BY Ryan Hayes

 Neil Diamond was born on January 24, 1941  His Parents were Jewish immigrants from poland named Akeeba his father and Rose his mother  As a young boy he would do the casual things like go to school, play with friends, and help around the house  When he turned 15 his parents gave him an acoustic guitar which was when he started to appreciate and love music.  While he was 15 he wrote his first song called Hear them bells but never took interest in recording it until later on in his life.

 He went to Brooklyn Erasmus high school where he and his friend Jack formed a duo and sang at Long Island’s Little Neck Country Club.  The two made a record for Shell Records but it did not turn out successful as they thought it would.  While in high school Diamond took fencing and was given a scholarship to New York University for a pre-med program in hopes of becoming a doctor someday.  But he dropped out of it because he loved music more than becoming a doctor.

 He came upon a songwriter and record producing team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich which gave him a shot with Bang Records  In 1962 Bang Records signed with him because of his song called At Night  It wasn’t all that big but in 1966 he had his first big break being Solitary Man and Cherry Cherry  Shortly after he joined with “The Monkees” where they recorded I’m a believer with him.  In 1967 Diamond wrote Red Red Wine which wasn’t a huge hit until UB40 in1988 remixed it with reggae style  A year later he wrote Shiloh as well as writing a book named Brooklyn Roads  With his fantastic start Diamond was loved by both old and young audiences, but he was criticized by some though because of his wide variety of themes in his music.

 IN 1969 Diamond left Bang Records and signed with California Uni Label  That same year he wrote three stunning hits them being; Sweet Caroline, Holly Holly, and Brothers Love Traveling Salvation Show.  Two years later in 1971 Diamond signed a 5 million dollar contract with Columbia Records  Throughout the 70s Diamond wrote many and very unique songs like Cracklin Rosie, Crunchy Granola Suite, He Ain’t Heavy… He’s My Brother, I am… I said, Song Sung Blue, Desiree, Forever in Blue Jeans, and You don’t Bring Me Flowers

 In the 1980s Diamond encountered probably his most difficult task, of doing a remake on “The Jazz Singer”  With all the singing within the film he was tasked to write new songs for it.  Some of the biggest hits for the album were Love on the Rocks, America, and Hello Again.  Just with these three songs “The Jazz Singer” sold over six million copies of its soundtrack

 In 1988 Diamond released another album called “The Best Years of Our Life”  With the help of David Foster who helped produce and co- write some of the songs for the album.  In 1991 producer Peter Asher helped Diamond with another Album named “Lovescape”  One year later Diamond released his first seasonal collection titled “Neil Diamond’s Christmas Special.”  In January 1993 Diamond re-signed with Columbia Records to release and produce six more albums with them  While working on these albums Diamond went on many tours around the world to spread his popularity to everyone

 Diamond came up with Cracklin Rosie after going to an Indian reservation and had a drink of wine called Cracklin Rosie  Crunchy Granola Suite was written after Diamond was into eating healthy food and wanted to write about it.  Diamond wrote more songs full of emotion than his unique and fun uplifting songs like He ain’t heavy…He’s my Brother  I am…I said took four months to complete  The majority of his songs were completed within a day or so.

 0:00-0:22 Introduction o Drum Enters in quadruple meter o Guitar Enters in quadruple meter  0:23-0:43 Chorus o Soft chorus to start off with o Voice enters o Guitar and Drums still play in quadruple meter  0:44-1:04 Verse 1 o Piano joins in with voice guitar and drums still play in quadruple meter  1:05-1:28 Verse 2 o Instruments play the melody one by one playing right after the other o Voice still sings o Still in quadruple meter o The volume starts to ascend  1:29-1:49 Chorus o Volume now ascended to its peak o Voice Piano Drums and Guitar still play  1:50-2:10 Repeat of Verse 1 o Verse one is repeated with the piano, drum, and guitar playing in quadruple meter still o Can still hear the voice singing  2:11-2:33 Repeat of Verse 2 o Verse two is repeated but with the chimes joining o Piano plays and gets louder at the end of each stanza  2:34-2:57 Repeat of Chorus o The Chorus is repeated o Getting louder o All instruments playing  2:58-2:3:13 Repeat of the last half of Verse 1 o The last half of verse one Is repeated but it is played like the chorus o Starting to get quieter  3:14-3:27 Coda o Repeats the last half of the chorus as it get quieter and ends  LT_JQFfE

 0:00-0:14 Introduction o Guitar, Trumpet, Trombone play o All join in one after the other plays the triple meter  0:15-0:43 Verse 1 o Voice Begins to sing o Guitar Plays o Drums plays every other beat  0:44-1:02 Bridge o Drums continue to play every other beat o Build up to the Chorus  1:03-1:25 Chorus o Trumpets play, Voice sings, can hear the accompany of backup singers   1:26-1:54 Verse 2 o Voice sings o Trombones Play o Drums play every other beat  1:55-2:13 Bridge o Repeat of the bridge o Build up again for the chorus  2:14-2:36 Chorus o Louder than the first time the Chorus played o Trumpets play, backup singers can be heard o Can still hear the main singer  2:37-2:49 2 nd Bridge o Repeat of the intro o Guitar, Trumpet, and Trombone play o Each join in after one plays the triple meter once o No Voice  2:50-3:21 Coda o Song ends with the chorus being repeated o Starts to die down o Trumpets, Trombones play  t7YvK9Hw