US musician Neil Diamond has announced he is retiring from touring following a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
The Sweet Caroline singer, who turns 77 on Wednesday, said he had made the decision with “great reluctance and disappointment” and thanked fans for their support.
The onset of the disease is said to have made it “difficult” for Diamond to “travel and perform on a large-scale basis”.
However the singer reassured fans that he plans to continue to write and record music “for a long time to come”.
Neil Diamond Live in London - Show #2 @O2Arena https://t.co/QMGGPpKwov
— Neil Diamond (@NeilDiamond) October 19, 2017
“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring,” he said in a statement on his website.
“I have been so honoured to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years.
“My sincerest apologies to everyone who purchased tickets and were planning to come to the upcoming shows.
“I plan to remain active in writing, recording and other projects for a long time to come.
“My thanks goes out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world. You will always have my appreciation for your support and encouragement. This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to you.”
Diamond was due to embark on the third leg of his 50th anniversary tour in Australia and New Zealand in March.
The gigs followed concerts in Europe, including the UK and Ireland, and the US in 2017.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here