Only 10 units short of graduation, Neil quit NYU to write for Sunbeam Music for $50 a week for 16 weeks.
Sunbeam kicked him out of his cubicle when the 16 weeks were up, but by then he’d begun singing his own songs for demo purposes, and he got a one-record deal from Columbia Records. He prompted the single with his first public appearances, lipsynchng the song at hops and little fairs. His first performance was in Pennsylvania.
Rocky Mountain News – September 19, 1976