Neil Diamond

2.1. Birth and family background

Neil Leslie Diamond was born on January 24, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York City, into a Jewish family. All four of his grandparents were immigrants, with his paternal grandparents hailing from Poland and his maternal grandparents from Russia. His parents were Rose (born Rapoport, 1918-2019) and Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond (1917-1985), who worked as a dry-goods merchant. Diamond spent his childhood in various homes across Brooklyn, and also lived for four years in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where his father was stationed in the army.

2.2. School years and musical inspiration

Diamond attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where he was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club. Notably, his classmates included future superstar Barbra Streisand and chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer. Diamond later recalled that he and Streisand were not close friends during that time, describing themselves as "two poor kids in Brooklyn" who "hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes." After his family relocated to Brighton Beach, he transferred to Abraham Lincoln High School, where he joined the fencing team. His best friend and future Olympic fencer, Herb Cohen, was also on the team.

For his 16th birthday, Diamond received his first guitar, marking a pivotal moment in his musical journey. During his high school years, he spent several weeks at Surprise Lake Camp, a camp for Jewish children in upstate New York, where he witnessed a small concert by folk singer Pete Seeger. This experience had a profound impact on Diamond, as he observed other children singing their own compositions for Seeger, realizing the potential of songwriting. He stated that immediately after returning to Brooklyn, he acquired a guitar, began taking lessons, and almost instantly started writing songs. He described his attraction to songwriting as the "first real interest" he developed while growing up, noting that it also helped him channel his youthful "frustrations." Diamond also discovered that writing poetry for girls he was attracted to at school often won their affection, a skill his male classmates soon sought out for their own romantic pursuits. After graduating, he spent the summer working as a waiter in the Catskills resort area, where he first met Jaye Posner, who would later become his first wife.

2.3. Early musical endeavors and songwriting

Diamond continued his education at New York University as a pre-med major, having earned a fencing scholarship. He continued to be a member of the fencing team, alongside his friend Herb Cohen, and was part of the 1960 NCAA men's championship fencing team. Despite his academic pursuits, Diamond found himself frequently bored in class, preferring to write song lyrics. He began to skip classes, taking the train to Tin Pan Alley in New York City, where he attempted to get his songs heard by local music publishers.

In his senior year, with only ten units remaining until graduation, Sunbeam Music Publishing offered him a 16-week songwriting job, paying 50 USD per week. Diamond decided to drop out of college to accept this opportunity. He later revealed that his initial ambition was to be a laboratory biologist, hoping to find a cure for cancer after his grandmother died from the disease. He was proficient in sciences and believed he would pursue a medical career if songwriting had not intervened. Thirty-five years later, in 1995, New York University awarded him an honorary degree.

After his 16-week stint at Sunbeam, Diamond was not rehired, prompting him to focus on writing and singing his own songs for demos. He described songwriting as something that "just absorbed me and became more and more important in my life." His first recording contract was with high school friend Jack Packer, forming a duo called "Neil and Jack," styled after The Everly Brothers. They released two unsuccessful singles in 1962: "You Are My Love at Last" with "What Will I Do," and "I'm Afraid" with "Till You've Tried Love." Despite positive reviews from Cashbox and Billboard magazines, these records failed to chart. Diamond then signed with Columbia Records as a solo performer later in 1962. In July 1963, Columbia released his single "Clown Town" / "At Night," but despite a laudatory review from Billboard for "Clown Town" and complimentary remarks from Cashbox for both sides, it also failed to chart, leading Columbia to drop him from the label. He spent the next seven years writing songs in and out of publishing houses.

During this period, Diamond wrote wherever he could, including on buses, and often used an upright piano located above the Birdland Club in New York City. He noted that his early songs were often too wordy, as he focused heavily on lyrics while publishers sought catchy hooks. He struggled financially, selling only about one song a week, barely earning enough to spend 0.35 USD a day on food in 1963. However, the solitude above the Birdland Club allowed him to concentrate on his writing without distractions, leading to the creation of "interesting songs" like "Cherry, Cherry" and "Solitary Man". "Solitary Man" became the first record he released under his own name to chart, and it remains one of his personal favorites, as it autobiographically reflected his early struggles as a songwriter. He described the song as "an outgrowth of my despair." During this time, he considered adopting stage names like "Noah Kaminsky" or "Eice Charry" but ultimately decided to stick with "Neil Diamond" in honor of his grandmother, who had passed away before the release of "Solitary Man."

3.1. 1960s: From songwriter to solo artist

Diamond spent his early career in the Brill Building, a hub for songwriters. His first major success as a songwriter came in November 1965 with "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans. Even greater success followed with songs he wrote for the Monkees: "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You", "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", and "Love to Love". Although Diamond wrote and recorded these songs for himself, the Monkees' versions were released before his own. This unintended consequence helped Diamond gain widespread recognition as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" quickly became a gold record within two days of its release and remained at the top of the charts for seven weeks, earning it the title of Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.

Other notable artists who recorded Diamond's early songs include Elvis Presley (who also covered "Sweet Caroline" and "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"), Mark Lindsay, Lulu, Cliff Richard (who released versions of "I'll Come Running", "Solitary Man", "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", "I Got the Feelin' (Oh No No)", and "Just Another Guy"), and the English hard-rock band Deep Purple ("Kentucky Woman").

In 1966, Diamond signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. His first release on Bang was "Solitary Man," which became his first true hit as a solo artist. This was followed by "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman". His early concerts saw him opening for popular bands such as Herman's Hermits and the Who. During his time as a guest performer with The Who, he was reportedly shocked to witness Pete Townshend swinging his guitar like a club and then smashing it against walls and off the stage until it broke.

By 1968, Diamond began to feel creatively restricted by Bang Records, desiring to record more ambitious and introspective music, such as "Brooklyn Roads". Berns, however, preferred to release simpler pop songs like "Kentucky Woman" as singles. Diamond proposed "Shilo", a song about an imaginary childhood friend, but Bang deemed it not commercial enough, relegating it to an LP track on his album Just for You. Diamond also became dissatisfied with his royalties and sought to sign with another record label after discovering a loophole in his contract. This led to a series of lawsuits that coincided with a slump in his record sales and professional success. Although a magistrate refused WEB IV's request for a temporary injunction to prevent Diamond from joining another record company, the lawsuits dragged on until February 1977, when Diamond finally triumphed in court and purchased the rights to his Bang-era master tapes.

In March 1968, Diamond signed a deal with Uni Records, a label owned by Universal Pictures. His debut album for Uni/MCA, Velvet Gloves and Spit (produced by Tom Catalano), released in late 1968, did not chart. He followed this with Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show in early 1969, recorded at American Sound Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, with Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman producing.

3.2. 1970s: Rise to stardom

In mid-1969, Diamond relocated to Los Angeles, and his musical style began to mellow, leading to a string of major hits. These included "Sweet Caroline" (1969), "Holly Holy" (1969), "Cracklin' Rosie" (1970), and "Song Sung Blue" (1972), with the latter two reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart. "Sweet Caroline" marked Diamond's significant return to success after his earlier slump. In 2007, Diamond stated he wrote "Sweet Caroline" for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her on the cover of Life magazine in an equestrian outfit. However, in a 2014 interview on the Today show, he clarified that he wrote it for his then-wife, Marcia, but used the name "Caroline" because he couldn't find a suitable rhyme with "Marcia." He completed the song in just one hour in a Memphis hotel. The 1971 release "I Am...I Said" was a Top 5 hit in both the US and UK and represented his most intensely personal effort to date, taking over four months to complete.

In 1971, Diamond performed seven sold-out concerts at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The outdoor venue, known for showcasing top entertainers, installed a stereo sound system for the first time for his performances. Diamond was also backed by a 35-piece string orchestra and six backing singers. After the first night, a leading newspaper hailed it as "the finest concert in Greek Theater history."

He returned to the Greek Theater in August 1972 for ten shows, which quickly sold out. For these performances, he added a quadraphonic sound system to create a full surround sound experience. The performance on August 24, 1972, was recorded and released as the live double album Hot August Night. Diamond recalled that the album "captures a very special show for me. We went all out to really knock 'em dead in LA." Many critics consider it his best work, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling it "the ultimate Neil Diamond record... [showing] Diamond the icon in full glory." The album became a classic and was remastered in 2000 with additional selections. In Australia, which was said to have the most Neil Diamond fans per capita at the time, the album ranked No. 1 for 29 weeks and remained in the top 20 bestsellers for two years.

In the fall of 1972, Diamond performed for 20 consecutive nights at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City. This theater had not staged a one-man show since Al Jolson in the 1930s. The intimate 1,600-seat Broadway venue saw every performance reportedly sold out, making Diamond the first rock-era star to headline on Broadway. The New York Times review noted that "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 like Judy Garland and Danny 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."

Following the Winter Garden shows, Diamond announced a hiatus from live performances until 1976. He dedicated these four years to composing the score for Hall Bartlett's film adaptation of Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull and recording two albums, Serenade and Beautiful Noise. He later explained, "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 expressed a need to reclaim his private life and anonymity.

In 1973, Diamond returned to Columbia Records with a lucrative contract, reportedly receiving a 1.00 M USD advance per album. His first project under this new deal was the soundtrack to Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Despite the film receiving hostile reviews and performing poorly at the box office, the soundtrack itself was a commercial success, grossing more than the film and peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. The author of the original story, Richard Bach, disowned the film, and both he and Diamond sued Bartlett, albeit for different reasons. Bach felt the film omitted too much from his novella, while Diamond believed the film had "butchered" his score. Diamond declared, "After 'Jonathan,' I vowed never to get involved in a movie again unless I had complete control." Bartlett, in turn, criticized Diamond's music as having become "too slick...and it's not as much from his heart as it used to be," adding that "Neil is extraordinarily talented. Often his arrogance is just a cover for the lonely and insecure person underneath." Despite the controversy, Diamond won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture. Thereafter, Diamond frequently included a Jonathan Livingston Seagull suite in his live performances, as seen in his 1976 Love at the Greek concert and his Las Vegas show that same year.

Diamond resumed live performances in 1976 with an Australian tour, "The 'Thank You Australia' Concert," which was broadcast to 36 television outlets nationwide. He also made another appearance at the Greek Theater in a 1976 concert, Love at the Greek. An album and accompanying video/DVD of this show featured a version of "Song Sung Blue" with duets alongside Helen Reddy and Henry Winkler, known for his role as Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli on Happy Days. Around this time, Diamond began wearing his signature colorful beaded shirts in concert, initially to ensure everyone in the audience could see him without binoculars. These shirts were designed and made by Bill Frank Whitten from the 1970s until around 2007.

In 1974, Diamond released the album Serenade, which included the singles "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before." The latter song had been intended for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull score but was completed too late for inclusion. That same year, he appeared on a TV special for Shirley Bassey and performed a duet with her.

In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band. On Thanksgiving 1976, Diamond made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz, where he performed "Dry Your Eyes," a song he co-wrote with Robertson that had appeared on Beautiful Noise. He also joined the other performers onstage at the end for a rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released". However, some sources suggest Diamond's participation was heavily pushed by Robertson, contributing to a definitive rift between Robertson and other Band members, as evidenced by Robertson's absence from the 1983 Band reunion.

Diamond was paid 650.00 K USD by the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, to open its new 10.00 M USD Theater For the Performing Arts on July 2, 1976. The show ran through July 5, drawing sold-out crowds at the 7,500-seat theater. A "who's who" of Hollywood, including Elizabeth Taylor and Chevy Chase, attended opening night, and Diamond received a standing ovation. He opened the show with a story about an ex-girlfriend who had left him before he became successful, leading into his first song with the line, "You may have dumped me a bit too soon, baby, because look who's standing here tonight."

He performed at Woburn Abbey on July 2, 1977, for an audience of 55,000 British fans. The concert and interviews were filmed by director William Friedkin, who utilized six cameras to capture the performance.

In 1977, Diamond released I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight, which featured "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." Diamond composed the music for the song and collaborated on its lyrics with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman. Barbra Streisand later covered the song on her album Songbird. The success of radio mash-ups of their individual versions led to a recorded duet between Diamond and Streisand, which hit No. 1 in 1978, becoming his third song to top the Hot 100. They made an unannounced appearance at the 1980 Grammy Awards ceremony, performing the song to a surprised and enthusiastic audience.

His final album of the 1970s was September Morn, which included a new version of "I'm a Believer." "I'm a Believer" and "Red Red Wine" are his best-known original songs that gained even greater fame through covers 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 from You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Diamond's album from the previous year.

In 1979, Diamond collapsed on stage in San Francisco and was hospitalized for a 12-hour operation to remove a tumor on his spine. He revealed that he had been experiencing a loss of feeling in his right leg for several years but had ignored it. By the time he collapsed, he had lost strength in both legs. He underwent a lengthy rehabilitation process just before the principal photography began for his film The Jazz Singer (1980). He was so convinced he would die that he wrote farewell letters to his friends.

3.3. 1980s: Film and continued success

A planned film version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" starring Diamond and Streisand ultimately fell through when Diamond was cast as the lead in a 1980 remake of the Al Jolson classic The Jazz Singer, co-starring Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz. Although the movie received poor reviews, its soundtrack was a commercial success, spawning three Top 10 singles: "Love on the Rocks," "Hello Again," and "America". The latter holds deep emotional significance for Diamond, as he stated it was "the story of my grandparents" and "my gift to them, and it's very real for me... In a way, it speaks to the immigrant in all of us." The song was performed in its entirety by Diamond during the film's finale, with an abbreviated version playing over the opening titles.

"America" became a powerful anthem, played on national news shows when hostages returned home after the Iran hostage crisis, during the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, and at tributes to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the Vietnam Vets Welcome Home concert, where Diamond was asked to perform it live. At the time, a national poll found "America" to be the number-one most recognized song about the United States, surpassing "God Bless America." After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Diamond changed a lyric at the end of the song from "They're coming to America" to "Stand up for America!" during his world tour. Earlier that year, he performed it at the request of former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali.

The film's failure was partly attributed to Diamond's lack of professional acting experience. He later admitted he "didn't think I could handle it," feeling like "a fish out of water." For his performance, Diamond became the first-ever recipient of a Worst Actor Razzie Award, despite also being nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the same role. Critic David Wild observed that the film highlighted Diamond's openness about his Jewish faith, noting, "Who else but this Jewish Elvis could go multi-platinum with an album that featured a version of 'the Kol Nidre?'" Diamond later told the Los Angeles Times that for him, the film was "the ultimate bar mitzvah."

Another Top 10 hit, "Heartlight" (1982), was inspired by the blockbuster film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Although the film's title character is not explicitly mentioned in the lyrics, Universal Pictures, which released E.T. and was the parent company of Uni Records (by then MCA Records), briefly threatened legal action against both Diamond and Columbia Records.

Diamond's record sales saw a decline in the 1980s and 1990s, with his last single to chart on the Billboard Pop Singles chart appearing in 1986. However, his concert tours continued to be highly successful. Billboard magazine ranked Diamond as the most profitable solo performer of 1986. In 1986, he released his 17th studio album, Headed for the Future, which reached number 20 on the Billboard 200. Three weeks later, he starred in Hello Again, his first television special in nine years, which featured comedy sketches and a duet medley with Carol Burnett.

In January 1987, Diamond sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XXI. His song "America" became the theme song for the Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign. That same year, the British reggae band UB40's interpretation of Diamond's ballad "Red Red Wine" topped the Billboard Pop Singles chart, and like The Monkees' version of "I'm a Believer," it became more widely known than Diamond's original.

3.4. 1990s: Resurgence and cultural impact

During the 1990s, Neil Diamond released six studio albums, including two Christmas albums, the first of which peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Album chart. He also recorded two albums primarily featuring new material and covered many classic songs from films and by famous Brill Building-era songwriters, such as Up On The Roof: Songs From The Brill Building. In 1992, he performed for President George H. W. Bush's final Christmas in Washington NBC special. In 1993, Diamond opened the Mark of the Quad Cities (now the iWireless Center) with two shows on May 27 and 28, drawing a crowd of over 27,000.

The 1990s saw a significant resurgence in Diamond's popularity, largely fueled by "Sweet Caroline" becoming a popular sing-along at sporting events. It was adopted by Boston College football and basketball games, and played at college sporting events in other states. Its popularity extended internationally, being played at events like the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament and a soccer match in Northern Ireland. It also became the unofficial theme song of Red Sox Nation, the fanbase of the Boston Red Sox, despite Diamond being a lifelong fan of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. The New York Rangers also adopted it, playing it when they were winning at the end of the third period of their games. The Pittsburgh Panthers football team played it after the third quarter of all home games, with the crowd chanting, "Let's go Pitt." The Carolina Panthers played it at the end of every home game they won, and the Davidson College pep band played it in the second half of every Davidson Wildcats men's basketball home game. Fans often participate by interjecting "Wow wow wow" after "Sweet Caroline" and "So Good, So Good, So Good" after "Good times never seemed so good," a tradition that extends to his concerts and other artists' covers.

In 1994, Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction featured Urge Overkill's cover of "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon." Diamond's music was also referenced in the 1991 film What About Bob?, where the protagonist attributes his divorce to his ex-wife being a Diamond fan, stating, "There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't."

3.5. 2000s: New directions and critical acclaim

In 2000, Neil Diamond made a surprise appearance onstage with the Diamond tribute band Super Diamond before their show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. In the 2001 comedy film Saving Silverman, the main characters play in a Diamond cover band, and Diamond himself made an extended cameo appearance. He even wrote and composed a new song, "I Believe in Happy Endings," for the film and sat in with Super Diamond at the film's premiere party. In May 2002, Diamond joined comedian Will Ferrell for his final appearance on Saturday Night Live, where Ferrell often impersonated Diamond.

A more stripped-down album, 12 Songs, produced by Rick Rubin, was released on November 8, 2005. It was available in a standard 12-song release and a special edition with two bonus tracks, including one featuring backing vocals by Brian Wilson. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard chart and received generally positive reviews, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine describing it as "inarguably Neil Diamond's best set of songs in a long, long time." 12 Songs was also notable as one of the last albums to be pressed and released by Sony BMG with Extended Copy Protection software embedded in the disc, a practice that led to the 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal. The album earned a gold disc and was re-released as a double album in 2006. On December 31, 2005, Diamond appeared on the popular annual program, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006.

In 2006, Diamond performed a concert to mark the opening of the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California. He was paid 1.00 M USD for the performance, but the city incurred a 400.00 K USD loss due to insufficient promotion and delayed ticket sales, leading to the dismissal of the city official responsible. In 2007, Diamond was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.

On March 19, 2008, it was announced on the television show American Idol that Diamond would serve as a guest mentor for the remaining contestants, who would perform his songs on the broadcasts of April 29 and 30, 2008. On the April 30 broadcast, Diamond premiered a new song, "Pretty Amazing Grace," from his recently released album Home Before Dark. On May 2, 2008, Sirius Satellite Radio launched Neil Diamond Radio. On April 8, 2008, Diamond made a surprise announcement via a big-screen broadcast at Fenway Park that he would perform "live in concert" there on August 23, 2008, as part of his world tour. This announcement, the first official confirmation of any 2008 US concert dates, came during the traditional eighth-inning singalong of "Sweet Caroline," which had by then become an anthem for Boston fans.

On April 28, 2008, Diamond appeared on the roof of the Jimmy Kimmel building to sing "Sweet Caroline" after Kimmel, dressed as Diamond, was "arrested" for impersonating the singer.

Home Before Dark was released on May 6, 2008, and topped the album charts in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, marking his first No. 1 album in the US. In the UK, it was his second No. 1 album after a 1992 compilation. This achievement made him the artist with the longest span between original album No. 1 hits since his 1966 debut.

On June 29, 2008, Diamond performed for an estimated 108,000 fans at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, as part of his Concert of a Lifetime Tour, though the concert was marred by technical problems, including sound cut-outs. In August, Diamond allowed cameras to record his entire four-night run at New York's Madison Square Garden; the resulting DVD, Hot August Night/NYC, was released in the US in 2009, one year to the day of the first concert, debuting at No. 2 on the charts. On the same day, CBS aired an edited version, which won the ratings hour with 13 million viewers, leading Sony to order more copies of the DVD to meet high demand.

On August 25, 2008, Diamond performed at The Ohio State University while suffering from laryngitis. Disappointed with the performance, he offered refunds to any fans who applied by September 5. Diamond was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year on February 6, 2009, two nights before the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Long beloved in Boston, Diamond was invited to sing at the July 4, 2009, Independence Day celebration. On October 13, 2009, he released A Cherry Cherry Christmas, his third album of holiday music.

3.6. 2010s: Monumental achievements and final tour

On November 2, 2010, Diamond released the album Dreams, 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 own "I'm a Believer." In December, he performed a track from the album, "Ain't No Sunshine", on NBC's The Sing-Off with the a cappella groups Committed and Street Corner Symphony. The Very Best of Neil Diamond, a compilation CD of Diamond's 23 studio recordings from the Bang, UNI/MCA, and Columbia catalogs, was released on December 6, 2011, on the Sony Legacy label.

The years 2011 and 2012 were marked by several significant 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 of the same year, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors. On August 10, 2012, Diamond received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In November 2012, he topped the bill at the centenary edition of the Royal Variety Performance in the UK, which was televised on December 3. He also appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

On April 20, 2013, Diamond made an unannounced appearance at Fenway Park to sing "Sweet Caroline" during the 8th inning. This was the first game at Fenway since the Boston Marathon bombing, and his performance was described as "So good, so good, so good." 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 the Wounded Warrior Project. Sporting a beard, Diamond performed live on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol as part of A Capitol Fourth, which was broadcast nationally by PBS on July 4, 2013.

In January 2014, it was confirmed that Diamond had signed with the Capitol Music Group unit of Universal Music Group, which also owned Diamond's Uni/MCA catalog. UMG also acquired Diamond's Columbia and Bang catalogs, consolidating all of his recorded output for the first time. On July 8, 2014, Capitol Records announced that his next album, Melody Road, produced by Don Was and Jacknife Lee, would be released on September 30, 2014. The release date was later moved to October 21.

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. The North American leg of the tour launched with a concert in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on February 27 and concluded at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, on May 31, 2015. Throughout the tour, Diamond extensively utilized new media platforms and social media, streaming several shows live on Periscope and displaying tweets from fans using the hashtag #tweetcaroline on two large screens. The San Diego Union-Tribune praised this approach, noting, "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."

In October 2016, Diamond released Acoustic Christmas, a folk-inspired Christmas album featuring original songs and acoustic versions of holiday classics. Also produced by Was and Lee, the idea for the album began to take shape as the Melody Road sessions concluded. To "channel the intimate atmosphere of '60s folk," Diamond recorded Acoustic Christmas with a small group of musicians, sitting in a circle of microphones, wires, and Christmas lights.

In March 2017, the career-spanning anthology Neil Diamond 50 - 50th Anniversary Collection was released. He then began his final concert tour, the 50 Year Anniversary World Tour, starting in Fresno, California, in April. In 2019, his signature 1969 song "Sweet Caroline" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

3.7. 2020s: Health challenges and continued engagement

On March 7, 2020, despite his retirement from touring 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. On March 22, 2020, in response to the widespread social distancing measures implemented due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Diamond posted a video to YouTube playing "Sweet Caroline" with slightly modified lyrics, including "...washing hands, don't touch me, I won't touch you...".

In April 2021, the New York Times reported that A 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 its month-long run in Boston, eventually premiering 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. This extensive acquisition also included 110 unreleased tracks, an unreleased album, and archival videos. On June 18, 2022, Diamond made a surprise appearance at Fenway Park to sing "Sweet Caroline" during the 8th-inning stretch of a Red Sox game, where he was joined by Will Swenson, who portrays Diamond in the musical A Beautiful Noise.