Artist:Neil Diamond
Song:Cherry, Cherry
Album:In My Lifetime
The 1966 single Cherry, Cherry was singer songwriter Neil Diamond's very first top ten hit. Of course he has had plenty of hits but it allows me to talk about his early days. He was born Jan. 24, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia. He attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn where he sang in a chorus along with classmate Barbra Streisand. His family moved to Brighton Beach and Diamond attended Abraham Lincoln High School. Diamond was given a guitar for his 16th birthday. While at summer camp, he saw Pete Seeger perform. And that gave Diamond the idea that he could write songs too. After taking guitar lessons, he started writing songs. After graduating high school, Diamond attended New York University on a fencing scholarship. He was on the 1960 NCAA men's fencing championship team with future Olympic fencer Herb Cohen. Diamond was bored in college and left in his senior year to take a songwriting job at a publisher. After that job ended, Diamond wrote and recorded demos. He released a couple of 1962 singles with friend Jack Parker as Neil and Jack. They were similar to The Everly Brothers. This led to Diamond getting a record deal with Columbia. When the 1963 single Clown Town failed to chart, Columbia dropped him and he returned to freelance writing. He was in the Brill Building with all the other freelance songwriters and publishers. His first success was the 1965 Jay and the Americans top 20 hit Sunday and Me. Then The Monkees' 1966 single I'm a Believer topped the charts. This got Diamond a record deal with Bang Records owned by Bert Berns. Solitary Man was Diamond's first single. After it charted, Berns let Diamond record the 1966 album The Feel of Neil Diamond. Then the single Cherry, Cherry reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was produced by the Brill Building husband and wife songwriting team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Diamond says that he worked on Cherry, Cherry with Barry and Greenwich and they recorded a demo with Artie Butler on piano and organ. A full band version was recorded in the studio. But it was decided that the demo version would be released as a single. Berns tells a different story. But considering that the demo version was used, I believe Diamond's story. You can get both versions on this 1995 Columbia 3CD box set available at a reasonable price. It contains Bang, UNI, MCA and Columbia recordings along with alternate takes and demos. After two albums for Bang, Diamond sued to get out of his contract with Bang and signed with UNI Records in 1968. They were owned by Universal Pictures and the name was changed to MCA Records. And that's when Diamond's career really began. Here's Neil Diamond performing Cherry, Cherry on the Oct. 6, 1966 episode of the TV show Where the Action Is.
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