Neil Diamond in concert at the forum, Los Angeles, USA on August 12, 2017
The farewell message was upbeat. ‘This ride,’ he said with a knowing wink to his legions of devoted fans, ‘has been “so good, so good, so good” thanks to you.’
Neil Diamond couldn’t resist making a nod to his biggest hit, Sweet Caroline — the words ‘so good’ are from the chorus — as he dropped the bombshell announcement that the onset of Parkinson’s disease was forcing him into retirement.
And so the star dubbed the Jewish Elvis has called time on a career that has been an unapologetic rejection of the ‘live fast, die young’ rock ’n’ roll cliche.
The septuagenarian is one of pop’s great survivors from an era when few stars got to choose the timing of their retirement. His only vice — apart from a maudlin self-absorption that drove successive wives to distraction — appears to have been heavy smoking.
The retirement announcement could have been timed to coincide with his 77th birthday today but it seemed clear his medical condition was serious as he has had to cancel the remainder of a world tour celebrating the 50th year of his touring career.
The star said he is acting on medical advice. Parkinson’s is a progressive condition that can lead to tremors, difficulty moving and speaking, and eventual memory loss.
He wrote: ‘It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring.’ He insisted he would ‘remain active in writing, recording and other projects for a long time to come’.
‘I have been so honoured to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years.’
Many thousands of fans will be shocked and disappointed — Diamond has made it his business never to let down a fanbase so devoted it has been likened to a cult. The proudly middle-of-the-road singer has never been ashamed of his image.
‘I had to make a conscious decision early in my career. Am I to please the critics or am I going to please the audience?’ he once said. ‘And I thought it was more democratic to try and please the audience.’
True, grey haired today and wearing a toupee, he long ago stopped being the flamboyant, heart-throb performer who caused women to faint with excitement when they saw him on stage.
Yet he remains one of the most popular recording artists in pop history, having sold more than 130 million records, and notched up hits including Sweet Caroline, Cracklin’ Rosie, Forever In Blue Jeans, Love On The Rocks and many others.
Neil Diamond (pictured at Wembley Stadium in 1989) has released 32 studio albums and the last, 2014’s Melody Road, was top five in both the UK and U.S
He has released 32 studio albums and the last, 2014’s Melody Road, was top five in both the UK and U.S.
That 130 million figure doesn’t even include the many songs he wrote for others such as The Monkees, whose biggest hit I’m A Believer was penned by Diamond and earned him a fortune.
Critics love to sneer at his bouffant hairdo and spangly outfits. But other artists have always harboured a deep respect for his talent for writing great tunes.
Diamond songs have been covered by Elvis, Lulu, Cliff Richard and Deep Purple. UB40 made a mega hit of Red Red Wine while Quentin Tarantino had actress Uma Thurman perform a sultry dance to Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon in his cult film Pulp Fiction.
Everyone’s heard a Diamond song, even if they don’t know it, and they have never gone out of fashion. In 2008, at the age of 67, he was a headliner at the Glastonbury Festival — so unhip that he’d become hip.
He joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 and is due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy awards on Sunday. That, sadly, may be the last we see of him on a stage.
Fellow stars paid tribute yesterday. ‘So, so sorry to hear about the great Neil Diamond’s illness,’ said Barry Manilow on Twitter. ‘I’m rooting for you, Neil! Fight on, from another Brooklyn boy!’
Nancy Sinatra tweeted: ‘Keep fighting, old buddy. You’ve got a long way to go yet.’
Diamond’s 55 shows on his latest tour in Europe and the U.S. were all sell-outs.
An enigmatic and sensitive man beneath the brash exterior, he wrote songs that struck a chord with millions with their themes of ordinary life such as self-doubt, loneliness and guilt.
Neil Diamond pictured with his wife Marcia nee Marcia Murphey in an undated photo. The couple married in 1969 and divorced in 1995
He resolutely blazed his own trail, whether in his music or his unfashionably sparkly wardrobe.
He justifed the sequins on the grounds that it made it easier for people to see him on stage.
‘I don’t think being hip has played any meaningful part in my career,’ says the man who’s been endlessly mocked for his open shirts and forest of chest hair.
‘I basically do my own thing . . . if someone says I hate those shirts, I’m going to order a dozen more.’ Brooklyn-born Diamond is a solitary man and it is no coincidence this is the title of his first hit song.
‘I have no friends,’ he once told an interviewer, ‘and it is just impossible to have relationships.’ He admits he is a ‘very difficult person to live with’ despite being an ‘incurable romantic’.
His first wife, school teacher Jaye Posner, had been his High School sweetheart. They married in 1963 and had two daughters, but separated in 1967. Diamond says he was largely responsible for the split because he concentrated too much on his fledgling career.
In 1969, he married his production assistant Marcia Murphey. They had two sons and the marriage lasted 25 years before she filed for divorce.
Diamond spent his life feeling deeply divided and guilty about the conflicting pressures of his career and domestic life.
He loathed writing songs he once said: ‘I hate it. But all right, nobody told me it was gonna be easy,’ he added. ‘I’m a ditch-digger when I’m writing songs. My back hurts? Who cares? I gotta get that ditch dug deep and strong and it’s gotta serve its purpose. There are no short cuts.’
He has also has talked of how he made a hobby of worrying. His paranoia was so great he once had a team of 15 bodyguards. During the Seventies, he stopped working for four years and saw an analyst in order, he said, to keep his sanity and preserve his family life.
However, his marriage to Marcia ended in 1995. Although he later insisted the sum was exaggerated, he didn’t deny reports at the time that he gave Marcia $150 million (£107 million)— about half his fortune — in what would have been a record divorce settlement.
In 1996, he started a long-term relationship with an Australian production assistant, Rae Farley, but it ended unhappily.
The star claims he’s finally found happiness with his third wife, his manager Katie McNeil, who he married in 2012. ‘I have the best woman in the world and I’m taking good care of our relationship,’ he said in 2014.
Although he insists he loves nothing more than to play the clown, in interviews he can come across as almost unbearably serious and introspective.
He has even talked about how in each of his songs he is looking for a ‘chord in me that nothing else is able to touch, and maybe I won’t let anything touch’.
Yet as his fans around the world will tell you, his music touches them all.