Neil Diamond started out writing songs for a music publishing company in the hopes that someone would record them. In 2018, Diamond revealed he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. His life is the subject of the current Broadway musical 'A Beautiful Noise,' which features his songs.

We're going back into our archive to listen to our 2005 interview with Neil Diamond. He said, 'I just have to take life as it comes to me, enjoy it, be thankful that I've had it, especially having the life that I've had.This is FRESH AIR. A scene from the Broadway musical 'A Beautiful Noise.' Great days, like an opening night on Broadway. But I've come to accept what limitations I have, and still have great days.' Let's get back to life.' It doesn't work like that. You can't just say, 'Okay, enough already. Why? 'Well, I can't really fight this thing, so I had to accept it, this Parkinson's Disease. I think all of that good stuff is starting to come into my life.'

'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've had a pretty amazing life, it's true,' Diamond said. It's like, all the systems in my mind and my body are working as one when I'm singing. 'Okay, so this is the hand that God's given me, and I have to make the best of it, and so I am.' His acceptance, he admits, is a work in progress. But I have work to do, so I'll see you later.'' Correspondent Anthony Mason with singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. I'll see you, you know, whenever you wanna see me. When the doctor told me what it was, I was just not ready to accept it. 'In a sense, I was in denial for the first year or two. Mason asked, 'How hard has it been for you to give up ?'

Legends say goodbye: Neil Diamond, Sir Elton John to retire from touring ('Sunday Morning')ĭiamond still regularly visits his Archangel Studio in Los Angeles, where the halls are decked with decades' worth of awards, and where – for the first time since that diagnosis – he talked about facing Parkinson's.

'I don't know why I have to.'īut in January 2018, Diamond revealed he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that abruptly ended his touring career. 'I have to because if I want to maintain any self … ' He paused. 'So, where does the 'have to' come from?' Mason asked.

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