In 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. Neil was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. At age 16 he received a guitar as a birthday present and he soon began writing songs. He continued to write songs while enrolled as a pre-med student at New York University. Neil left college just short of graduating to accept a songwriting position with a publishing company in New York. His earliest recognition as a songwriter came when his song "Sunday and Me", performed by Jay & the Americans, climbed into the Top 20 in December 1965. Neil soon branched out into recording and performing-releasing his first three hit singles, "Solitary Man", "Cherry, Cherry", and "I Got The Feeling (Oh No, No)" in 1966. He had another major success as a writer when "I'm a Believer" was released as the Monkees' second single in the fall of 1966. It shot to #1, where it stayed seven weeks, becoming the biggest single of 1967.

By the early '70s, Neil was topping the charts as a performer with the self-written #1 singles "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue". He became 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 with releases that began to earn gold and multi-platinum certifications. He also developed into a dynamic concert performer, as demonstrated on his legendary 1972 album, Hot August Night-the album that cemented Neil's status as a concert attraction by hitting #5 and going gold in a month, and later certified double platinum. Neil remains unchallenged as one of the rock-era's greatest songwriters and most charismatic live performers.

From his early success in the '60s to the present, Neil has topped the charts with hit singles, such as, "Holly Holy", "I Am...I Said", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", "Heartlight" and many more. On June 15, 2000 Neil was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and awarded the coveted "Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award", making him one of a select few composers to be honored twice by the organization. Neil's talent as a songwriter is highlighted by the broad range of pop, rock, R&B, folk, country, jazz, reggae, punk, heavy metal, alternative, easy listening, and new age performers who have recorded his songs.

One of many songs that demonstrate the versatility of Neil's songwriting is "Red, Red Wine". After Neil's version appeared on the U.S. charts in 1968, the song was quickly taken up by Jimmy James & the Vagabonds whose cover was a Top 40 U.K. hit. The following year, Jamaican artist Tony Tribe also had a British chart entry with it. Vic Dana gave it another run on the U.S. pop charts in 1970, and Roy Drusky reached the country Top 20 with it in 1971. In 1983, UB40, preparing their Labour of Love album of reggae covers, recorded a version based on the Tony Tribe treatment, unaware it had been written by Neil. Released as a single, the UB40 recording hit #1 in the U.K., earning a Top 40 placing in the U.S. in early 1984. In 1988, the UB40 version was re-released and again topped the U.S. charts. Other examples include Neil's smash hit "Sweet Caroline", widely covered by other artists, and appearing on chart albums by Andy Williams, Bobby Goldsboro, Elvis Presley, the Ventures, Ray Conniff, Boots Randolph, Frank Sinatra, and Waylon Jennings. Anthony Armstrong took "Sweet Caroline" into the Top 40 of the country charts in 1970 and Bobby Womack took it into the Top 20 of the R&B charts in 1972. Hard rockers Deep Purple charted "Kentucky Woman" in 1968 while Randy Barlow made the song a country hit in 1977. In 1994, "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon" was covered by Urge Overkill for its Stull EP, after which it was used in the film Pulp Fiction. After many successful covers, Smash Mouth revived "I'm a Believer" for the 2001 movie Shrek and reached number 25 on the pop charts.

Neil has been nominated for several Grammy awards over the years including Album of the Year and Song of the Year in 1972 for "Song Sung Blue" from the platinum album, Moods, and Record of the Year in 1979 for "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with Barbra Streisand. He earned the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV Special for his now-double platinum album, Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1973.

In 2005, when Neil released his album, 12 Songs, he had already sold over 120 million records worldwide, including over 50 million records in US. 12 Songs entered the charts at number 4 in 2005, and held the same spot in 2006. Neil continues to write and sell out concert performances worldwide.