Life & Feelings

Today in Music History: December 2, 1979

Music and flowers bring forth melodies of relationships, both love and separation. The velvety petals of the rose strike chords at the heart while the music reaches deep down into the soul. Hold close - in mind, heart, soul - the flowers, the music, the fragrance, the sunlight, for they make up the songs of life. 

Welcome into the spotlight one of a duet whose song about a drifting relationship is still heard over today's airways...

Neil Diamond 2007

"I'd like just to continue to write songs that express my own life and feelings. Writing songs and performing for an audience is such a satisfying creative outlet that I can't think of anything else I could do to top it." ~Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond: singer-songwriter who penned No.1 hits for the Monkees, as well as scoring No.1 hits of his own

For Neil Diamond, it all started when he got his first guitar at age16. He began writing his own songs getting his first taste of success with the 1966 single 'Solitary Man'. That same year, he penned the Monkees' No. 1 hit 'I'm a Believer'. Over the next few years, Diamond continued to score hits on his own. The 70s showcased Neil Diamond in the spotlight with his first solo hit 'Cracklin' Rose' (1970) followed by 'Song Sung Blue' two years later. His 1972 live double album Hot August Night, and its predecessor Moods, defined his signature sound and in the case of Hot August Night his live performance style for the future.

On this day, a #1 hit recorded as a duet: 

Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand

1979 Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand's ‘You Don't Bring Me Flowers’ was at No.1 on the US singles chart. A radio station engineer had spliced together Neil's version with Barbra's version and got such good response, the station added it to their play list. When Neil Diamond was told about it, he decided to re-record the song with Streisand herself, and within weeks of its release, the single went to No.1 in the US and No.5 in the UK. Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand both attended New York City's Erasmus High School, where the Brooklyn-born future superstars were in the school choir at the same time.

Neil Diamond 2014

Neil Diamond is about to unleash his 32nd studio album in the form of 'Melody Road'; his first collection of original material in six years...Read MORE...

More No.1s on this day...

• 
  

  1967 The Monkees album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd went to number one on the US album chart. It was their fourth album to sell over a million copies, following The Monkees, More Of The Monkees and Headquarters.

• 1978 Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy', the singers fifth UK chart topper. A plagiarism lawsuit by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor confirmed that the song had been derived from his composition 'Taj Mahal'. Stewart agreed to donate all his royalties from the song to United Nations Children's Fund.

• 1995 Mariah Carey went to No.1 on the US singles chart with her duet with Boyz II Men 'One Sweet Day'. It made Carey the first artist in history to have two consecutive single debuts at No.1, 'Fantasy' being her first.

• 
  

  2001 Daniel Bedingfield scored his first UK No.1 single with 'Gotta Get Thru This', the single went back to No.1 in January 2002. The track was recorded in Bedingfield's bedroom with his PC and a microphone, using music software.

1976 The first day of the photo shoot for the forthcoming Pink Floyd Animals album cover took place at Battersea Power Station in London, England with a giant inflatable pig lashed between two of the structure's tall towers. A trained marksman was hired ready to fire if the inflatable escaped, but was not needed on this, the first day. Unfortunately the following day the marksman hadn't been rebooked, so when the inflatable broke free from its moorings, it was able to float away, eventually landing in Kent where it was recovered by a local farmer, reportedly furious that it had ‘scared his cows’.

1983 MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video for the first time. Now regarded as the most influential pop music video of all time, in 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive this honor, for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

2000 Thieves broke into the London home Madonna shares with Guy Ritchie. The raiders forced their way in through a basement door then took a set of car keys before loading up Guy Ritchie's car with some of the couple's possessions and driving off.

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...

  

 

Related Post @Awakenings:

In the Spotlight: Barbra Streisand