His "America" became the theme song for the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign. During the s, Diamond produced six studio albums. He covered many classics from the movies and from famous Brill Building-era songwriters. He also released two Christmas albums, the first of which peaked at No. Keeping his songwriting skills honed, Diamond also recorded two albums of mostly new material during this period.
In , he performed for President George H. In , Diamond opened the Mark of the Quad Cities now the iWireless Center with two shows on May 27 and 28 to a crowd of 27,plus. The s and s saw a resurgence in Diamond's popularity.
Charles Steinberg noted that the song entertains, engages, and with fan participation, the energy in the park changes. The New York Rangers have also adapted it as their own, and play it when they are winning at the end of the 3rd period.
The Pitt Panthers football team also plays it after the third quarter of all home games, with the crowd cheering, "Let's go Pitt".
The Carolina Panthers play it at the end of each home game when they win. The Davidson College pep band plays it at every Davidson Wildcats men's basketball home games, in the second half. Smash Mouth covered Diamond's "I'm a Believer" for their self-titled album. In the comedy film Saving Silverman , the main characters play in a Diamond cover band , and Diamond made an extended cameo appearance as himself.
Diamond even wrote a new song, "I Believe in Happy Endings", especially for the film. Diamond has always had a somewhat polarizing effect, best exemplified by the film What About Bob? There the protagonist posits, "There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't.
Another example of this love—hate dichotomy was shown in the Becker episode "It had to be Ew" [26 ] is largely devoted to ridiculing Diamond and his fans. Diamond continues to tour and record. The album debuted at No. In , Diamond gave filmmaker Greg Kohs permission to use his songs in a documentary. Kohs followed them for eight years and produced the film Song Sung Blue , but needed permission to use Diamond's songs.
The movie was sent to the singer in January , at the recommendation of Eddie Vedder, a supporter of the film and of the duo. Although Sardina had died in , Diamond invited his widow and her family to be his front-row guests at his show in Milwaukee, where he told them he was moved by the film. On March 19, , it was announced on the TV show American Idol that Diamond would be a guest mentor to the remaining Idol contestants who would be singing Diamond songs for the broadcasts of April 29 and 30, On April 8, , Diamond made a surprise announcement in a big-screen broadcast at Fenway Park, that he would be appearing there "live in concert" on August 23, , as part of his world tour.
The announcement, which marked the first official confirmation of any concert dates in the US, came during the traditional eighth-inning sing-along of his "Sweet Caroline", which has become an anthem for Boston fans. On April 28, , Diamond appeared on the roof of the Jimmy Kimmel building to sing "Sweet Caroline" after Kimmel was jokingly arrested trying to sing the song dressed up as a Diamond impersonator.
The result disappointed him as well as his fans and on August 26 he offered refunds to anyone who applied by September 5. According to posts on Diamond's Twitter page, he is currently [ when? He says he plans to play electric guitar on the album, a first for him. In , Diamond stated that he prefers Gibson and Martin acoustic guitars and confirmed that recently he had been playing Gibson electric guitars.
Long loved in Boston, Diamond was invited to sing at the July 4, holiday celebration. Through his Diamond Music Company, Diamond now belongs to that small group of performers whose names are listed as copyright owners on their recordings. The next day, the sales of the DVD surged and prompted Sony to order more copies to meet the high demand. On November 2, , he released the album Dreams , a collection of 14 interpretations of his favorite songs by artists from the rock era.
The album also included a new slow-tempo arrangement on his own song, "I'm a Believer". John, and Tom Waits. On May 27, , he appeared on Irish Television in a live recording in front of a celebrity audience. In December , he appeared at the Kennedy Center Honors gala to accept the honor.
Rushmore float and singing shortened versions of "America" and "Sweet Caroline" to promote tourism for the state of South Dakota. On April 20, , Diamond made an unannounced appearance at Fenway Park to sing "Sweet Caroline" during the 8th inning.
This was the first game at Fenway since the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Sporting a beard, Diamond performed live on the west lawn of the U.
Eventually dropping out of college, Diamond worked as a songwriter for several companies. He joined forces with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, two talented songwriters and producers. The trio began to market Diamond as both a singer and songwriter. Diamond had his first taste of pop success with the single "Solitary Man. In , during an interview with Jimmy Fallon , Diamond put that particular rumor to rest by saying the song was written about his wife.
The song made it into the Billboard Top 5. That same year, Diamond's "Holly Holy" reached the No. In , Neil Diamond scored his first solo No. Also in , Diamond released the hugely popular Hot August Night , which was recorded at a series of concerts he performed at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre.
He also composed the soundtrack for the film Jonathan Livingstone Seagull , based on the Richard Bach book. While the movie was a flop at the box office, the soundtrack earned Diamond a Grammy Award. In , he tried for success on the big screen with his remake of The Jazz Singer. Critics were less than kind regarding his efforts, but the film's soundtrack featured such hits as "Love on the Rocks" and "America. Other artists have also made the charts with their own renditions of Diamond's songs.
In , Diamond released the album Tennessee Moon , which marked his first foray into country music. He later teamed up with Rick Rubin for 12 Songs , which was heralded as a comeback for Diamond. While Diamond had not been on the charts in a while, he remained a very popular live act. A single of "Cherry, Cherry" was excerpted from the release and made number Hot August Night marked Diamond 's ascension to superstar status, and it also marked the end of a phase of his career.
After three weeks of shows at the Winter Garden on Broadway in October, he temporarily retired from live performing. At the same time, he had completed his recording contract, and he signed a lucrative deal with Columbia. His first project for the new label was a song score for the film version of the best-selling novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
It was a troubled project, and by the time the movie was released in October , both Diamond and Richard Bach , the book's author, were suing the film producer. Reviews were awful, and the picture bombed. But Diamond 's score, released as a solo album, was a hit. Even after completing Jonathan Livingston Seagull , Diamond stayed off the road.
He was next heard from in the fall of , when he released his first regular album for Columbia, Serenade , prefaced by the single "Longfellow Serenade," which was his biggest hit since "Song Sung Blue," peaking at number five on the Hot and number one on the AC chart in November. Serenade hit number three in December, another instant gold album that has since gone platinum. Another year went by before Diamond finally returned to live work, doing a few shakedown shows in California and Utah in late January and early February before launching a tour of Australia and New Zealand, followed by more dates in the U.
Meanwhile, working with Malibu neighbor Robbie Robertson of the Band as his producer, he had finished a new album, Beautiful Noise , its songs reflecting back on his early-'60s days in Tin Pan Alley. Leadoff single "If You Know What I Mean," issued in June, reached number 11 on the Hot , and the album, which followed a couple of weeks later, hit number four.
On July 1, , for a hefty fee, Diamond made his Las Vegas debut at the Aladdin Hotel, though he would avoid the entertainment mecca afterward until well into the '90s. In September, he returned to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, this time with both cameras and recording equipment in tow. On November 25, , he appeared as one of the special guests at the Band 's farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco, performing the Beautiful Noise track "Dry Your Eyes," which he had co-written with Robertson.
Both of Diamond 's albums of were associated with television specials. The LP reached number eight in April, selling a million copies by July, with another million registered since then. Diamond undertook a lengthy tour of Europe in the spring and summer. One of the album tracks for I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight was a sad breakup ballad called "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" that Diamond had written for a television pilot about reversed sex roles hence the novelty of having a man complain about romantic neglect.
Labelmate Barbra Streisand knew a big ballad when she heard one, especially one co-written by her personal lyricists, Alan and Marilyn Bergman , and she quickly covered the song, which appeared on her Songbird album in May A disc jockey, realizing that both Diamond 's and Streisand 's versions were in the same key, spliced them together, and began playing the duet he had created on the air, leading to requests for a record.
On October 17, , that desire was satisfied, as the two singers cut a new recording of the song. Diamond had been working on an album to be titled after a tune called "The American Popular Song," written by his pianist, Tom Hensley ; the LP was to be a collection of covers. The unexpected success of the duet upset those plans, however, and Diamond quickly cobbled together an album for release under the title You Don't Bring Me Flowers , which appeared in November.
By the end of January, it peaked at number four, having been certified platinum, with a double-platinum award to follow. The single reached the Top 20 of the pop chart, and the album peaked at number ten in February Any thought that Diamond 's popularity might be cooling, however, was belied by his next project. With virtually no acting experience, he agreed to star in a second screen remake of The Jazz Singer. The response was very similar to what had greeted Jonathan Livingston Seagull seven years earlier, except that this time Diamond was actually in the picture.
Upon release in December , it was panned by critics and became a box office failure. But the Capitol soundtrack, consisting of a Diamond -written and performed song score, was a remarkable hit. By February, the album was up to number three, having already sold a million copies. Eventually, it was certified for sales of five million copies, making it Diamond 's most successful LP to date. It was briefly the most lucrative record contract in history.
At the same time, of course, he had a new Columbia album ready, On the Way to the Sky , promoted by the single "Yesterday's Songs," which topped the AC chart and reached number 11 in the pop chart. The album, however, became his first in a decade to miss the Top Ten, peaking at number Having worked with Bayer Sager , Diamond now turned to collaborating with both her and her then-husband Burt Bacharach , a fellow graduate of the Brill Building era, on his next album Heartlight.
The title song, written by the three and inspired by the release of E. Diamond was relatively inactive on the performing front in , though he did undertake a week-long series of shows at the Forum in Los Angeles in June, his first L. He was, of course, writing, again collaborating with Bacharach and Bayer Sager , and recording. On February 6, , he submitted a new album to Columbia. The label asked him to make changes but, citing the artistic control mandated in his contract, he sued to have the LP released as it was.
In April, however, he withdrew his suit and revised the disc per the record company's requirements. Notwithstanding the label's attempt to enhance the commerciality of the disc, it was a disappointing seller. He reacted by working up what was intended to be one of his most personal albums, as indicated by its proposed title, The Story of My Life. He submitted the collection to Columbia in September , and for the second time in a row he had an album rejected by the label.
This time, he did not protest publicly. Eventually, every song on the album except the former's title track, "The Story of My Life," was replaced. To further promote the upcoming release, now titled Headed for the Future , in January Diamond taped a new television special, Hello Again, for CBS, then the parent company of Columbia.
The special was broadcast May 25, two-and-a-half weeks after the release of Headed for the Future , which itself had been prefaced by the release of the title song written by Diamond , Hensley , and Lindgren as a single in late April.
The effort to modernize Diamond 's sound succeeded only slightly. The album peaked at number 20, an improvement over Primitive , but like its predecessor, it only went gold.
But if his record sales were disappointing, Diamond 's concert tours remained SRO. The album, however, peaked at a disappointing number 59 and didn't even go gold at first though it has since gone platinum.
Diamond 's main collaborator for his next studio album, The Best Years of Our Lives , was David Foster , who produced it and co-wrote several of the tracks. Released in December to coincide with an HBO special, the album peaked at number 46 and went gold, with three of its tracks making the AC chart. Much the same response greeted Diamond 's next studio album, Lovescape , produced by Peter Asher the famed producer of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt , who began to work with Diamond regularly , when it appeared in August
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