a scrapbook with bad reviews.
A career low point, however, had to be a cover of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," sung as a duet with Kim Carnes.
Yet, as a live performer, Diamond endures. He was a longtime holder of the Madison Square Garden record for consecutive sold-out concerts - nine. He was only recently edged out by The Grateful Dead.
He tours without an opening act and normally plays two half-hour shows. His loyal following of fans puts him in a class with other perennial concert favorites like the Dead, Jimmy Buffett and The Beach Boys.
Reportedly, his singing is stronger than ever, too - the result of his quitting a two-packs-a-day cigarette habit.
And his standing among the hipper-than-thou crowd is improving. A few years back, his "Red Red Wine" became a genuine hit for UB40.
Diamond's personal favorite among the versions of his songs recorded by other artists is Frank Sinatra's swing band spin on "Sweet Caroline."
Further legitimizing his legacy was a review of Diamond's greatest hits package in Rolling Stone magazine last year.
In it, doubters are invited "to throw political correctness to the wind and finally admit the man's peculiar, unfashionable, but ultimately undeniable brilliance."
Plus, it is difficult to argue too much with Diamond's level of success. Worldwide, he has sold nearly 90 million records.
NEIL DIAMOND: Thursday, Roanoke Civic Center. Tickets, $25. 981-1201, (804) 846-8100, 951-TICS, 343-8100.