Diamond was born inBrooklyn, New York City, to aJewish family. All four of his grandparents were immigrants, fromPoland on his father's side andRussia on his mother's.[6][7][8][9][10] His parents were Rose (née Rapoport; 1918–2019) and Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond (1917–1985), adry-goods merchant.[11][12] He grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, having also spent four years inCheyenne, Wyoming, where his father was stationed in the army.[13] In Brooklyn, he attendedErasmus Hall High School[14] and was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, along with classmateBarbra Streisand.[12]: 155
For his 16th birthday, he received his first guitar.[24] When he was 16 and still in high school, Diamond spent a number of weeks atSurprise Lake Camp,[25]: 21 a camp inupstate New York for Jewish children, when folk singerPete Seeger performed a small concert.[26] Seeing the widely recognized singer perform, and watching other children singing songs for Seeger that they wrote themselves, had an immediate effect on Diamond, who then became aware of the possibility of writing his own songs. "And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs", he said.[26] He added that his attraction to songwriting was the "first real interest" he had growing up, while also helping him release his youthful "frustrations".[26]
Diamond also used his newly developed skill to write poetry. By writing poems for girls he was attracted to in school, he soon learned it often won their hearts. His male classmates took note and began asking him to write poems for them, which they would sing and use with equal success.[12]: 10 He spent the summer after graduation working as a waiter in theCatskills resort area. There he first met Jaye Posner, who would years later become his wife.[25]: 26
Diamond next attendedNew York University as apre-med major on a fencing scholarship, again on the fencing team with Herb Cohen.[27][28][b] He was a member of the 1960NCAA men's championship fencing team.[29] Often bored in class, he found writing song lyrics more to his liking. He began cutting classes and takingthe train up toTin Pan Alley, where he tried to get some of his songs heard by local music publishers.[26] In his senior year, when he was just 10 units short of graduation, Sunbeam Music Publishing offered him a 16-week job writing songs for $50 a week (equivalent to about $530 per week in 2024[30]), and he dropped out of college to accept it.[26][c]
Diamond was not rehired after his 16 weeks with Sunbeam, and he began writing and singing his own songs for demos. "I never really chose songwriting", he says. "It just absorbed me and became more and more important in my life."[26] His first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", anEverly Brothers-type duet with high school friend Jack Packer.[13] They recorded the unsuccessful singles "You Are My Love at Last" with "What Will I Do", and "I'm Afraid" with "Till You've Tried Love", both records released in 1962.Cashbox andBillboard magazines gave all four sides positive reviews, and Diamond signed withColumbia Records as a solo performer later in 1962. In July 1963, Columbia released the single "Clown Town" / "At Night";Billboard gave a laudatory review to "Clown Town", andCashbox was complimentary to both sides, but it still failed to make the charts. Columbia dropped him from their label and he went back to writing songs in and out of publishing houses for the next seven years.
Diamond wrote wherever he could, including on buses, and used an upright piano above theBirdland Club in New York City. One of the causes of this early nomadic life as a songwriter was his songs' wordiness: "I'd spent a lot of time on lyrics, and they were looking for hooks, and I didn't really understand the nature of that", he says.[26] He was able to sell only about one song a week during those years, barely enough to survive. He found himself only earning enough to spend 35 cents a day on food (equivalent to $4 in 2024[30]).[26] But the privacy that he had above the Birdland Club allowed him to focus on writing without distractions. "Something new began to happen. I wasn't under the gun, and suddenly interesting songs began to happen, songs that had things none of the others did."[26] Among them were "Cherry, Cherry" and "Solitary Man". "Solitary Man" was the first record that Diamond recorded under his own name which made the charts. It remains one of his personal favorites, as it was about his early years as a songwriter, even though he failed to realize it at the time. He describes the song as "an outgrowth of my despair".[12]: 37
Diamond spent his early career in theBrill Building. His first success as a songwriter came in November 1965 with "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit forJay and the Americans. Greater success followed with "I'm a Believer"; "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You"; "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)"; and "Love to Love", all performed bythe Monkees. He wrote and recorded the songs for himself, but the other versions were released before his own.[32] The unintended consequence was that Diamond began to gain fame as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" became a gold record within two days of its release and stayed at the top of the charts for seven weeks, making it the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.[12]: 44
In 1966, Diamond signed a deal withBert Berns'sBang Records, then a subsidiary ofAtlantic. His first release on that label was "Solitary Man", which was his first true hit as a solo artist.[e] Diamond followed with "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman".[12]: 37 His early concerts featured him opening for bands such asHerman's Hermits andthe Who.[12]: 45 As a guest performer with The Who, he was shocked to seePete Townshend swinging his guitar like a club and then throwing it against walls and off the stage until the instrument's neck broke.[12]: 46
Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang Records because he wanted to record more ambitious, introspective music, such as "Brooklyn Roads", starting in 1968. Berns wanted to release "Kentucky Woman" as a single, but Diamond was no longer satisfied writing simple pop songs, so he proposed "Shilo" about an imaginary childhood friend. Bang believed that the song was not commercial enough, so it was relegated to being an LP track onJust for You. Diamond was also dissatisfied with his royalties and tried to sign with another record label after discovering a loophole in his contract that did not bind him exclusively to either WEB IV or Tallyrand, but the result was a series of lawsuits that coincided with a slump in his record sales and professional success. A magistrate refused WEB IV's request for a temporary injunction to prevent Diamond from joining another record company while his contract dispute continued in court, but the lawsuits persisted until February 1977, when he triumphed in court and purchased the rights to his Bang-era master tapes.[12]: 51
In mid 1969, Diamond moved to Los Angeles. His sound mellowed with such songs as "Sweet Caroline" (1969), "Holly Holy" (1969), "Cracklin' Rosie" (1970) and "Song Sung Blue" (1972), the last two reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100. "Sweet Caroline" was Diamond's first major hit after his slump. In 2007, Diamond said he had written "Sweet Caroline" forCaroline Kennedy after seeing her on the cover ofLife in an equestrian riding outfit,[34] but in 2014 he said in an interview on theToday show that it was written for his then wife, Marcia. He could not find a good rhyme with the name "Marcia" and so used the name Caroline.[35][36] It took him just one hour in a Memphis hotel to write and compose it. The 1971 release "I Am...I Said" was a Top 5 hit in both the US and UK and was his most intensely personal effort to date, taking over four months to complete.[37]
In 1971, Diamond played seven sold-out concerts at theGreek Theater in Los Angeles. The outdoor theater, which was noted for showcasing the best of current entertainers, added a stereo sound system for the first time. Diamond was also backed by a 35-piece string orchestra and six backing singers.[12]: 86 After the first night, one leading newspaper called it "the finest concert in Greek Theater history."[12]: 87
I have a love-hate relationship with songwriting. I love it because it's so satisfying...when it works. I hate it because it forces you to dig inside yourself. It is without question the most difficult thing I do.
Performing, on the other hand, is the most joyful and happiest thing I do. The bigger the audience the more anticipation, the more excitement.
In August 1972, he played again at the Greek, this time doing ten shows. When the show was first announced, tickets at the 5000-seat theater sold out rapidly.[12]: 93 He added a quadraphonic sound system for his performance to create full surround sound. The performance of August 24, 1972, was recorded and released as the live double albumHot August Night. Diamond recalled: "Hot August Night captures a very special show for me. We went all out to really knock 'em dead in LA."[12]: 93 Many consider it his best work; criticStephen Thomas Erlewine calledHot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record... [showing] Diamond the icon in full glory."[39] The album became a classic, and was remastered in 2000 with additional selections. In Australia, which at the time was said to have the most Neil Diamond fans per capita of any country,[12]: 94 the album ranked No. 1 for 29 weeks and stayed in their top 20 bestsellers for two years.[12]: 94 [40]
In the fall of 1972, Diamond performed for 20 consecutive nights at theWinter Garden Theater in New York City.[12]: 95 That theater had not staged a one-man show sinceAl Jolson in the 1930s.[12]: 95 The approximately 1,600-seat Broadway venue provided an intimate concert setting not common at the time, with every performance reportedly sold out.[12]: 95 It also made Diamond the first rock-era star to headline on Broadway.[12]: 95 The review inThe New York Times stated:
Neil Diamond's one-man show seemed, on the face of it, to be a brash idea. One-man shows have traditionally been associated with talents likeJudy Garland andDanny Kaye. But Mr. Diamond is clearly a brash young man and one with both the musical track record and the performance macho to bring it off...He needn't worry about comparisons with the likes of Garland and Kaye.[12]: 95
After the Winter Garden shows, Diamond announced that he needed a break, and he engaged in no live performances until 1976. He used those four years to work on the score forHall Bartlett's film version ofRichard Bach'sJonathan Livingston Seagull and to record two albums,Serenade andBeautiful Noise. He said years later, "I knew I'd come back, but I wasn't sure when. I spent one year on each of those albums...I'd been on the road six years. I had a son 2½ and I felt he needed me more than the audience did. So for four years I devoted myself to my son Jesse." He also said he needed to get back to having a private life, one where he could be anonymous.[38]
In 1973, Diamond switched labels again, returning to Columbia Records for a million-dollar-advance-per-album contract (about $7.1 million per album in 2024[30]). His first project, released as a solo album, was the soundtrack toJonathan Livingston Seagull. The film received hostile reviews and did poorly at the box office, and the album grossed more than the film did. Richard Bach, author of the best-selling source story, disowned the film, and he and Diamond sued Bartlett, though for differing reasons; in Bach's case, it was because he felt the film omitted too much from the original novella, whereas in Diamond's case, it was because he felt the film had butchered his score. "After 'Jonathan,'" Diamond declared, "I vowed never to get involved in a movie again unless I had complete control." Bartlett angrily responded to Diamond's lawsuit by criticizing his music as having become "too slick...and it's not as much from his heart as it used to be." Bartlett also added, "Neil is extraordinarily talented. Often his arrogance is just a cover for the lonely and insecure person underneath."[41]
Despite the controversy surrounding the film, the soundtrack was a success, peaking at No. 2 on theBillboard albums chart. Diamond also won aGolden Globe Award for Best Original Score and aGrammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture. Thereafter, Diamond often included aJonathan Livingston Seagull suite in his live performances, as he did in his 1976Love at the Greek concert and for his show in Las Vegas that same year.[42]
Diamond returned to live shows in 1976 with an Australian tour, "The 'Thank You Australia' Concert", which was broadcast to 36 television outlets nationwide. He also again appeared at the Greek Theater in a 1976 concert,Love at the Greek. An album and accompanying video/DVD of the show includes a version of "Song Sung Blue" with duets withHelen Reddy andHenry Winkler, a.k.a.Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli ofHappy Days.[43]
He began wearing colorful beaded shirts in concert, originally so that everyone in the audience could see him without binoculars.[44]Bill Whitten designed and made the shirts for Diamond from the 1970s until approximately 2007.[45]
In 1974, Diamond released the albumSerenade, from which "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before" were issued as singles. The latter had been intended for theJonathan Livingston Seagull score, but Diamond had completed it too late for inclusion. That same year he appeared on a TV special forShirley Bassey and sang a duet with her.[46]
Diamond performing on opening night of the Theater For the Performing Arts at theAladdin Hotel & Casino, on July 2, 1976.
In 1976, he releasedBeautiful Noise, produced byRobbie Robertson ofThe Band. On Thanksgiving 1976, Diamond made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert,The Last Waltz, performing "Dry Your Eyes", which he wrote jointly with Robertson, and which had appeared onBeautiful Noise. He also joined the rest of the performers onstage at the end in a rendition ofBob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released".
Diamond was paid $650,000 (about $3.6 million in 2024[30]) by the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, to open its new $10 million Theater For the Performing Arts on July 2, 1976. The show played through July 5 and drew sold-out crowds at the 7,500-seat theater. A "who's who" of Hollywood attended opening night, ranging fromElizabeth Taylor toChevy Chase, and Diamond walked out on stage to a standing ovation. He opened the show with a story about an ex-girlfriend who dumped him before he became successful. His lead-in line to the first song of the evening was, "You may have dumped me a bit too soon, baby, because look who's standing here tonight."
He performed atWoburn Abbey on July 2, 1977, to an audience of 55,000 British fans. The concert and interviews were taped by film directorWilliam Friedkin, who used six cameras to capture the performance.[47]
In 1977, Diamond releasedI'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight, including "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", for which he composed the music and on the writing of whose lyrics he collaborated withAlan Bergman andMarilyn Bergman. Barbra Streisand covered the song on her albumSongbird, and later, a Diamond-Streisand duet was recorded, spurred by the success of radio mash-ups. That version hit No. 1 in 1978, his third song to top the Hot 100. They appeared unannounced at the 1980Grammy awards ceremony, where they performed the song to a surprised and rapturous audience.[48]
His last 1970s album wasSeptember Morn, which included a new version of "I'm a Believer". It and "Red Red Wine" are his best-known original songs made more famous by other artists. In February 1979, the uptempo "Forever in Blue Jeans", co-written and jointly composed with his guitarist, Richard Bennett, was released as a single fromYou Don't Bring Me Flowers, Diamond's album from the previous year.[49]
In 1979, Diamond collapsed on stage in San Francisco and was taken to the hospital, where he endured a 12-hour operation to remove what turned out to be a tumor on his spine.[50] He said he had been losing feeling in his right leg "for a number of years but ignored it". When he collapsed, he had no strength in either leg.[50] He underwent a long rehabilitation process just before starting principal photography on his filmThe Jazz Singer (1980).[51] He was so convinced he was going to die that he wrote farewell letters to his friends.[50]
A planned film version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" to star Diamond and Streisand fell through when Diamond instead starred in a 1980 remake of the Al Jolson classicThe Jazz Singer alongsideLaurence Olivier andLucie Arnaz. Though the movie received poor reviews, the soundtrack spawned three top-10 singles, "Love on the Rocks", "Hello Again", and "America", the last of which has emotional significance for Diamond. "'America' was the story of my grandparents," he told an interviewer. "It's my gift to them, and it's very real for me ... In a way, it speaks to the immigrant in all of us."[25]: 89 The song was performed in full by Diamond during the film's finale.[52] An abbreviated version played over the film's opening titles.
The song was also the one he was most proud of, partly because of when it was later used: national news shows played it when the hostages were shown returning home after theIran hostage crisis ended; it was played on the air during the 100th anniversary of theStatue of Liberty;[53] and at a tribute to slain civil rights leaderMartin Luther King Jr., as well as the Vietnam Vets Welcome Home concert, he was asked to perform it live. At the time, a national poll found the song to be the number-one most recognized song about America, more than "God Bless America".[13] It also became the anthem of his world tour two weeks after the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, when he changed the lyric at the end from; "They're coming to America", to "Stand up for America!" Earlier that year he performed it after a request from former heavyweight championMuhammad Ali.[54]
The film's failure was due in part to Diamond never having acted professionally before. "I didn't think I could handle it," he said later, seeing himself as "a fish out of water".[25]: 85 For his performance, Diamond became the first-ever winner of a Worst ActorRazzie Award, even though he was nominated for aGolden Globe Award for the same role. CriticDavid Wild noted that the film showed that Diamond was open about his religion: "Who else but this Jewish Elvis could go multi-platinum with an album that featured a version of 'the Kol Nidre?'"[13][55] Diamond later told theLos Angeles Times, "For me, this was the ultimatebar mitzvah."[25]: 85
Another Top 10 selection, "Heartlight", was inspired by the blockbuster 1982 movieE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Though the film's title character is never mentioned in the lyrics, Universal Pictures, which had releasedE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and was the parent company of the Uni Records label (by then called MCA Records), for which Diamond had recorded for years, briefly threatened legal action against both Diamond and Columbia Records.
Diamond's record sales slumped somewhat in the 1980s and 1990s, his last single to make theBillboard Pop Singles chart coming in 1986, but his concert tours continued to be big draws.Billboard magazine ranked Diamond as the most profitable solo performer of 1986.[56] He released his 17th studio album in 1986,Headed for the Future, which reached number 20 on theBillboard 200. Three weeks later he starred inHello Again, his first television special in nine years, performing comedy sketches and a duo medley withCarol Burnett.[57]
In January 1987, Diamond sang the national anthem at theSuper Bowl. His "America" became the theme song for theMichael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign. That same year, British bandUB40's reggae interpretation of Diamond's ballad "Red Red Wine" topped theBillboard Pop Singles chart and like the Monkees' version of "I'm a Believer", became better known than Diamond's original version.
During the 1990s, Diamond produced six studio albums. He covered many classic songs from the movies and from famous Brill Building-era songwriters. He also released two Christmas albums, the first of which peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Album chart. Diamond also recorded two albums of mostly new material during this period. In 1992, he performed for PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush's finalChristmas in WashingtonNBC special. In 1993, Diamond opened the Mark of the Quad Cities (now the iWireless Center) with two shows on May 27 and 28 to a crowd of 27,000-plus.
The 1990s saw a resurgence in Diamond's popularity. "Sweet Caroline" became a popular sing-along at sporting events. It was used atBoston College football andbasketball games. College sporting events in other states also played it,[58] and it was even played at sports events in other countries, such as aHong Kong Sevens rugby tournament[59] or a soccer match in Northern Ireland.[60] It is played at every home game of the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League. It became the theme song ofRed Sox Nation, the fans of theBoston Red Sox.[61][f]
A more severely stripped-down-to-basics album,12 Songs, produced byRick Rubin, was released on November 8, 2005, in two editions: a standard 12-song release, and a special edition with two bonus tracks, including one featuring backing vocals byBrian Wilson. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard chart, and received generally positive reviews; Erlewine describes the album as "inarguably Neil Diamond's best set of songs in a long, long time."[63]12 Songs also became noteworthy as one of the last albums to be pressed and released bySony BMG with theExtended Copy Protection software embedded in the disc. (See the2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal.)
On March 19, 2008, it was announced on the television showAmerican Idol that Diamond would be a guest mentor to the remainingIdol contestants, who would sing Diamond songs for the broadcasts of April 29 and 30, 2008. On the April 30 broadcast, Diamond premiered a new song, "Pretty Amazing Grace", from his then recently released albumHome Before Dark.[65] On May 2, 2008, Sirius Satellite Radio started Neil Diamond Radio. On April 8, 2008, Diamond made a surprise announcement in a big-screen broadcast at Fenway Park that he would be appearing there "live in concert" on August 23, 2008, as part of his world tour. The announcement, which marked the first official confirmation of any 2008 concert dates in the US, came during the traditional eighth-inning singalong of "Sweet Caroline", which had by that time become an anthem for Boston fans.
On April 28, 2008, Diamond appeared on the roof of theJimmy Kimmel building to sing "Sweet Caroline" after Kimmel, who had been singing the song dressed as Diamond, was "arrested" for impersonating the singer.
Diamond performing atThe Roundhouse, London on October 30, 2010.
Home Before Dark was released May 6, 2008, and topped the album charts in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.[66]
On June 29, 2008, Diamond played to an estimated 108,000 fans at theGlastonbury Festival in Somerset, England on the Concert of a Lifetime Tour; technical problems, including the sound cutting out, marred the concert.[67][68] In August, Diamond allowed cameras to record his entire four-night run at New York's Madison Square Garden; he released the resulting DVD in the US in 2009, one year to the day of the first concert.[69]Hot August Night/NYC debuted at No. 2 on the charts. On the same day the DVD was released, CBS aired an edited version, which won the ratings hour with 13 million viewers. The next day, the sales of the DVD surged, prompting Sony to order more copies to meet the high demand.
On August 25, 2008, Diamond performed atOhio State University while suffering from laryngitis. The result disappointed him as well as his fans, and on August 26, he offered refunds to anyone who applied by September 5.[70]
On November 2, 2010, Diamond released the albumDreams, a collection of 14 interpretations of his favorite songs by artists from the rock era. The album also included a new slow-tempo arrangement of his "I'm a Believer". In December, he performed a track from the album, "Ain't No Sunshine", on NBC'sThe Sing-Off withCommitted andStreet Corner Symphony, twoa cappella groups featured on the show.The Very Best of Neil Diamond, a compilation CD of Diamond's 23 studio recordings from the Bang, UNI/MCA, & Columbia catalogs, was released on December 6, 2011, on the Sony Legacy label.
The years 2011 and 2012 were marked by several milestones in Diamond's career. On March 14, 2011, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. In December, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center at the 2011Kennedy Center Honors.[71][72] On August 10, 2012, Diamond received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.[73] In November 2012, he topped the bill at the centenary edition of theRoyal Variety Performance in the UK, which was transmitted[where?] on December 3. He also appeared in theMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[74]
On April 20, 2013, Diamond made an unannounced appearance at Fenway Park to sing "Sweet Caroline" during the 8th inning.[75] It was the first game at Fenway since theBoston Marathon bombing.[76] On July 2, he released the single "Freedom Song (They'll Never Take Us Down)", with 100% of the purchase price benefiting One Fund Boston and theWounded Warrior Project.[77] Sporting a beard, Diamond performed live on the west lawn of theU.S. Capitol as part ofA Capitol Fourth, which was broadcast nationally by PBS on July 4, 2013.[78]
In January 2014, it was confirmed that Diamond had signed with theCapitol Music Group unit ofUniversal Music Group, which also owned Diamond's Uni/MCA catalog. UMG also took over Diamond's Columbia and Bang catalogues, which meant that all of his recorded output would be consolidated for the first time.[79][80]
On July 8, 2014, Capitol Records announced, via a flyer included with Diamond's latest greatest hits compilations,All-Time Greatest Hits, which charted at 15 on theBillboard 200, that his next album,Melody Road, which was to be produced by Don Was andJacknife Lee, would be released on September 30, 2014. In August, the release date was moved to October 21.[81]
In September 2014, Diamond performed a surprise concert at his alma mater, Erasmus High School in Brooklyn. The show was announced via Twitter that afternoon. On the same day, he announced a 2015 "Melody Road" World Tour.[82] The North American leg of the World Tour 2015 launched with a concert in Allentown, PA at thePPL Center on February 27 and ended at thePepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on May 31, 2015.[83] Diamond used new media platforms and social media extensively throughout the tour, streaming several shows live on Periscope and showing tweets from fans who used the hashtag #tweetcaroline on two large screens.The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote: "This, my friends, wasn't your grandfather's Neil Diamond concert. It was a multimedia extravaganza. Twitter. Periscope...It was a social media blitzkrieg that, by all accounts, proved to be an innovative way to widen his fan base."[84]
In October 2016, Diamond releasedAcoustic Christmas, a folk-inspired Christmas album of original songs as well as acoustic versions of holiday classics. Produced by Was and Lee, who had producedMelody Road, the idea for the album began to take shape as theMelody Road sessions ended. To "channel the intimate atmosphere of '60s folk, Diamond recordedAcoustic Christmas with a handful of musicians, sitting around a circle of microphones, wires and, of course, Christmas lights."[85]
In 2019, his 1969 signature song "Sweet Caroline" was selected by theLibrary of Congress for preservation in theNational Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[88]
On March 7, 2020, despite his retirement due to Parkinson's disease, Diamond gave a rare performance at the Keep Memory Alive Power of Love Gala at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where he was being honored.[89]
On March 22, 2020, Diamond posted a video to YouTube playing "Sweet Caroline" with slightly modified lyrics ("...washing hands, don't touch me, I won't touch you...") in response to the widespread social distancing measures implemented due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.[90]
In April 2021, theNew York Times reported thatA Beautiful Noise, a musical based on Diamond's life and featuring his songs, would open at the Emerson Colonial Theater in Boston in the summer of 2022. The musical was scheduled to open on Broadway following the month-long run in Boston.[91]
A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond musical, opened at the Broadhurst Theater on Broadway in December 2022.
Universal Music Group acquired Diamond's songwriting catalog and the rights to his Bang Records, Columbia Records, and Capitol recordings in February 2022. The acquisition also included 110 unreleased tracks, an unreleased album and archival videos.[92]
On June 18, 2022, Diamond sang "Sweet Caroline" during the 8th-inning stretch of a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. In a surprise appearance, he was joined byWill Swenson, who portrays Diamond in the musicalA Beautiful Noise.[93]
In January 2018, Diamond announced that he would stop touring after he was diagnosed withParkinson's disease.[94][95] Tour dates on the final leg of Diamond's "50 Year Anniversary World Tour" in Australia and New Zealand were cancelled. An announcement on his official website said he was not retiring from music and that the cancellation of the live performances would allow him to "continue his writing, recording and development of new projects."[96]
On July 28, 2018, Diamond and his wife, Katie, made a surprise visit to the Incident Command post inBasalt, Colorado, near Diamond's home, to thank firefighters and their families for efforts to contain theLake Christine Fire, which began on July 3 and scorched 12,000 acres (4,900 ha; 49 km2). Diamond performed a solo acoustic guitar concert in their honor.[97]
Diamond remains active in raising awareness about Parkinson’s disease and continues to find fulfillment through music and advocacy.[98]
In 1967, Diamond was featured on the fourth episode of the detective dramaMannix as the 'featured' artist in a small underground club called 'The Bad Scene' and was interrupted during his singing by one of many fights that took place weekly on the show.[99]
In 2000, Neil Diamond appeared onstage with a Diamond tribute band,Super Diamond, surprising them before their show at House of Blues in Los Angeles.[100]
In the 2001 comedy filmSaving Silverman, the main characters play in a Diamondcover band; Diamond made an extended cameo appearance as himself. Diamond even wrote and composed a new song, "I Believe in Happy Endings", for the film. He sat in with the tribute band Super Diamond at the film's premiere party.[101]
In recent times, fans of theEngland national football team singSweet Caroline since Tony Parry (Wembley DJ) played it after England had defeated Germany at Wembley inEuro 2020. He said "I thought Sweet Caroline went slightly better than Three Lions in the post-match sing-song."[102]
Diamond has been married three times. In 1963, he married his high-school sweetheart, Jaye Posner, who had become a schoolteacher. They had two daughters.[103] The couple separated in 1967[104] and divorced in 1969.[103]
On December 5, 1969, Diamond married production assistant Marcia Murphey.[103] They had two sons.[103] The marriage ended in 1994[103] or 1995.[104]
In 1996, Diamond began a relationship with Australian Rae Farley after the two met inBrisbane,Australia. The songs onHome Before Dark were written and composed during her struggle with chronic back pain.[51]
On September 7, 2011, in a message on Twitter, the 70-year-old Diamond announced his engagement to the 41-year-oldKatie McNeil. The couple married in front of family and close friends in Los Angeles in 2012.[105] In addition to serving as Diamond's manager, McNeil produced the documentaryNeil Diamond: Hot August Nights NYC.[106] Diamond said that his 2014 albumMelody Road was fueled by their relationship, explaining:
There's no better inspiration or motivation for work than being in love. It's what you dream of as a creative person. I was able to complete this album—start it, write it and complete it—under the spell of love, and I think it shows somehow.[107]
^Sources variously list the marriage as ending in 1994 or 1995.
^His first life ambition was medicine, as he once told talk show hostLarry King, "I actually wanted to be a laboratory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer."
^Thirty-five years later, in 1995, New York University gave him an honorary degree.[31] Later in his career, he said, "If this darn songwriting thing hadn't come up, I would have been a doctor now."[25]: 26
^Prior to the release of "Solitary Man", he had considered using a stage name; he came up with "Noah Kaminsky" and "Eice Charry".[33] Bang Records asked him which name to use, and he thought of his grandmother, who had died prior to the release of "Solitary Man"; he told Bang to "go with 'Neil Diamond' and I'll figure it out later."
^Hechinger, Fred M. (January 1, 1980)."About Education: Personal Touch Helps".The New York Times. RetrievedSeptember 20, 2009.Lincoln, an ordinary, unselective New York City high school, is proud of a galaxy of prominent alumni, who include the playwright Arthur Miller, Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, the authors Joseph Heller and Ken Auletta, the producer Mel Brooks, the singer Neil Diamond and the songwriter Neil Sedaka.
^Diamond had originally titled that particular albumThe American Popular Song, but he changed its title after his and Streisand's duet, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", charted.
^abSchneider, Karen S (April 29, 1996)."Period of Change".People. Archived fromthe original on May 12, 2012.The sadness permeating much of the album is evoked not only by Diamond's artistic expression but by his very real sense of loss since the end last year of his 25-year-marriage to Marcia Murphey, 54.
.jpg)
