The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 698

Number 698

Neil Diamond

"Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon"

(1967)
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Genre:Pop

a career that began in the 1960s, Neil Diamond became a major recording artist, an internationally successful touring act, and a songwriter whose compositions produced hits for himself and others. His earliest recognition, in fact, came as a songwriter associated with the Brill Building era of Tin Pan Alley in the early '60s. But he soon branched out into recording and performing, and by the early '70s was topping the charts with the self-written singles "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue." This enabled him to be one of the more noticeable figures in the singer/songwriter movement of the period, as he made a transition to more of an album artist and those albums began to earn gold and platinum certifications. He also developed into a dynamic concert performer, as demonstrated on his 1972 album Hot August Night. At the same time, however, his music became generally softer, which broadened his appeal while earning him opprobrium, when he was considered at all, by the rock critics who dominated pop music journalism.

But his millions of fans didn't care about that, and they flocked to his shows and bought his albums in big numbers until well into the 1980s. After that, while his concert tours continued to post high grosses, his record sales became more modest. Still, as of 2001, he claimed worldwide record sales of 115 million copies, and as of 2002 he was ranked third, behind only Elton John and Barbra Streisand, on the list of the most successful adult contemporary artists in the history of the Billboard Charts. Meanwhile, having been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and given its lifetime achievement award, he could cite an amazingly broad range of Pop, Rock, R&B, Folk, Country, Jazz, Reggae, Punk, Heavy Metal, Alternative, Easy Listening and New Age performers who had recorded his songs, among them Altered Images, Gene Ammons, Chet Atkins, Michael Ball, Shirley Bassey, Les Baxter, Harry Belafonte, Acker Bilk, the Box Tops, the Brothers Four, Glen Campbell, Vikki Carr,

Johnny Cash, Petula Clark, Ray Conniff, Floyd Cramer, Michael Crawford, Bobby Darin, the Spencer Davis Group, Joey Dee & the Starliters, Deep Purple, the Drifters, David Essex, Percy Faith, José Feliciano, Ferrante & Teicher, the Four Tops, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Goldsboro, Marcia Griffiths, the Heptones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Julio Iglesias, Chris Isaak, Millie Jackson, Wanda Jackson, Jay & the Americans, Waylon Jennings, Tom Jones, Bert Kaempfert, André Kostelanetz, Patti LaBelle, David Lanz, James Last, Peggy Lee, Liberace, Enoch Light, Mark Lindsay, Lulu, Arthur Lyman, Mantovani, Johnny Mathis, Ronnie Milsap, the Monkees, the Music Machine, Wayne Newton, Jane Olivor, Roy Orbison, Johnny Paycheck, Elvis Presley, Boots Randolph, Cliff Richard, Billy Joe Royal, Frank Sinatra, Smash Mouth, the Specials, Barbra Streisand, Third World, B.J. Thomas, Tin Huey, Tina Turner, UB40, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, Urge Overkill, Billy Vaughn, the Ventures, Bobby Vinton, Junior Walker & the All-Stars, Scott Walker, Roger Whittaker, Andy Williams, Bobby Womack, and Robert Wyatt.

Diamond's appeal to audiences was reflected humorously in the film Saving Silverman, featuring a self-spoofing appearance by the singer, which opened in February 2001. More seriously, he finally wrote and recorded a new studio album, Three Chord Opera, released in July 2001. In fact, he did all the writing entirely by himself, the first time he hadn't collaborated with anyone since Serenade in 1974, which gave Columbia a promotional tag to bill the album as another "event" release. Considered as his first regular studio album since Lovescape in 1991, the disc was Diamond's highest-charting release of this sort since Heartlight in 1982, peaking at number 15 and quickly going gold. In December 2001, Columbia's Legacy division released The Essential Neil Diamond, a new two-CD retrospective, and by 2005 it was a platinum seller. The fall of 2003 brought a massive five-CD/one-DVD set, Stages: Performances 1970-2002, which sold well enough to spend a couple of weeks in the chart as Diamond undertook yet another lengthy tour. In 2004, he began working with renowned producer Rick Rubin, a longtime fan who had produced Johnny Cash's 1990s comeback albums, including American III: Solitary Man. Before releasing the result of their collaboration, the 2005 album 12 Songs, he embarked on another world tour.

For Barbra Streisand see Number 836 For Roy Orbison see Number 969

For Glen Campbell see Number 884 For Elvis Presley see Number 840

For Johnny Cash see Number 705 & 624 For Cliff Richard see Number 739 & 666

For Deep Purple see Number 686 For Frank Sinatra see Number 933

For Tom Jones see Numbers 740 & 943 For Smash Mouth see Number 709

For Tina Turner see Number 756 For The Specials see Number 924

For UB40 see Number 857 & 643

What does Rolling Stone think about Neil Diamond
He sho is hip, ain't he? Neil Diamond's metamorphosis from a simple short-haired rock pop hitmaker into one of the heaviest dudes on the planet, a force of international magnitude, has been accomplished with all the grace to which true superstars are heir. Come what may, Neil did it his way. Just look at this album: A zero cool deluxe two-record set with pages inside and everything, the true document of Neil's historic concert last summer under the stars of the best city in America, Los Angeles, which is a real stronghold of Diamond fandom. They're hooked, they can't help it, and no wonder when you look at the way the man carries himself and the trappings he swaddles his soul and product in.

Huh? Is there Subtitles for that description? Swaddles? Is that a word?

Crowbarreds choice for Website to find more on Neil Diamond ... Click on the address http://www.neildiamondhomepage.com/

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Oh nooo, Nu Ah , very un Justin Timberlake) and the Album ranked at Number (he's not "hip" for our readers)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 68.5 out of 108