Passaic Composer/Producer/Manager Joel Diamond, After Unheard-Of Heights, is One of the Subjects of New Book, ‘Billionaire’s Row’

Joel Diamond, 81, is the man responsible for discovering and producing a song from the Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles for Gloria Gaynor, “I Am What I Am,” that become the unofficial Gay National Anthem. He produced and released on his Silver Blue Records “One Night In Bangkok” from the musical Chess that became an international hit for super-model Robey. He won’t say if he ever got lucky with actress Candice Bergen who lived next door but he admits to having a crush on her and once leaving her a dozen roses.

He’s produced over 100 charting hits, 47 of which went gold or platinum. With Clive Davis as his mentor and boss, he headed up Sony Music/April Blackwood (with future media mogul Tommy Mattola as his assistant) and negotiated David Geffen’s first million dollar deal (for Laura Nyro). As an actor he co-starred with Ruben Blades in feature film Crossover Dreams. As an artist, he was signed to Sony and then Casablanca Records. His parties were legendary and included the likes of Sammy Davis, Jr., Buddy Rich, Roy Orbison, Joe Pesci, Robert Redford, Lily Tomlin and Mama Cass Elliott.

Just last year, he attempted to sign the homeless subway opera singer, Emily Zamourka, after hitting the heights with another classical act, The Five Browns, five Julliard siblings he discovered, produced and managed who perform simultaneously on five Steinway grand pianos.  They wound up knocking Yo Y o Ma out of the Classical #1 slot and went on to score three consecutive classical #1s.

Now the mammoth penthouse space at 220 Central Park South he inhabited for 20 years is included in a new book by Wall Street Journal writer Katherine Clarke. Billionaire’s Row (Random House) is about the block-long row of Manhattan buildings that is up amongst the most lavish and expensive real estate in America.

"As I look back over my 50-year journey starting as a high school nerd from Passaic,” Diamond tells The Jersey Sound, “singing at weddings and bar mitzvahs, to my exciting 20 years in the Penthouse, I am still going full blast. It amazes even me that I still have the same energy, childlike enthusiasm—nobody has ever accused me of being mature—and laser focus as I had 30 years ago and now stand ready to launch several new artists.”

Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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