Mortezá Neydávood was born in Tehrán, Irán in 1900 to a Jewish family with a musical heritage. His father, Bálá Khán, was a famous drummer, and his house served as a shelter for the most popular musicians. When Neydávood was a child he tried to play the Tár, a Persian instrument, without any instruction. After Bálá Khán discovered his son's talent, he enrolled him in a Ramezán Zolfaghri's music class. He was there for seven months, until his teacher referred him to the music class of Aghá Hosseingholli, a well-known musician. He studied Persian classical music under Aghá Hosseingholli direction for two and a half years, and then he went to the class of Darvish Khán, another master musician, for three years. In a short period of time he was able to get a gold medal award as the most talented student in Darvish Khán's class.

Mortezá Neydávood opened his own class in 1925.He named his school "Darvish", in honor of his deceased master Darvish Khán. In this class he taught Tár and vocals. After he began his class, his student Ghamar, became the star vocalist of Persian traditional music. And after a few years they performed together for the first time in the "Palace Movie Theater" in Tehrán. When Darvish Khán passed away, Neydávood held a benefit concert to pay Darvish Khán‘s many debts.

Neydávood performed for the Tehrán Radio station after it’s opening for ten years. At that time, he was playing in the company of other well-known musicians such as Ghamar, Banán, Sabá, Mahjoobi, Shahnázi, and others. Some of the performances were recorded in “His Master Voice” and "Polyphone" Recording Company. Iranians are familiar with many pieces composed by Neydávood, such as Tasnif-e Morgh-e Sahar, Pishdarámad Isfáhán, Tasnif-e Átashy Dar Sineh Dáram and etc. In 1960 he performed his last official concert in memory of Ghamar.

In 1970, the Iran National Broadcasting invited Neydávood to record the whole "Radeef" (an evolving collection of old melodies that have been categorized into seven modes, which is a source method for learning Persian classical music). He worked on this recording of the "Radeef" for approximately three years. The Iran National Broadcasting presented him with a monetary reward for his outstanding work, but Neydávood declined, saying, "This is a gift for my native country". He offered this collection to the Iran National Broadcasting musical archives. Due to this great gift to his fellow countrymen and the world of music, he was awarded the certificate of honor from the Iran National Broadcasting. He was also awarded a National Honor Medal from the government.

In 1980 at the age of 80 Mortezá Neydávood immigrated with his family to the United States. It was a difficult time for him to be so far away from his country at that age. On September 17, 1984, he was awarded a certificate of honor from the mayor of Los Angeles.
Mortezá Neydávood passed away on July 31, 1990, in San Francisco. He was laid to rest at " Colmá Cemetery", thousands of miles away from his beloved country.

Ashkán Ghafouri