Editing Neil Diamond (section)

===1960s===
Diamond was not rehired after his 16 weeks with Sunbeam, and he began writing and singing his own songs for demos. "I never really chose songwriting", he says. "It just absorbed me and became more and more important in my life."<ref name=RS76/> His first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an [[The Everly Brothers|Everly Brothers]]-type duet with high school friend Jack Packer.<ref name=RS88/> They recorded the unsuccessful singles "You Are My Love at Last" with "What Will I Do", and "I'm Afraid" with "Till You've Tried Love", both records released in 1962. ''Cashbox'' and ''Billboard'' magazines gave all four sides positive reviews, and Diamond signed with [[Columbia Records]] as a solo performer later in 1962. In July 1963, Columbia released the single "Clown Town" / "At Night"; ''Billboard'' gave a laudatory review to "Clown Town", and ''Cashbox'' was complimentary to both sides, but it still failed to make the charts. Columbia dropped him from their label and he went back to writing songs in and out of publishing houses for the next seven years.

Diamond wrote wherever he could, including on buses, and used an upright piano above the [[Birdland (New York jazz club)|Birdland Club]] in New York City. One of the causes of this early nomadic life as a songwriter was his songs' wordiness: "I'd spent a lot of time on lyrics, and they were looking for hooks, and I didn't really understand the nature of that", he says.<ref name=RS76/> He was able to sell only about one song a week during those years, barely enough to survive. He found himself only earning enough to spend 35 cents a day on food (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|0.35|1963}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}{{inflation-fn|US}}).<ref name=RS76/> But the privacy that he had above the Birdland Club allowed him to focus on writing without distractions. "Something new began to happen. I wasn't under the gun, and suddenly interesting songs began to happen, songs that had things none of the others did."<ref name=RS76/> Among them were "[[Cherry, Cherry]]" and "[[Solitary Man (song)|Solitary Man]]". "Solitary Man" was the first record that Diamond recorded under his own name which made the charts. It remains one of his personal favorites, as it was about his early years as a songwriter, even though he failed to realize it at the time. He describes the song as "an outgrowth of my despair".<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|37}}

Diamond spent his early career in the [[Brill Building]]. His first success as a songwriter came in November 1965 with "[[Sunday and Me]]", a Top 20 hit for [[Jay and the Americans]]. Greater success followed with "[[I'm a Believer]]"; "[[A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You]]"; "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)"; and "Love to Love", all performed by [[the Monkees]]. He wrote and recorded the songs for himself, but the other versions were released before his own.<ref>{{cite news |title = Interview |work = [[Friday Night with Jonathan Ross]] |date = May 23, 2008 |publisher = BBC One }}</ref> The unintended consequence was that Diamond began to gain fame as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" became a gold record within two days of its release and stayed at the top of the charts for seven weeks, making it the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|44}}

"[[And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind]]" brought covers from [[Elvis Presley]] (who also interpreted "Sweet Caroline") and [[Mark Lindsay]], former lead singer for [[Paul Revere & the Raiders]]. Other notable artists who recorded his early songs were [[Lulu (singer)|Lulu]], [[Cliff Richard]] and the English hard-rock band [[Deep Purple]].{{efn|Richard released versions of "[[I'll Come Running (Neil Diamond song)|I'll Come Running]]", "Solitary Man", "[[Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon]]", "I Got the Feelin' (Oh No No)", and "Just Another Guy".}}

In 1966, Diamond signed a deal with [[Bert Berns]]'s [[Bang Records]], then a subsidiary of [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]. His first release on that label was "Solitary Man", which was his first true hit as a solo artist.{{efn|Prior to the release of "Solitary Man", he had considered using a stage name; he came up with "Noah Kaminsky" and "Eice Charry".<ref>{{cite news|last=Devine|first=Rachel|title=Pick of the week: Neil Diamond|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/pick-of-the-week-neil-diamond-v2nqcm9vcmc|access-date=March 11, 2011|newspaper=The Sunday Times|date=June 1, 2008|location=London}}</ref> Bang Records asked him which name to use, and he thought of his grandmother, who had died prior to the release of "Solitary Man"; he told Bang to "go with 'Neil Diamond' and I'll figure it out later."}} Diamond followed with "Cherry, Cherry" and "[[Kentucky Woman]]".<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|37}} His early concerts featured him opening for bands such as [[Herman's Hermits]] and [[the Who]].<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|45}} As a guest performer with The Who, he was shocked to see [[Pete Townshend]] swinging his guitar like a club and then throwing it against walls and off the stage until the instrument's neck broke.<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|46}}

Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang Records because he wanted to record more ambitious, introspective music, such as "Brooklyn Roads", starting in 1968. Berns wanted to release "Kentucky Woman" as a single, but Diamond was no longer satisfied writing simple pop songs, so he proposed "[[Shilo (song)|Shilo]]" about an imaginary childhood friend. Bang believed that the song was not commercial enough, so it was relegated to being an LP track on ''[[Just for You (Neil Diamond album)|Just for You]]''. Diamond was also dissatisfied with his royalties and tried to sign with another record label after discovering a loophole in his contract that did not bind him exclusively to either WEB IV or Tallyrand, but the result was a series of lawsuits that coincided with a slump in his record sales and professional success. A magistrate refused WEB IV's request for a temporary injunction to prevent Diamond from joining another record company while his contract dispute continued in court, but the lawsuits persisted until February 1977, when he triumphed in court and purchased the rights to his Bang-era master tapes.<ref name=Jackson/>{{rp|51}}

In March 1968, Diamond signed a deal with [[Uni Records]]; the label was named after [[Universal Pictures]], the owner of which, [[MCA Inc.]], later consolidated its labels into [[MCA Records]] (now called [[Universal Music]] after merging with PolyGram in 1999). His debut album for Uni/MCA was in late 1968 with ''[[Velvet Gloves and Spit]]'', produced by [[Tom Catalano]], which did not chart, and he recorded the early 1969 follow-up ''[[Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show]]'' at [[American Sound Studios]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] with [[Tommy Cogbill]] and [[Chips Moman]] producing.