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Whether you’re a ‘Brother Love’ type of guy or a ‘Sweet Caroline’ kind of woman, here are lessons from the prolific singer/songwriter behind these tunes and others….

THE other day two young people of my acquaintance called Amy and Joel were pestering their father to change radio stations.

They didn’t want to listen to ”grandad radio” (ie Radio 2), they said. Just as their father went to switch over, Sweet Caroline came on. ”No, don’t!” they yelled and started dancing and singing along.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced the selection of the individuals who will receive the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors. Recipients to be honored at the 34th annual national celebration of the arts are: singer Barbara Cook, singer and songwriter Neil Diamond, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, and actress Meryl Streep.

Neil Diamond welcomes me to his plush suite in the famous Dorchester Hotel in London, asks for quiet for our interview then mockingly rolls his eyes as his PA yaks on to the Sunday Mail photographer.

“You can see my word carries a lot of weight around here,” says the superstar with a smile….

For a year now, rumors — with some substantial sources involved — have floated that superstar singer Neil Diamond was considering a short residency run at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace, joining current headliners Celine Dion, Sir Elton John and Rod Stewart….

Neil Diamond, who won a Billboard “Icon” award, got the crowd the most worked up for the show finale: a medley of “Sweet Caroline” and “Coming to America.”

With spirited, audience singalong versions of “Sweet Caroline” and a choir-assisted “America,” Neil Diamond closed the 2011 Billboard Music Awards Sunday night (May 22) by accepting his 2011 Billboard Icon Award….

125 million records shifted (and two million more when you count next week’s Mail on Sunday free Neil Diamond CD)…In his own words, how he’s rocked all the way to 70 ‘The cardinal rule for any performer is that they should know themselves before they enter the spotlight, and I didn’t. I was just Neil and I did what I was supposed to do,’ said Neil Diamond….

If Prince William has his way, the first song the band will strike up as he leads his bride on to the dance floor for the evening wedding party at Buckingham Palace will be Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline….

Hurricanes aren’t normally on our radar in this area. We don’t see the effects first hand but their impact travels far and wide.

Buck Lake resident Joni Pitzel got wind of 2008’s Hurricane Ike victims through the Internet. Pitzel is a huge Neil Diamond fan. Through a message board frequented by Diamond fans, Pitzel heard the renowned singer was raising funds for Oak Island, Texas. The former fishing village had suffered extreme devastation at the hands of the hurricane….