He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother UPDATE

UPDATE Based on the "Boys Town" logo Bob Russell (NOT the writer of "Honey", "Little Green Apples", "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia", "Sure Gonna Miss Her", etc) composed "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (Scott - Russell) along with Bob Scott who also composed "A Taste of Honey". It was recorded first in 1969 by Capitol Records executive Kelly Gordon who wrote the top ten Frank Sinatra hit "That's Life".

Reg Dwight (Elton John) plays piano on The Hollies (Tony Hicks, Bernie Calvert, Allan Clarke, Bobby Elliott and Terry Sylvester) "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" which came four months after the original recording. The single from the LP of the same name peaked at seven on Billboard and three in the United Kingdom.

The Neil Diamond cover of "He Ain't Heavy ... He's My Brother" reached number four Adult Contemporary and twenty on the Top One Hundred in 1970.
Neil Diamond was familiar with composer Bobby Russell as they both toiled at The Brill Building in NYC. Neil had plans to record the song even before the Hollies version but it didn't happen.