Diamond played drums and percussion for the Creatures, the backing band for
Jobriath. He wrote "Hot Butterfly", released in 1978 under one of his group's names,
Bionic Boogie.
Luther Vandross provided lead vocals. The song was later
covered by
David Lasley,
the Sweet Inspirations, and
Chaka Khan. His other popular songs included "Risky Changes" and "Dance Little Dreamer" (both released by Bionic Boogie in 1977), "Cream (Always Rises to the Top)" (released by Bionic Boogie in 1978), "Starcruisin'" (1978), "Fancy Dancer" (1978), and "Tiger, Tiger (Feel Good For a While)" (1979). "
Dance Little Dreamer" reached
#1 on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in
1978. "Cream (Always Rises to the Top)" reached #61 in the
UK Singles Chart in January 1979. Diamond's association with Vandross came from the success of
David Bowie's
Young Americans album, which included contributions by Vandross and Diamond's brother
Godfrey (his
sound engineer). Diamond wrote and produced an album for
TK Records recording artist
George McCrae, scoring a
club hit with "Love in Motion". His biggest commercial success was as writer and producer of the single "
More, More, More" recorded by
the Andrea True Connection in 1975. Diamond received a posthumous songwriting credit for
Len's 1999 hit "
Steal My Sunshine", which
sampled "More, More, More". Diamond died of internal bleeding on March 14, 1999, at age 49. ==Discography==