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UNBELIEVABLE REVELATION: Before He Was a Music Legend, Neil Diamond Was Studying Biochemistry at One of America’s Top Universities — What He Just Admitted Will Leave You Stunned

UNBELIEVABLE REVELATION: Before He Was a Music Legend, Neil Diamond Was Studying Biochemistry at One of America’s Top Universities — What He Just Admitted Will Leave You Stunned

Before the sequined shirts, sold-out arenas, and timeless classics like Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond’s path pointed somewhere entirely different — a quiet laboratory at New York University. Long before he became one of the most beloved singer-songwriters in American history, Diamond was studying biochemistry on a fencing scholarship, with dreams of becoming a research scientist. “I always thought I’d end up in medicine,” he admitted in a rare and candid interview. “Music was my escape, not my plan.”

It wasn’t until his junior year that everything changed. A guitar, a notebook, and a growing stack of poems began to crowd out his textbooks. His heart pulled him to Tin Pan Alley, not the lab. “I wasn’t failing science,” he said with a laugh. “But I was falling — hard — for songwriting.”

It was a revelation few expected: that one of America’s most recognizable voices had once planned to wear a lab coat instead of standing behind a microphone.

Looking back now, with over 130 million records sold and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Diamond says he has no regrets. “I still think science is beautiful. But music… music saved my life. It helped me understand myself, and it gave me a way to reach people I never could have reached with a microscope.”

Even as he continues to face challenges with Parkinson’s disease, Diamond’s reflections feel less like nostalgia and more like gratitude. “If I had stayed in biochemistry, no one would’ve heard I Am… I Said,” he smiled. “And I think I needed that song just as much as the people who listened to it did.”

In a world filled with stories of overnight fame, Neil Diamond’s quiet academic beginnings serve as a reminder: the road to greatness doesn’t always begin on a stage. Sometimes, it starts in a classroom — with a young man trying to balance formulas… and feelings.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owmbzjOkX1c&ab_channel=LegendaryLights

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