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Neil Diamond
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==Early life and education== Diamond was born in [[Brooklyn]], New York City, to a [[Jewish]] family. All four of his grandparents were immigrants, from [[Poland]] on his father's side and [[Russia]] on his mother's.<ref>{{cite web|first=Jeannette|last=McMahon|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/08/17/3570227.htm|title=What's Up with Neil Diamond?|work=[[1233 ABC Newcastle]]|date=August 17, 2012|access-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/apr/09/popandrock2 | title=Another sad lament | first=Rachel | last=Cooke | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=April 8, 2006 | access-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Anna|last=Pukas|url=https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/43907/NEIL-DIAMOND-I-m-too-much-of-a-loner|title=NEIL DIAMOND: I'm too much of a loner|work=[[Daily Express]]|location=London|date=May 9, 2008|access-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Malina|last=Saval|url=https://variety.com/2015/music/news/this-is-big-time-neil-diamond-tells-a-sold-out-crowd-at-hollywood-bowl-1201501974/|title='This Is Big Time,' Neil Diamond Tells a Sold-Out Crowd at Hollywood Bowl|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=May 20, 2015|access-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Barry|last=Egan|url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/neil-diamond-in-the-rough-30690967.html|title=Neil Diamond in the rough|work=[[Irish Independent]]|date=October 27, 2014|access-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref> His parents were Rose (''[[nΓ©e]]'' Rapoport; 1918β2019) and Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond (1917β1985), a [[dry-goods]] merchant.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UT1Dxhq_XUC&q=Akeeba+Diamond+Rapoport |title=Neil Diamond: Solitary Star β Rich Wiseman |date= January 1, 1988|access-date=February 6, 2013|isbn=9780770108373 |last1=Wiseman |first1=Rich |publisher=PaperJacks }}</ref><ref name=Jackson>{{cite book |last = Jackson |first = Laura |title = Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion |publisher = ECW Press |year = 2005 }}</ref> He grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, having also spent four years in [[Cheyenne, Wyoming]], where his father was stationed in the army.<ref name=RS88/> In Brooklyn, he attended [[Erasmus Hall High School]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/neil-diamond-reveals-erasmus-hall-in-brooklyn-as-location-of-secret-concert/|title=Neil Diamond Performs Free Pop-Up Concert At Erasmus Hall In Brooklyn|website=CBS New York|date=September 29, 2014|access-date=April 7, 2022}}</ref> and was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, along with classmate [[Barbra Streisand]].<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|155}} Diamond recalled they were not close friends at the time: "We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine = Rolling Stone |date = March 21, 1996 |page = 36 }}</ref> Also in their class was chess grandmaster [[Bobby Fischer]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Christopher Andersen|author-link=Christopher Andersen |title=Barbra: The Way She Is |url=https://archive.org/details/barbrawaysheis00ande_234|url-access=limited|year=2006 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-056256-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/barbrawaysheis00ande_234/page/n26 15], 41 }} Streisand later said that Fischer was "always alone and very peculiar β¦ But I found him very sexy." Id. at 41.</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=David Boyer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-flatbush-grads-hail-erasmus-as-it-enters-a-fourth-century.html |title= NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: FLATBUSH; Grads Hail Erasmus as It Enters a Fourth Century |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 11, 2001 |access-date=August 15, 2009}}</ref> After his family moved to [[Brighton Beach]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Neil Diamond Biography |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/neil-diamond |website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Berke |first1=Ned |title=Neil Diamond Will Return Home To Brighton Beach To Film Documentary This Weekend |url=https://bklyner.com/neil-diamond-will-return-home-brighton-beach-film-documentary-weekend-sheepshead-bay/ |work=Bklyner |date=September 25, 2014}}</ref> he attended [[Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York)|Abraham Lincoln High School]]<ref>{{cite news | last=Boyer | first=David | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-flatbush-grads-hail-erasmus-as-it-enters-a-fourth-century.html| title=Neighborhood Report: Flatbush: Grads Hail Erasmus as It Enters a Fourth Century | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=March 11, 2001 | access-date=April 7, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last=Hechinger | first=Fred M. | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/01/01/archives/about-education-personal-touch-helps-about-education-personal-touch.html | title=About Education: Personal Touch Helps | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=January 1, 1980 | access-date=September 20, 2009 | quote=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.}}</ref> and was a member of the [[fencing]] team.<ref name=RS88>{{cite magazine |last = Wild |first = David |title = Neil Diamond Interview |magazine = Rolling Stone |date = March 24, 1988 |pages = 102β109 }}</ref> Also on the team was his best friend, future Olympic fencer [[Herbert Cohen (fencer)|Herb Cohen]].<ref>{{cite book |first = Rich |last = Wiseman |year = 1987 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2UT1Dxhq_XUC&q=%22herb+cohen%22+fencer |title = Neil Diamond: Solitary Star |publisher = PaperJacks |isbn = 9780770108373 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/what-ive-learnt-neil-diamond-wv9hzmskjzw | title=What I've learnt: Neil Diamond | first=Chrissy | last=Iley | work=[[The Times]] | date=December 1, 2012 | access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> For his 16th birthday, he received his first guitar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicbands.com/diamond.html|title=Neil Diamond|website=Classic Bands|access-date=March 15, 2017}}</ref> When he was 16 and still in high school, Diamond spent a number of weeks at [[Surprise Lake Camp]],<ref name=Bream>{{cite book |last = Bream |first = Jon |title = Neil Diamond Is Forever |publisher = MBI Publishing |year = 2009 }}</ref>{{rp|21}} a camp in [[upstate New York]] for Jewish children, when folk singer [[Pete Seeger]] performed a small concert.<ref name=RS76>{{cite magazine |last = Fong-Torres |first = Ben |magazine = Rolling Stone |title = [Interview] |date = September 23, 1976 |pages = 105β109 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=RS76/> He added that his attraction to songwriting was the "first real interest" he had growing up, while also helping him release his youthful "frustrations".<ref name=RS76/> Diamond also used his newly developed skill to 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 sing and use with equal success.<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|10}} He spent the summer after graduation working as a waiter in the [[Catskills]] resort area. There he first met Jaye Posner, who would years later become his wife.<ref name=Bream/>{{rp|26}} Diamond next attended [[New York University]] as a [[pre-med]] major on a fencing scholarship, again on the fencing team with Herb Cohen.<ref>{{cite book |first1 = Joan |last1 = Marans Dim |first2 = Nancy |last2 = Murphy Cricco |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oiVFGs6NT30C&dq=%22herb+cohen%22+fencer&pg=PA220 |title = The Miracle on Washington Square: New York University |year = 2001 |publisher = Lexington Books |isbn = 9780739102169 |via = Google Books |access-date = February 8, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/9714553/Neil-Diamond-at-71-in-fashion-and-in-love.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203115817/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/9714553/Neil-Diamond-at-71-in-fashion-and-in-love.html |archive-date=December 3, 2012 |title = Neil Diamond at 71 β in fashion and in love |work = [[The Daily Telegraph]] |location = London |access-date = February 8, 2018 }}</ref>{{efn|His first life ambition was medicine, as he once told talk show host [[Larry King]], "I actually wanted to be a laboratory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer."}} He was a member of the 1960 [[NCAA Fencing team championship#Men's|NCAA men's championship]] fencing team.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumni.nyu.edu/s/1068/social.aspx?sid=1068&gid=1&pgid=2859 |title=The Archivist's Angle: Formidable Fencers at NYU |publisher=New York University |date= |access-date=August 26, 2015}}</ref> Often bored in class, he found writing song lyrics more to his liking. He began cutting classes and taking [[New York City Subway|the train]] up to [[Tin Pan Alley]], where he tried to get some of his songs heard by local music publishers.<ref name=RS76/> In his senior year, when he was just 10 units short of graduation, Sunbeam Music Publishing offered him a 16-week job writing songs for $50 a week (equivalent to about ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|50|1960|r=-1}}}} per week, in {{Inflation-year|US}}{{inflation-fn|US}}), and he dropped out of college to accept it.<ref name=RS76/>{{efn|Thirty-five years later, in 1995, New York University gave him an honorary degree.<ref name="nytimes1995">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/19/nyregion/commencements-words-to-live-by-music-to-dance-by.html | title=Commencements; Words to Live By, Music to Dance By | date=May 19, 1995 | work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Later in his career, he said, "If this darn songwriting thing hadn't come up, I would have been a doctor now."<ref name=Bream/>{{rp|26}} }}
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