There is a reason why Neil Diamond has sold over 100 million records worldwide. The songs he has written just strike a feel-good chord that you want to play over and over again when life is not treating you too well. That's why Diamond's songs are played consistently at wedding receptions and in a packed stadium. Songs like "Sweet Caroline" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" will always leave a smile on your face. But unlike his songs, Diamond's life has actually seen its fair share of tragedy and grief. It's part of the reason why we don't hear much from the prolific songwriter anymore.
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00:00You know Neil Diamond.
00:02Your parents know Neil Diamond.
00:03Even your grandparents know Neil Diamond.
00:05But despite his celebrity, the man has dropped off the radar.
00:09While many of his musical peers have languished in the spotlight, here's why you don't
00:12hear from Neil Diamond anymore.
00:14Sadly, in January 2018, Diamond announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's
00:20disease, an incurable cognitive disorder that causes shaking, stiffness, and trouble balancing,
00:25and eventually leads to anxiety, depression, and dementia.
00:28It is the same disease that Michael J. Fox lives with.
00:31Time reported the reality of this new condition forced Diamond to cancel the remainder of
00:35his 50th anniversary tour, much to his own reluctance and disappointment.
00:39However, though Diamond may have retired from touring, he's not retiring from music.
00:44In the same announcement, he promised to continue writing and recording new songs and sharing
00:48music with the world for as long as he can.
00:50He said to his fans,
00:51"...my thanks goes out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world.
00:55This ride has been so good, so good, so good.
00:59Thanks to you."
01:00It might seem like Diamond has been in the public eye fairly consistently, but in reality,
01:04vanishing acts have always been part of his M.O.
01:07Rather than work himself to death, Diamond prefers to regularly take vacations from performing,
01:11sometimes for years at a time.
01:13For example, The New York Times wrote that back in 72, he announced he was going to be
01:17taking a sabbatical from concerts for a few years.
01:20He was only in his mid-30s, prime music-making age for many artists.
01:24Still, his break lasted until 1976.
01:26"...I had to get away because the insanity was starting to creep in and it was no longer
01:31a normal existence."
01:33He explained his reasoning to Rolling Stone by saying,
01:36"...I've tried to keep some privacy.
01:38I've avoided getting too hot, I've avoided overexposure, and staying away from television
01:42for a long time has been part of it."
01:44When he came back from his break, though, things didn't go quite how he planned, thanks
01:48to the critical failure of his 1980 remake of the film The Jazz Singer.
01:52These days Rotten Tomatoes ranks it at about 15 percent, and beloved film critic Roger
01:57Ebert famously said that the film
01:59"...has so many things wrong with it that a review threatens to become a list."
02:03"...Well, we just blew a very important gig, and there's only one thing to do.
02:09What is that?
02:10Have a party!"
02:12For one, Diamond unconvincingly plays a character two decades younger than he is.
02:16Even worse, as The A.V.
02:17Club points out, the film contains a horribly problematic blackface sequence that never
02:23should have made it past the first draft.
02:25Of course, The Jazz Singer didn't destroy Diamond's musical career, but it certainly
02:29put the brakes on any film ambitions he might have had.
02:33Diamond basically made so much money back in his earlier years that he can afford to
02:36retire from performing and still live comfortably off song royalties.
02:40"...Neil Diamond?"
02:41"...Yeah, I love Neil Diamond."
02:44"...I love Neil Diamond."
02:48Rolling Stone pointed out, Diamond made a deal with MCA's Uni Records in 1967 that earned
02:54him $50,000 per album for five albums.
02:58When that contract was nearing its end, he started getting offers of over $400,000 per
03:02album for a 10-album commitment.
03:05And Diamond still makes crazy amounts of money today, earning royalties whenever people download
03:09hits like Sweet Caroline, which he wrote in 1969, and which, according to The Washington
03:14Post, could still be netting him up to $500,000 a year.
03:17"...I wrote the song, I thought, this is some kind of magic that happened."
03:23On a charitable note, after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Diamond donated a week of
03:28Sweet Caroline royalties to victims of the attack.
03:31It's hard not to notice how Diamond's songs have transformed from pop hits to part of
03:36the tapestry of American life.
03:38Now that he's almost 80 years old, he's done trying to redefine music.
03:42He's made his mark.
03:43His name is in the history books.
03:44So over the past decade, he's more or less been on a retirement tour, picking up Lifetime
03:48Achievement Awards left and right.
03:50"...I never thought that I would be spending an entire life doing this, but it worked out
03:57and I'm as amazed as anybody else."
04:00For example, in 2011, The Telegraph reported he'd earned his spot in the Rock and Roll
04:04Hall of Fame.
04:05In 2012, he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
04:08In 2017, he put out a 50th anniversary collection, and in 2018, the Recording Academy celebrated
04:14his legacy with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
04:17He's seemingly taken a step back from the industry as a whole, and now has the opportunity
04:21to bask in his achievements.
04:23Diamond might be one of the biggest musicians in history, but he's never been a conventional
04:27rock star, and he's not one to hog the spotlight.
04:30Basically, he's just a regular guy who enjoys the creative endeavor of making and playing
04:34music for his fans.
04:35Even back in his heyday, the self-proclaimed Solitary Man wasn't a big partier, according
04:40to The Telegraph.
04:41And while other musicians were hitting the clubs, Diamond preferred to go home and write
04:45music.
04:46Sure, it might seem like this soft-spoken strummer has been even quieter than usual
04:50in the past decade or so, but in reality, stepping back from the spotlight has always
04:55kind of been his thing.
04:56Diamond once told The Telegraph,
04:57I learned from Elvis to avoid becoming public property.
05:01Nothing is worth that."