Last December, the audience at the opening night of Broadway’s A Beautiful Noise, the musical based on Neil Diamond’s life and music, received the ultimate treat. The beloved singer-songwriter appeared in the theater and led the cast and audience in singing a verse of his signature song, “Sweet Caroline.” The cheering and applause were thunderous and continued for several minutes. “I felt it,” Neil said of the love in the building.
In 2018, Neil, 82, who enjoyed 10 No. 1 singles, including “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue” and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” and who sold more than 130 million albums, announced that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological disorder, and was retiring from touring. “OK, so this is the hand that God’s given me, and I have to make the best of it, and so I am,” Neil says. “I’ve come to accept what limitations I have and still have great days.”
Retiring from touring has been a difficult adjustment for the performer, who thrived in the spotlight. “It’s the high point of an entertainer’s career when you get up on stage and go in front of your audience, particularly people who have been loyal and loving to you for years,” he said in 2018. But the unpredictability of Parkinson’s symptoms makes a commitment to long months on the road impossible. “It’s hard to travel,” musician Tom Hensley, who has played keyboards and piano in Neil’s touring band since 1975, explains to Closer. “It’s hard to perform because you never know, and it’s too expensive to cancel a show.”
Today, Neil largely stays close to the home he shares with Katie McNeil Diamond, his wife since 2012. Neil has been married twice before — to Jayne Posner, his high school sweetheart and mom to daughters Marjorie and Elyn, and to Marcia Murphey, the mother of his sons, Jesse and Micah. Both marriages fell victim to Neil’s frequent absences and relentless ambition. “Both are spectacular women. I felt if I couldn’t make something wonderful and lifelong happen with them, then maybe I wasn’t capable of it,” he says.
In 2007, Neil met Katie when he began working with the management company where she was employed. “Our chemistry grew into something that couldn’t be denied,” admits Katie, who initially felt it was wrong to date a client. Despite a whopping 29-year age difference, the couple’s union has been the happiest of Neil’s life. “I’ve finally found somebody who’s up to the task of being my wife because I’m very … high maintenance,” admitted Neil in 2012. “ When I need my wife or when I need companionship or someone to talk to, I need it, like, now. That’s not such an easy thing to do.”
Neil’s creative life also remains robust despite Parkinson’s. “I always have a scrap of paper or a pad around to jot down ideas. Then, when I have more time, I develop them. It’s part of my life,” says Neil, who scored his first major hit as a songwriter in 1966 with “I’m a Believer,” recorded by the Monkees.
He’s additionally grateful that Parkinson’s has not robbed him of his singing voice. “In a strange way, I think I’m singing better than ever,” says the star. “It’s probably because I’m not on the road singing full-out and tearing up my voice. So, it’s in very good shape, which I didn’t expect.” Singing still makes him feel good, too. “It’s like all the systems in my mind and my body are working as one,” he says.
He’s also proud of A Beautiful Noise. Its creators collaborated with Neil on the musical, which recounts the triumphs and difficulties of his real life — including his lonely childhood in Brooklyn, his bouts of insecurity, and his guilt over his two failed marriages. “I didn’t necessarily love it, warts and all, but I wanted it,” Neil says. “This show was part of my psychotherapy. And it hurt. I didn’t like looking at myself in many of the scenes.”
In many ways, participating in the musical provided Neil with a crash course in learning to love and accept himself. The performer began therapy in 1971 to try to understand the doubt and dissatisfaction that have plagued him over his entire life, even in the moments of his greatest career success. “I’ve had a pretty amazing life, it’s true,” Neil says. “And the thing was, I wasn’t always able to look back on it and be comfortable with it, smile, feel that I was worth it. I think all of that good stuff is starting to come into my life.”
Nobody would ever call Parkinson’s disease a blessing, but in the time since his diagnosis five years ago, the performer has been forced to slow down. Neil has even begun to regard his singular journey and the people in it with a bit more empathy and compassion.
“Somehow, a calm has moved [into] the hurricane of my life, and things have gotten very quiet,” Neil admits. “I like it. I find that I like myself better. I’m easier on people. I’m easier on myself. And the beat goes on, and it will go on long after I’m gone.”
