Neil Diamond "Be Mine Tonight"

On this date in 1982, the Adult Contemporary Chart featured Ronnie Milsap sitting in the #1 spot with "Any Day Now". The song sat atop the AC Chart for three weeks, but right on Milsap's tail was the ageless Neil Diamond with "Be Mine Tonight". My how music has changed!

Neil Diamond & Kim Carnes "Hooked on the Memory of You"

The golden rule among entertainers: make them love or hate you. Being in the middle makes you forgettable. Ever notice that we tend to look back on relationships using those same hot or cold terms? Sometimes history has a way of erasing the pain and ugliness of failed relationships.

Neil Diamond "Yesterday's Songs"

When was the last time you did a Google search of your own name? One of the first times I ever Googled myself was way back before Google was used as a verb. In doing so, I discovered the remnants of an important reminder: don't screw with Neil Diamond fans. I'll explain...

Back in 2003, we taped an interview with Neil for a morning radio show I produced. The show's host decided that he'd let the female co-host conduct the interview and, once complete, we would splice in questions from the host which Neil would ultimately "ignore". The joke was that Neil didn't like the host and informed us that he would not answer questions from him during said interview. It led to an awkward-sounding back-and-forth between the host, co-host and Neil. Should've been funny, right? Wrong.

After the interview aired, his legions of fans (who heard about the interview from Neil's fan club) tuned in to hear the awkward interview via the radio station's internet stream and were furious. They accused us of faking the interview...but for reasons that weren't even valid. In the interview, Diamond, a Boston Red Sox fan, mentioned the Chicago Cubs and how exciting it was to watch the team in the playoffs (up until the infamous Steve Bartman game of 2003). Diamond's fans claimed the interview was clearly fake because Neil would never talk about the Cubs (spoiler alert: he did!). They also believed Neil would never be mean to someone in an interview (they were right about that part). In doing so, they flooded our radio station with complaint calls and emails and even posted my phone number online. For years following this incident, a simple Google search turned up rants from these angry fans. I am happy to report those pages must have come down because I no longer find it in my search results. Neil Diamond's fans clearly have moved on...

Neil Diamond "O Holy Night"

Neil Diamond's "O Holy Night" is my all-time favorite Christmas song. Why? Because the song's soaring vocals accompanied by the background choir is reminiscent of midnight mass when church services bring out the big guns. One listen to this song will make the hair on my arms stand up. It's that powerful. The song comes courtesy of Diamond's 20th album: 1992's The Christmas Album.

UB40 "Red Red Wine"

Did you know "Red Red Wine" originally was a hit for Neil Diamond? It's true. It happened in 1962. A remake of the song in 1983 re-introduced the song to the world and made the reggae-pop group UB40 a household name.

Gino Vannelli "Living Inside Myself"

Gino Vannelli's "Living Inside Myself" encapsulates soft rock radio from 1981. One can only surmise the song played after this would be by Neil Diamond or perhaps Barbara Streisand.

Champaign - "How 'Bout Us"

Smooth, soulful, and sexy, "How 'Bout Us" fit the mold of Adult Contemporary music in 1981.  The ballad sat atop the Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks until Neil Diamond's "America" knocked it from the top spot.

Barbara Streisand & Neil Diamond - "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"

The morning show I produced back in 2003 had the opportunity to interview Neil Diamond.  While we all knew of Neil Diamond, we really didn't know what to do with the interview.  The host of the show had an idea: the female co-host would do the interview solo but, after the interview, the host would ask Neil a series of questions that Neil would "ignore".  The gist of the bit would be that we received word before the interview that Neil Diamond didn't like the host and would refuse to answer any questions from him.  We taped the interview as planned and played it back.  What followed was an onslaught of Neil Diamond fans who emailed the station complaining about what we had done.  They claimed (falsely) that the interview was completely fabricated because Neil talked about the Cubs instead of the Red Sox (it was true--Neil did talk about the Cubs).  I can only imagine what these same fans did when Saturday Night Live did that Neil Diamond Behind The Music parody.