Be listening today as Scott Shannon counts down
NEIL DIAMOND's Top 20 Greatest Hits
on The True Oldies Channel.
(You can "Listen Live" here):
Congratulations to Neil Diamond on his long-overdue nomination for inclusion in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!
Today, between 10 am and 3 pm Chicago Time, Scott Shannon will be playing Neil's 20 Greatest Hits (along with a few "extras" and surprises thrown in along the way!)
In fact, it sounds like Scott has expanded his official Neil Diamond coverage to spill over until tomorrow, too ... so we don't know WHAT kind of other features he's got planned ... but we DO know that you'll hear plenty of Neil Diamond Music over the next 48 hours!!!
Meanwhile, you can follow along with the countdown
right here on The Forgotten Hits Website:
NEIL DIAMOND'S TOP 20 GREATEST HITS
1. Cracklin' Rosie
2. Song Sung Blue
3. Sweet Caroline
4. You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Barbra Streisand)
5. Holly Holy
6. Love On The Rocks
7. Hello Again
8. America
2. Song Sung Blue
3. Sweet Caroline
4. You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Barbra Streisand)
5. Holly Holy
6. Love On The Rocks
7. Hello Again
8. America
(all three of the above selections are from the
soundtrack to Neil's film "The Jazz Singer")
9. I Am, I Said
10. Cherry Cherry
11. Thank The Lord For The Night-Time
12. September Morn
13. Desiree
14. Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
15. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon
16. Solitary Man
17. Stones
18. Longfellow Serenade
19. Forever In Blue Jeans
20. Cherry Cherry (Live "Hot August Night" version)
9. I Am, I Said
10. Cherry Cherry
11. Thank The Lord For The Night-Time
12. September Morn
13. Desiree
14. Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
15. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon
16. Solitary Man
17. Stones
18. Longfellow Serenade
19. Forever In Blue Jeans
20. Cherry Cherry (Live "Hot August Night" version)
According to The Billboard Charts, Neil Diamond hit The Top 100 an incredible 56 times between 1966 and 1986. 37 of those records reached The Top 40, 13 made The Top 10 and THREE went all the way to #1!!!
In addition, songs written by Neil Diamond have ALSO topped the charts for The Monkees ("I'm A Believer") and UB40 ("Red Red Wine")
Neil's first chart hit came courtesy of Jay and the Americans, who reached #18 in 1965 with their rendition of "Sunday And Me" (a Forgotten Hit to be sure!)
Neil's OWN career took off the following year when "Solitary Man" became his first chart hit. (It stopped at #55 when it was first released during The Spring of 1966 ... but would go all the way to #21 when it was re-released four years later after Neil left Bang Records for greener pastures on the Uni Records label.)
His first Top Ten Hit, "Cherry Cherry" came three months later. (Ironically, it, too, would re-enter the charts a few years later, albeit in a "live" version, recorded as part of Neil's classic "Hot August Night" package.)
Just as Neil's career was starting to take off, he was approached about giving his song "I'm A Believer" to The Monkees. Neil had been planning to make this track his own new single ... but was ultimately convinced that if The Monkees recorded it, it would become a much bigger hit. It proved to be a good decision ... The Monkees were at the top of their game in late 1966 / early 1967 and "I'm A Believer" went on to top The Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for seven straight weeks and sell millions of copies ... in fact, it became the biggest hit of their career. (Truth is Neil Diamond probably earned more money from the royalties of The Monkees' record than he made on all of his OWN record sales combined that year!)
A little known fact is that, as part of the deal in giving up this song, Neil was also promised that another one of his compositions would be used on The Monkees' follow-up single. So, after "I'm A Believer" ran its course on the charts, their next single became "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", which went all the way to #2.
(I guess that's what you'd call a REALLY good decision!!! A real "win-win" for all parties concerned!)
Congratulations, Neil, on your Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nomination ... and thank you for entertaining us for the past 45 years with your great music!
NEIL DIAMOND's Top 40 National Hits
(Based on the record's peak performance in either Billboard or Cash Box Magazine)
NOTE: Top 10 Records are shown in BLUE; #1 Records are shown in RED
1966 - Cherry Cherry; I Got The Feelin' (Oh No No)
1967 - You Got To Me; Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon; I Thank The Lord For The Night Time; Kentucky Woman
1968 - New Orleans
1969 - Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show; Sweet Caroline; Holly Holy
1970 - Shilo; Soolaimon; Solitary Man; Cracklin' Rosie; He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother; Do It
1971 - I Am, I Said; Stones
1972 - Song Sung Blue; Play Me; Walk On Water
1973 - Cherry Cherry (Live); Be
1974 - Longfellow Serenade
1975 - I've Been This Way Before
1976 - If You Know What I Mean
1978 - Desiree; You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Barbra Streisand)
1979 - Forever In Blue Jeans
1980 - September Morn
1981 - Love On The Rocks; Hello Again; America
1982 - Yesterday's Songs; On The Way To The Sky; Be Mine Tonight; Heartlight
1983 - I'm Alive
THIS JUST IN: Scott Shannon will be featuring Neil Diamond music throughout the day both today AND tomorrow on The True Oldies Channel ... a full-blown tribute to Neil's music ... so if you're a fan of this music ... or know somebody who is ... be sure to tell them to tune into The True Oldies Channel!
And, Neil's got a brand new album coming out next month, too!
According to reports, Neil's new LP, "Dreams" will be released on November 2nd on Columbia Records ... featuring an entire album of Neil interpreting the songs of others!
Diamond says: “You never know how long you’ve got and a lot of these songs have been waiting for me to record them for 40 years.”
Diamond says: “You never know how long you’ve got and a lot of these songs have been waiting for me to record them for 40 years.”
The 14 songs on "Dreams" include Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” The Beatles’ “Blackbird” and “Yesterday,” Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia,” and The Eagles’ “Desperado.” Diamond also re-makes one of this own songs — “I’m a Believer,” which became the biggest of The Monkees’ hits after the group and its producer Don Kirshner were impressed by Diamond’s 1966 demo.
