Los Angeles, Jan 24: American singer, songwriter Neil Diamond celebrated his 70th birthday on Monday.
The Brooklyn born singer began his musical career in the early 1960s and had two single releases, "You Are My Love"/"What Will I Do" and "I'm Afraid"/"Till You've Tried Love," with his then band partner Jack Packer; they were known as Neil and Jack. The singles failed to make any impact and the duo split up.
In 1963 Diamond was signed up to Columbia Records but was dropped just as quickly as his first single "Clown Town"/"At Night," failed to make the charts.
Soon after Diamond married a school teacher by the name of Jay Posner.
Then in 1965 Diamond got his lucky break when a song he had written for Jay and the Americans called "Sunday And Me" went into the American top 20.
August 1966 saw the release of Diamond's debut LP "The Feel Of Neil Diamond."
By the early 70s Diamond was back to having his own hits with singles such as "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue." His songs and albums went on to earn him gold and platinum status in the 80s.
As well as recording Diamond has established himself as a prolific live performer.
By 2001 Diamond had racked up album sales of 115 million.
The likes of Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, but to name a few have all recorded songs by Diamond.
It was also recently announced that Diamond is to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. He also set to tour New Zealand and Australia in February and March of this year. AP
