Legendary Crooner Neil Diamond

Grammy award-winning crooner Neil Diamond, will appear at the Alerus Center this Saturday. He will bring his beloved hits such as “I’m a Believer,” “Kentucky Woman,” and “Cherry, Cherry” to fans in the region, as well as new songs from his new album, “Home Before Dark,” to be released next spring.

Wildly popular, Diamond hits have been recorded by thousands, and he himself has had several would-be stars take up his spotlight by becoming Neil Diamond impersonators. No other artist could ever boast that except Elvis.

Diamond has sold more than 125 million records worldwide and has had 36 Top 40 hits.

A crowd favorite, “Sweet Caroline,” has become a tradition for Boston Red Sox fans as they join in with an audience sing-along during the eighth inning of every home game. And Diamond even appeared as a mentor on American Idol this past April.

This is a long way from the Brooklyn-born son of a dry-goods merchant, who sang in a high school choir with Barbra Streisand, and who went to college on a fencing scholarship.

Diamond originally wanted to study medicine, become a laboratory biologist and possibly discover a cure for cancer. But a music publishing company’s offer to write songs for $50 a week in the 60s started him on another career choice altogether.

But Diamond didn’t rise as fast as his talent warranted. Much like Joan Jett trying to pitch her first indie record, Diamond failed miserably under two recording contracts, including one from Columbia Records.

Then, Jay and the Americans recorded Diamond’s “Sunday and Me” and Diamond’s efforts began to impact Billboard’s charts.

Four tunes, recorded by The Monkees, were initially on an album Diamond was set to release as a solo record, but The Monkees’ disc dropped first and Diamond reaped the fame of not only being a popular songwriter but also of being a great performer himself.

Other performers soon picked up Diamond songs: Elvis Presley, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Deep Purple, Cliff Richard, Johnny Cash, and even Smash Mouth. His works have been used on soundtracks for movies, including “Pulp Fiction.”

Diamond’s new album, “Home Before Dark,” was produced by Rick Rubin who is known for showcasing an artist’s work, usually in a very pared-down format, while allowing the artist creative freedom. He did that with Johnny Cash and recently with Metallica.

In Diamond’s case, it was allowing him to work with a group of topnotch musicians and just present the best music possible.

“We started out with two other guitar players and a piano player and myself,” Diamond said in a recent teleconference. “It was very intimate, very close up…It was very relaxed, and I didn’t get a sense of any pressure to do anything other than trying to realize the song, play it for other musicians, let them in on what I saw the song as. They had their own ideas, and they were very, very helpful in the development of these recordings.”

Diamond will perform three songs from this album and two from his previous “12 Songs” album. “It’s a big dose of new material,” Diamond said, “but the audiences have been responding beautifully to them. So, I’m keeping them in and thinking of adding one or two more as we go along.”
You can also be sure he will sing a lot of fan favorites.

If You Go

What: Neil Diamond
Where: Alerus Center, Grand Forks
When: Saturday, Nov 22, 8 pm
Who: All ages
How Much: $55, $87, $122
Info: 701.772.5151