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Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career that began in the 1960s. Diamond has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. He is the third most successful adult contemporary artist on the ''Billboard'' charts behind Elton John and one-time duet partner Barbra Streisand. His songs have been covered internationally by many performers from various musical genres. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and in 2011 was an honoree at Kennedy Center. On the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, he has had eleven No. 1 singles: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desiree", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", "Heartlight" and "I'm a Believer". "Sweet Caroline" is played frequently at sporting events, and has become an anthem for the Boston Red Sox. ==Early life and education== Neil Leslie Diamond was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family descended from Russian and Polish immigrants. His parents were Rose (née Rapaport) and Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond, a dry-goods merchant. He grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, having also spent four years in Cheyenne, Wyoming where his father was stationed in the army.〔 In Brooklyn he attended Erasmus Hall High School〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Neil Diamond Performs Free Pop-Up Concert At Erasmus Hall In Brooklyn " CBS New York )〕 and was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club along with classmate Barbra Streisand.〔 They were not close friends at the time, Diamond recalls: "We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes."〔''Rolling Stone'' magazine, March 21, 1996 p. 36〕 After his family moved he then attended Abraham Lincoln High School,〔Boyer, David. ("Neighborhood Report: Flatbush: Grads Hail Erasmus as It Enters a Fourth Century" ), ''The New York Times'', March 11, 2001. Retrieved December 1, 2007.〕〔Hechinger, Fred M. ("About Education: Personal Touch Helps" ), ''The New York Times'', January 1, 1980. Retrieved September 20, 2009. "Lincoln, an ordinary, unselective New York City high school, is proud of a galaxy of prominent alumni, who include the playwright Arthur Miller, Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, the authors Joseph Heller and Ken Auletta, the producer Mel Brooks, the singer Neil Diamond and the songwriter Neil Sedaka."〕 and was a member of the fencing team.〔Wild, David. "Neil Diamond Interview", ''Rolling Stone'', March 24, 1988 pp. 102-109〕 When he was 16, and still in high school, Diamond spent a number of weeks at Surprise Lake Camp,〔Bream, Jon. ''Neil Diamond is Forever'', MBI Publishing (2009)〕 a camp for Jewish children in upstate New York, when folk singer Pete Seeger came and performed a small concert.〔Fong-Torres, Ben. ''Rolling Stone'' Interview, Sept. 23, 1976 pp. 105-109〕 Seeing the widely recognized singer perform, and watching other children singing songs for Seeger that they wrote themselves, had an immediate effect on Diamond, who then became aware of the possibility of writing his own songs. "And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs," he said.〔 He adds that his attraction to songwriting was the "first real interest" he had growing up, besides helping him release his youthful "frustrations."〔 He used his newly developing skill at writing lyrics to also write poetry. By writing poems for girls he was attracted to in school, he soon learned it often won their hearts. His male classmates took note and began asking him to write poems for them which they would sign and use with equal success.〔 He spent the summer following his graduation as a waiter in the Catskills resort area. There, he met Jaye Posner, who would years later become his wife.〔 Diamond next attended New York University as a pre-med major on a fencing scholarship. His skill at fencing made him a member of the 1960 NCAA men's championship team. However, he was often bored in classes, and found writing song lyrics more to his liking. He began cutting classes and taking the train up to Tin Pan Alley where he tried to get some of his songs heard by local music publishers.〔 By his senior year, and just 10 units short of graduating, Sunbeam Music Publishing offered him a 16-week job writing songs for $50 a week, and he dropped out of college to accept it.〔 Later in his career, he said, "If this darn songwriting thing hadn't come up, I would have been a doctor now."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Neil Diamond」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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