"Cherry Cherry" #6 10/15/1966

The first Top 10 hit for Neil Diamond. He had been a pre-med major at NYU, but dropped out ten credits short of graduating to pursue songwriting at $50 a week. After six years of being broke, he became an overnight success. And he could've been a doctor! Neil landed at the famed Brill Building and hooked up with fellow writers Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who produced this record as Ellie prominently sang backup vocals. Notice there are no drums - it was a three-chord demo that wound up being released as a single.