“Sweeeeetttt Caroline ..pam pam pam…” …I bet this one is stuck in your head for the last few decades just like it’s stuck in mine. Not sure whether Diamond was more popular on A Date with You or on Forces Request (probably the latter) but he was a formidable voice even through a tinny transistor radio. Its deep and gravelly, kind of like the “Voice of The Marlboro Man”, if you know what I mean. I only found out what he looked like in 1980 when some cousins moved back to Delhi from the US and brought with them a VHS tape of  the “Hot August Night” concert. Damn, he was even a good-looking dude!

Believe it or not, despite having an amazing voice, Diamond has always described himself more as a song writer – that’s his real passion. Apart from all the songs on his own incredible catalogue, he’s written some amazing stuff for other people including Red Red Wine (UB40’s version is better but I didn’t find out till much later that it was a ND song), I’m a Believer (which the Monkees sang and was THE song from Shrek) and Kentucky Woman (an early hit for Deep Purple Mark 1

Apparently he started writing as 10 grader and realised he could really impress the girls in school with his poetry. He was so good at it, his classmates used to pay him to write poetry that they could use to get their own girlfriends! And by the way, one of his classmates, who he basically ignored at school in Brooklyn, was a girl called Barbara…Streisand !!! They never performed together when they were young but then got together in 1977 to do You Don’t Bring Me Flowers…I would have loved to see him live, somehow never managed it although he’s been to the UK many times in the past 20 years we’ve been here. Unfortunately, in 2018 he retired from touring due to his advancing Parkinson’s disease. Since he can’t travel and perform anymore he’s gone back to his first love, song writing. And he retains his sense of humour…listen to his new version of Sweet Caroline. Wish you good health big guy!