Heading into the 2010s, Diamond continued to tour, release music, and accumulate impressive honors including induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Kennedy Center Honors, and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. His status as a still-relevant legacy artist was further bolstered by a pair of critically-lauded, stripped-down albums produced by Rick Rubin during the 2000s. He branched into acting with a star turn in the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer which also produced major hits like "Love on the Rocks" and "America." While his popularity fell off during the latter half of the 80s and much of the 90s, Diamond remained a bankable touring act and by the end of the century, he was again on the upswing, thanks in part to a cultural resurgence of his enduring 60s hit "Sweet Caroline" which became a staple of major sporting events and teams like Boston Red Sox. Melodic chart-toppers like "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue" kept him on top and opened the door for ambitious projects material like the Grammy Award-winning Jonathan Livingston Seagull soundtrack and 1976's conceptual Beautiful Noise album. In a career that began in the early 1960s as a staff songwriter at New York's legendary songwriting institution, the Brill Building, he soon transitioned into performing and recording his own songs, finding success among the emerging pop singer/songwriter market with early highlights like "Solitary Man" and "Kentucky Woman." A move to Los Angeles at the end of the '60s coincided with a shift toward more adult-oriented pop and subsequently ushered in Diamond's heyday as a major star. Rising from humble roots in working class Brooklyn to global success, Neil Diamond became one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century as well as a dynamic, internationally known touring act and skilled songwriter whose compositions produced numerous hits for himself and others.
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