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Think about this life! In the 1960s, you were a medical student at NYU, just four months away from graduating and becoming a doctor. But you had a secret: you were obsessed with music. And for the love of passion, you take a massive risk.
You drop out of medical school.
You take a job at a “song factory” called Sunbeam Music for just $50 a week. Imagine trading a well-established “could be” life as a doctor for something as cheap as 50 dollars a week?! Can it get any worse? Well, yes, it can.
You get fired from your job.
After only 16 weeks, the bosses look at you and say, “You aren’t good enough.” Now, you have no degree. No job. Just a guitar and a very empty stomach.
The Untold Truth Of Neil Diamond
This was the start of Neil Diamond’s nightmare. But, he didn’t give up. He moved into a tiny, dusty office above the famous music hub at that time, the Birdland Jazz Club. While legends were playing for thousands downstairs, Neil was living on 35 cents a day upstairs, doing what he loved – being a songwriter.
It doesn’t stop there; it keeps getting worse for Diamond.
The real shift for him comes when a theft breaks his heart.
Amid this struggle, Dimond badly wanted to be a star, so he decided to write an album for himself. He wrote the song called “I’m a Believer,” and even recorded a studio version of it. Don Kirshner, the man behind The Monkees, heard the song and snatched it right away! Neil had no other option but to do as the industry giant Don said at that time, to survive. He sold the song for an advance payment of $50 only.
The Monkees – I’m a Believer HD
The song Diamond wrote made history! It topped the charts and became the world’s number 1 hit! Later in his life, when Neil became famous, he admitted that it broke his heart to see the song become a hit under someone else’s name.
Neil remained the “Ghost of Pop” for years. He wrote “Sunday and Me” for Jay and the Americans (a Top 20 hit!) and his secret masterpiece “Red, Red Wine”—which most people today think is a reggae song by UB40!
While others got famous off his words early on, Neil had the last laugh. He went from a starving songwriter to a global icon who could move entire cities just to hear him sing. How did he finally break through? That is a story for another time. Follow us to keep his legacy alive!
