5 Little-Known Facts About Neil Diamond's Connection To Elvis Presley

The links, both professional and personal, between Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley are many, beyond how both musicians were dominant rock 'n' roll figures of their respective eras. Presley hit it big in the 1950s and 1960s, and right about when his career was hitting a slow decline, Diamond's was on the rise. He'd become one of the most iconic rock vocalists of the late '60s and '70s. As Presley was one of the first big mainstream rock performers, he certainly inspired and laid the cultural groundwork for someone like Diamond, and both guys employed a particular style. They crooned, belted, and got quiet when the songs demanded it, and both performed with pomp, finesse, and panache, and along the way, they each sold a lot of records.

But there are deeper and more poignant ties between Presley and Diamond. They enjoyed and respected each other's music, and their proverbial paths crossed on occasion outside of any music industry obligation. Here are some facts that aren't widely known regarding the relationship between Diamond and Presley.

Neil Diamond racked up more than 30 Billboard Top 40 hits, reached No. 1 more than once, and has been awarded gold or platinum awards for five of his singles. But the song for which he's best known will probably always be "Sweet Caroline," which was the perfect rock song until weddings ruined it. The singalong standard and joyous anthem has always been undeniable, and in 1969, it became Diamond's first-ever Billboard Top 5 hit on both the pop and soft rock charts.

"Sweet Caroline" was a juggernaut from the jump, and it caught the ear of no less than Elvis Presley. In 1970, Presley performed at the International Hotel, and the gig was captured and released as a portion of the live album "On Stage." Among Presley's takes on then-contemporary rock hits by the likes of The Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival was Sweet Caroline. "There's a guy who recorded a song last year, it was a beautiful song and the guy's name was Neil Diamond. I'd like to sing the song for you," Presley said before he launched into a jaunty and slightly sped-up but ultimately faithful rendition recorded for "On Stage."

Presley was on something of a Diamond kick in 1970. Later that year, he put out the studio LP "Back in Memphis." That album contained Presley singing "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind," a song that Diamond wrote and used for his 1969 album "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show."

One particularly obscure chapter in Neil Diamond's life is that he lived on a Los Angeles area property situated right next to one of Elvis Presley's homes in 1970. As big celebrities' homes tend to be large, secure, and distantly spaced, Diamond and Presley didn't interact all that much as neighbors. "Our houses were back to back, and we had a running joke where if people would come to my house, I would send them to Elvis' house, and he would send people looking for him to my house," Diamond recalled in a 1994 television interview.

At that point in time, Diamond was raising his son, Jesse, while Presley was father to daughter Lisa Marie. The children were just a little bit closer to one another than their dads were to each other. "The kids I remember very clearly, seeing them in the backyard. There was a big gate between them with barbed wire on the top," Diamond explained. "And Lisa Marie had her bodyguard, and Jesse had his bodyguard, and they were playing with each other through this fence. It was kind of sad."

Nearly three decades after Elvis Presley adopted one of Neil Diamond's songs into his live repertoire, Diamond returned the favor. For his 1998 LP "The Movie Album (As Time Goes By)," Diamond recorded his take on Presley's romantic ballad "Can't Help Falling in Love," a love song that will have every boomer crying into their coffee that originated on the soundtrack for "Blue Hawaii." A No. 2 hit and co-credited to Presley's backing group The Jordanaires in 1962, Diamond gave the cherished tune a place of prominence on his album, where it serves as the finale before a brief reprise of the subtitle track.

"Can't Help Falling in Love" is also the centerpiece of a Diamond moment that went viral in the 2020s. Hugh Jackman starred as a singer in a Diamond tribute band in the 2025 movie "Song Sung Blue," and during its promotional phase, he got to sing karaoke with the inspiration of the film and its subject. A clip of the moment — in which Diamond holds a visibly thrilled Jackman close as the two sing the final lines of "Can't Help Falling in Love" — delighted tens of thousands of the actor's Instagram followers. The video popped when Jackman posted it to Facebook in October 2025 and when he called attention to it again in January 2026.

Even though Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley lived in neighboring houses for a while in the 1970s, they didn't seem to interact much. That lack of casual familiarity only made Diamond all the more surprised when Presley recognized him during a Las Vegas concert. "I had never seen him before," Diamond told Elvis Australia in 2013. "You know, he was Elvis Presley and I was awed. He was an amazing, amazing live performer." Then in the middle of the concert, Presley took a timeout to let the audience know that Diamond was in the crowd: "He introduced me and it's like worshipping a god and that god is saying, 'Oh, stand up. I like this person. World, why don't you meet him?'"

The audience understandably grew excited, and its calls for Diamond to join Presley grew insistent. "They started to say, 'Get up on stage. You know, sing together.' No, I couldn't possibly," Diamond recalled. From across the venue, Presley could tell that Diamond was reluctant to sing with him, and he put the notion to rest. "He said, 'Well, he's on holiday now, so leave him alone. Let him enjoy the show,'" Diamond explained. "And they did."

Elvis Presley was known as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll," and Neil Diamond had a nickname too, at least in the early years of his super-stardom: "The Jewish Elvis Presley." Diamond's cultural background was only part of the reason why movie producer Jerry Leider was compelled to cast him in a remake of "The Jazz Singer." The 1927 original starred Al Jolson as the son of a synagogue cantor who wants to leave behind a life of Jewish tradition in order to be an entertainer. The version that entered production in the late 1970s updated the action and made the conflicted son character a wannabe rock 'n' roller — hence Neil Diamond. Leider caught Diamond on a 1976 concert TV special and thought that the singer could successfully move into films the way another rock star of the past had: Between 1956 and 1969, Presley had headlined 31 movie musicals.

Diamond's attempt to emulate Presley only sort of worked. The '70s musician completely ruined the remake of "The Jazz Singer," which hit theaters in 1980 and was met with negative reviews but a respectable box office — it was the 17th-highest-grossing film of the year. Diamond won the Razzie Award for worst actor of 1980, and, like how Presley never made another scripted film after his acting era, Diamond didn't star in another movie.