Neil Diamond to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

LONDON - Pop singer Neil Diamond will enter the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.

The ‘Sweet Caroline’ singer will be inducted alongside Alice Cooper and singer-songwriter Tom Waits.

Diamond said he had thought in the past that he may be nominated “but I kind of figured they’d get around to me at some point”.

Rock star Cooper, 62, said it had been “a waiting game”.

Phil Spector collaborator Darlene Love and singer Dr John will also be inducted in New York on 14 March.

Diamond, whose early hits in the 1960s included ‘Cherry, Cherry’ said he had initially been “a lone voice out there with a guitar, and it was different than what was going on because it was the English invasion and I wasn’t doing that”.

I think what we did was we kind of brought theatre to rock ‘n’ roll”

“I’m glad they did it before I’m dead,” the BBC quoted him as saying.

Cooper, whose hits with his band include School’s Out and Poison, stated that before they came onto the scene in the late 1970s “there was no spectacle in rock ‘n’ roll”.

“I think what we did was we kind of brought theatre to rock ‘n’ roll,” he added.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musical excellence award will go to keyboardist Leon Russell who this year teamed up with Elton John on his album ‘The Union’. (ANI)