Is Neil Diamond married? Yes, he is. His wife name is Katie McNeil. Their engagement was first confirmed through Neil’s Twitter profile on September 7, 2011. That time, Neil was 70 years old whereas his fiancée Katie was just 41 years old. They became very serious about their relationship which inspired Neil to get motivated for his work in his 2014 album Melody Road.
Talking about their wedding, the duo tied their knot in 2012 in Los Angeles in front of family and close friends. McNeil has always supported her husband, also by being his manager and has played a crucial role in the production of the documentary entitled “Neil Diamond: Hot August Nights NYC.”
Katie McNeil isn’t the first wife of Neil Diamond as he has been married three times. His first wife name is Jaye Posner who was a schoolteacher. They were said to be high-school lovebirds. From their conjugal life, the couple welcomed two daughters named Marjorie and Elyn. Because of suffering from relationship issues, the duo got separated in 1967 and finally got divorced in 1969.
Neil’s second wife name is Marcia Murphey who sued to be a production assistant. They organized their wedding ceremony on December 5, 1969. The duo became parents to two sons named Jesse and Micah. Despite enjoying their conjugal life for about 25 years, their love life came to an end in the mid-1990s.
Neil was also in the living relationship with Australian Rae Farley in 1996. They met each other in Brisbane, Australia. Scroll down to explore more interesting personal facts and biography of Diamond:
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Who is Neil Diamond?
Born as Neil Leslie Diamond, he landed the planet on January 24, 1941, which makes his age be 79 years old as of 2020. By profession, he is an American singer-songwriter, musician and a successful actor as well. He has been able to sell over 100 million records worldwide alongside with 38 songs in the Top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.
Diamond has now become named as one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts including Heartlight, Yesterday’s Songs, America, Longfellow Serenade, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Cracklin’ Rosie, If You Know What I Mean, Song Sung Blue, I’ve Been This Way Before and Desiree.
In 1984, he was in the list of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Similarly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. The same year, he was able to become an honoree at the Kennedy Center. He made a prestigious achievement of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
Early Life and Education
Diamond was born in 1941 and his place of birth is in Brooklyn, New York. He was born to the parents named Akeeba “Kieve” Diamond (father) and Rose Rapoport (mother). Talking about his family background, he comes from a Jewish family descended from Polish and Russian immigrants.
He has spent about four years of his early life Cheyenne, Wyoming where his father was stationed as an army. He went to Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn where he was one of the members of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club. He developed the habit of smoking too.
He later attended Abraham Lincoln High School where he was the part of the fencing team with his best friend Herb Cohen who is known for being an Olympian. He received his first guitar on his 16th birthday. He started taking music lessons and developed a passion for writing songs and poems as well.
He used to attract his female friends by writing poems and was famous for winning the heart of multiple girls. After his graduation, he started working in the Catskills resort area as a waiter. It was the time when he met his future wife Jaye Posner.
For his higher education, Diamond went to New York University after securing a fencing scholarship. He was also the part of the 1960 NCAA men’s championship fencing team. He was more interested in writing songs than to listen to teachers in the class. Soon, he began cutting his class time in order to receive training from Tin Pan Alley.
He received an offer of 16-week job writing songs from Sunbeam Music Publishing in his senior years. For this job, he was awarded a payment of 50 USD per week which was an impressive amount on those days. He quit college in order to continue his job as a writer.
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Career and Professional Life
Neil Diamond as a solo performer signed with Columbia Records in 1962. The following year, he released the single entitled At Night” b/w “Clown Town” which was able to receive positive reviews from Billboard. He used to spend most of his time in the Brill Building by working as a songwriter. In November 1965, he made a big breakthrough in his songwriting career for his “Sunday and Me.”
Diamond made a signing deal with Uni Records on March 18, 1968. Under the production contribution of Tom Catalano, he released his debut album entitled Velvet Gloves and Spit. He moved to Los Angeles at the end of 1969. He has released six studio albums during the 1990s. He has also released two albums, especially for Christmas.
He also performed in Washington NBC special in 1992 for President George H.W. Bush’s final Christmas. The following year, he was credited for opening the Mark of the Quad Cities. One of the big achievements came in his life when he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in the year 2007.
On February 6, 2009, just two nights before the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, he was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year. He released the album entitled Dreams on November 2, 2010. An announcement made was in January 2018 which revealed that Diamond would immediately retire from touring because he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Personal Life
American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond has been married for three times. His first wife name is Jaye Posner who is his school sweetheart with whom he married in 1963. Before getting married in 1969, their relationship was blessed with two daughters Elyn and Marjorie. The same year of his divorce from his first wife, he married production assistant Marcia Murphey on December 5, 1969. They welcomed two sons named Jesse and Micah from their conjugal life.
He was in a live-in relationship with Rae Farley for a long time. His marriage with Katie McNeil was announced on September 7, 2011. The wedding was organized in 2012 in Los Angeles.
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Body Measurements
Moving to his body measurements, Neil stands at a tall height of 6 feet 1 inch or 1.83 meters. He weighs about 79 kilograms or 174 lbs. His chest, waist and biceps measure 40 inches, 35 inches and 15 inches respectively. He needs the shoe of size 11 and regarding his hair and eye, they are of light brown and brown color respectively.
Neil is very careful about his health and fitness and always remains under the instruction given by the experts and physicians. He has retired from touring and has also struggled with back pain for a long time.
Salary and Net worth
According to The Celebrity Net worth, Neil Diamond has an estimated net worth of 175 million USD. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011 and 1984 respectively. He has amassed multiple prestigious awards and nominations in his name alongside the garnered massive amount of net worth.
Wiki and Facts
The biography of songwriter Neil Diamond is prepared by various wiki sites including Wikipedia and IMDb. He is active on Facebook @neildiamond and on Twitter @neildiamond. Join him on Instagram @neildiamond where Diamond has amassed more than 46k followers.