Legendary crooner NEIL DIAMOND considered adopting a moniker when he first hit the music scene - because he didn't think his given name was glamorous enough for a career in showbusiness.
The Sweet Caroline singer was disillusioned with his sparkling surname, and was desperate to change it before his debut LP The Feel Of Neil Diamond hit record stores in 1966.
But the star decided against the move because snubbing the family name would break his grandmother's heart.
He explains, "(Neil Diamond is) my honest-to-goodness name. I'd become so bored with it by the time I was making my first record that I decided to change it.
"You wanna have something with a little pizzazz to it. So I came up with two names that I thought might help me catch on in showbiz and the first was Eice Charry, the other was Noah Kaminsky.
"Ultimately, I stuck with my name because my grandmother was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new record, and I couldn't think of a way to explain to her why it was a different person's name on the record.
"(So) I spoke to the president of the record company and said, 'We'll keep Neil Diamond and just pray that it lasts for a while.'"
See Also
