Neil Diamond

In 1963, he married Jaye Posner with who he has two daughters. The couple divorced six years later in 1969.

In 1979, he collapsed on stage while giving a performance and it was diagnosed that he had a tumor growing on his spine. Despite having surgery for the tumor, he continued to have persistent, severe back pain.

He then married Marcia Murphey, with whom he had two sons. He divorced his second wife in 1994 or 1995, according to different sources.

Neil Leslie Diamond was born on January 24, 1941 to Rose and Akeeba ‘Kieve’ Diamond, a Jewish couple, in Brooklyn, New York.

He attended Abraham Lincoln High School, where he received his high school diploma. During his school years that he was a part of the fencing team. He was later offered a fencing scholarship to New York University, where he specialized in saber.

During his time at the university, he was a member of 1960 NCAA men’s championship team. In his senior year at the university, a music publishing company made him an offer of $50 per week to write songs, which he took up.

In 1962, he signed his first recording contract as ‘Neil and Jack’, with his high-school friend, Jack Parker. The duo recorded two singles ‘You Are My Love At Last’ b/w ‘What Will I Do’ and ‘I’m Afraid’ b/w ‘Till You’ve Tried Love’; both of which, became unsuccessful.

In 1962 itself, he signed a solo contract with Columbia Records. After releasing a couple of singles under the record label, Columbia dropped him from the label because he was not very successful with singles like ‘Clown Town’. He then went back to writing songs.

In 1965, he had his first success as a songwriter with the song, ‘Sunday and Me’, which he wrote for ‘Jay and the Americans’. A string of other successful singles followed including, ‘I’m a Believer’ and ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’. The next year, he signed a record deal with ‘Bang Records’.

His first hit was ‘Solitary Man’. He later followed this hit with a number of singles such as ‘Cherry, Cherry’, ‘Kentucky Woman’ and ‘Do It’. Despite working with ‘Bang Records’, he felt that he had not yet reached his maximum potential. Thus, in 1968, he signed a record deal with MCA Records.

In 1970, he moved to Los Angeles and delivered hits like ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’, ‘Song Sung Blue’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’, which all rose to the top of music charts. The next year, he came up with one of the best hits of his career, ‘I Am… I Said’, which took nearly 4 months to complete.

‘Beautiful Noise’, his 1976 album, was his 10th album overall and is considered his ‘finest all around alum’. After his career slumped a bit, it was this album that brought him back to the forefront and marked the advent of a highly successful career then on. The album featured hit singles including ‘Stargazer’, ‘If You Know What I Mean’ and ‘Dry Your Eyes’. It reached the number 1 position on the Australian Kent Music Report and was certified Platinum in the US and Gold in UK.

‘Home before Dark’, which released in 2008, received positive reviews upon its release and topped music charts in USA, UK and New Zealand and was certified 4X Gold and Platinum in USA and UK, respectively. The album also featured hit singles like ‘If I Don’t See You Again’ and ‘Forgotten’.