Music Friday: Neil Diamond Retires Due to Parkinson's Diagnosis; Ride Has Been 'So Good, So Good, So Good’

Welcome to Music Friday when we normally bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we bend the rules just a bit to pay tribute to the incomparable Neil Diamond, who was forced to cancel the third leg of his year-long, worldwide golden anniversary tour due to a Parkinson's diagnosis.

Diamond made the announcement on Monday, just two days short of his 77th birthday.

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring,” said the Brooklyn native. “I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years. My thanks go out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world. You will always have my appreciation for your support and encouragement. This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to you.”

Diamond's "so good" comment is a nod to his timeless 1969 hit, "Sweet Caroline," a song that has been woven into the fabric of American culture. Played at sporting events from coast to coast, when Diamond sings the line, "Good times never seemed so good," the crowd chants back, "So good, so good, so good."

Originally believed to be an ode to Caroline Kennedy, the then-11-year-old daughter of late President John F. Kennedy, "Sweet Caroline" was actually written for Diamond's second wife, Marcia.

Diamond revealed the truth during a 2014 appearance on the Today show.

"I was writing a song in Memphis, Tenn., for a session. I needed a three-syllable name," Diamond said. "The song was about my wife at the time — her name was Marcia — and I couldn't get a 'Marcia' rhyme."

The song was released in the summer of 1969 and zoomed to #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Over the course of his 56-year career as a singer-songwriter-musician, Diamond has sold more than 130 million albums worldwide and placed 38 singles in the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. None has been more enduring than "Sweet Caroline." The song has been covered by Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, Julio Iglesias and many more.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Diamond was a member of Erasmus Hall High School’s Chorus and Choral Club along with close friend Barbara Streisand. Diamond got his first inspiration to write his own songs when folk singer Pete Seeger visited a summer camp he was attending as a teenager.

“And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs,” he told Rolling Stone.

Just 10 credits short of an undergraduate degree from New York University, Diamond dropped out of college to take a 16-week assignment writing songs for Sunbeam Music Publishing. The job paid $50 per week. Later in his career, he would joke, “If this darn songwriting thing hadn’t come up, I would have been a doctor now.”

Please check out the rare video of a 33-year-old Diamond singing "Sweet Caroline" on the Shirley Bassey Show in 1974. The lyrics are below, but you probably already know the words...

"Sweet Caroline"
Written and performed by Neil Diamond.

Where it began, I can't begin to knowing
But then I know it's growing strong
Was in the spring
Then spring became the summer
Who'd have believed you'd come along

Hands, touching hands
Reaching out, touching me, touching you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I'd be inclined
To believe they never would
But now I

Look at the night and it don't seem so lonely
We filled it up with only two
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when I'm holding you

One, touching one
Reaching out, touching me, touching you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I'd be inclined
To believe they never would
Oh no, no

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
Sweet Caroline
I believe they never could

Sweet Caroline

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Princess Eugenie's Engagement Announcement Sparks the Question, 'What's a Padparadscha?'

Princess Eugenie's official engagement announcement on Monday has the world asking, "What's a padparadscha?"

You see, the 27-year-old granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II received an oval padparadscha engagement ring from her long-time boyfriend Jack Brooksbank. In the official photos released by Buckingham Palace and during a subsequent interview with the BBC, Eugenie proudly showed off her beautiful — but unusual — orange/pink stone. In an instant, the padparadscha had spawned its own storyline.

In the BBC interview, Brooksbank, 31, waxed poetic about the gem.

"What's amazing about it and why I love it so much is that it changes color from every different angle that you look at it," he said. "And that's what I think of Eugenie. That she changes color."

Eugenie's oval padparadscha is surrounded by a halo of white diamonds and is set in yellow gold. The engagement ring design is strikingly similar to that of her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, whose ruby center stone complemented her red hair.

Called “a true Rembrandt among gemstones,” natural padparadscha is one of the rarest and most valuable varieties of sapphire.

Unlike its blue brethren, padparadscha boasts a salmon color reminiscent of the most delicate orange/pink sunset. The gem's name is derived from “padma raga,” which literally means “the color of the lotus flower” in Sanskrit.

Padparadscha belongs to the corundum family of gemstones, which includes rubies and sapphires. The presence of trace elements determines the color of each gemstone. While blue sapphires are naturally colored with iron and rubies with chromium, padparadschas are colored by the presence of both. The delicate interplay of pink and orange hues make this gem one of nature’s greatest marvels.

An excellent example of this strikingly beautiful gemstone hit the auction block at Christie's Hong Kong in May of 2013. The oval padparadscha weighed 73.98 carats and was framed with brilliant-cut diamonds mounted in 18-karat rose gold. The ring carried a pre-sale high estimate of $1.55 million.

Princess Eugenie and Brooksbank are expected to get married later this year and the Queen is reportedly delighted.

Credits: Interview screen captures via YouTube.com/The Royal Family Channel; Auction ring photo courtesy of Christie's.

Farmer’s Lost Wedding Ring Recovered on Dirt Road 45 Years Later

A Saskatchewan man was reunited with his long-lost wedding ring after it flew off his finger while driving down a dirt road in a small farming community in the early 1970s.

Bill Wilson blamed the loss on a spunky grasshopper that had leaped into the farmer’s work truck and landed on his chest. Wilson quickly reacted by capturing the small creature and flipping it out the window, along with his gold wedding band. He realized it was gone shortly after, but he was hauling a full load and could not turn back.

"We looked off and on for years, even bringing in a metal detector on several occasions. Every time I drove by there, I drove with my head out the window," Wilson said. He noted that if the ring landed on cultivated soil, it would be like “finding a needle in a haystack.”

More than four decades later, neighbor Carlee Goodwin was taking a walk along the very same dirt road. It had rained the day before and the bright afternoon sun reflected on something shiny that caught her eye.

“I was thinking it was a piece of metal off a tractor, but soon realized it was a ring and dug it out,” Goodwin told CTV Regina. She tried it on and noticed it was styled for a man. She wondered how and when it got there. She also wondered about the owner.

“A ring isn’t something you just throw out the window,” Goodwin told CTV Regina.

Intrigued, Goodwin called her grandmother, who suggested that the owner might be impossible to find. After all, the only building on the desolate road was a school that had been closed for nearly five decades.

Ironically, Wilson ran into Goodwin’s grandmother at a local auction. She mentioned the ring while making small talk and asked him if he knew anyone who had lost a ring in the area. Stunned, Wilson immediately said yes, noting the design and what was engraved on the inside.

The woman's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened, Wilson said. "I wish I had a picture of her face.”

Goodwin told CBC/Radio-Canada that it was surreal to find a long-lost ring, and then locate the owner.

"I didn't think I would find the owner. I was blown away," she said. "It's almost like the ring wanted to be found."

After getting the ring back, the couple stared at it in awe. The ring was missing for 45 of their 51-year marriage. In fact, most of his children have never even seen the ring.

“I was very surprised and very grateful,” Wilson said.

Interestingly, Wilson had never purchased a replacement ring. "It's a little worse for wear, but back on my finger,” he said.

Right where it belongs.

Credits: Screen captures via CTVNews.ca.

Music Friday: Shirley Bassey Nearly Passed Out Holding the Climactic Final Note of 'Goldfinger'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you classic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, we tell the story of how Dame Shirley Bassey nearly passed out while holding the climactic final note to "Goldfinger," the title song of the 1964 James Bond thriller.

Often cited as the best film of the Bond franchise, Goldfinger borrows its name from Auric Goldfinger, a movie villain with a penchant for gilding his victims. In the theme song, which was used for the opening and closing credits, Bassey describes the man with the Midas touch.

She sings, "Golden words he will pour in your ear / But his lies can't disguise what you fear / For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her / It's the kiss of death from / Mister Goldfinger / Pretty girl beware of this heart of gold / This heart is cold."

Written by John Barry, Leslie Bricuss and Anthony Newley, "Goldfinger" presented a challenging recording session for the then-27-year-old Bassey. Repeated takes due to musicians' or technical issues forced the session to extend throughout the night. Bassey remembered how composer Barry demanded that the dramatic final note of the song be held for an extended count — seven seconds to be exact.

"I was holding it and holding it," Bassey said. "I was looking at John Barry and I was going blue in the face, and he's going, 'Hold it just one more second.' When it finished, I nearly passed out."

"Goldfinger" was an instant global phenomenon — at the record stores and on the big screen. The single netted Bassey her only Top-10 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song peaked at #8 and charted in seven countries. The movie had a production budget of $3 million and grossed $125 million at the box office.

Bassey's remarkable rendition of "Goldfinger" has stood the test of time. In 2008, the single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 2013, a 76-year-old Bassey was asked to perform the song during the 2013 Academy Awards as part of a tribute to the James Bond franchise's 50th anniversary.

A native of Cardiff, Wales, Bassey went on to record the theme songs for two other James Bond films, including Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Moonraker (1979). In 2000, she become a Dame in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. She was honored for her services to the performing arts.

Please check out the video of Bassey's live performance of "Goldfinger" at the Royal Albert Hall in 1974. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Goldfinger"
Written by John Barry, Leslie Bricuss and Anthony Newley. Performed by Shirley Bassey.

Goldfinger
He's the man, the man with the Midas touch
A spider's touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sin
But don't go in

Golden words he will pour in your ear
But his lies can't disguise what you fear
For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her
It's the kiss of death from

Mister Goldfinger
Pretty girl beware of this heart of gold
This heart is cold

Golden words he will pour in your ear
But his lies can't disguise what you fear
For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her
It's the kiss of death from

Mister Goldfinger
Pretty girl beware of this heart of gold
This heart is cold

He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold
He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Tiny African Kingdom of Lesotho Yields 910-Carat, Gem-Quality Diamond; Ranks as 5th Largest Ever

The prolific Letšeng mine in the tiny southern Africa kingdom of Lesotho has produced another mammoth gem-quality diamond. Weighing 910 carats, the D-color, Type IIa stone is the largest ever mined at Letšeng and the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever recovered in world history.

The yet-to-be-named gem is probably worth more than $50 million based on recent sales of colossal diamonds exhibiting nearly identical characteristics.

For example, the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona (#2 on the all-time list) was sold in September of 2017 for $53 million. In May of 2016, the 812-carat Constellation (#7 on the all-time list) fetched $63 million. Sourced at Lucara's Karowe mine in Botswana, both D-color diamonds were rated Type IIa, which means they are chemically pure with no traces of nitrogen or boron impurities.

Despite having a land mass slightly smaller than Maryland, Lesotho is an international powerhouse when it comes to turning out huge, top-quality stones.

“Since Gem Diamonds acquired Letšeng in 2006, the mine has produced some of the world’s most remarkable diamonds, including the 603-carat Lesotho Promise," noted Gem Diamonds CEO Clifford Elphick. "However, this exceptional top-quality diamond is the largest to be mined to date and highlights the unsurpassed quality of the Letšeng mine."

Here's a list of the most newsworthy stones to come from Letšeng, which is billed as the highest dollar-per-carat kimberlite mine in the world.

2006 – Lesotho Promise (603 carats)
2011 – Letšeng Star (550 carats)
2007 – Lesotho Legacy (493 carats)
2008 – Leseli La Letšeng (478 carats)
2015 – Letšeng Dynasty (357 carats)
2015 – Letšeng Destiny (314 carats)
2014 – Unnamed Yellow (299 carats)

The newly unveiled 910-carat rough diamond has an equivalent weight of 182 grams, or 6.41 ounces. A baseball, by comparison, weighs 5.25 ounces.

The fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever mined is less than one-third the weight of the granddaddy of them all — the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered in South Africa in 1905. Finished gems cut from the Cullinan Diamond include the Cullinan I (530.20 carats) and the Cullinan II (317.4 carats).

The United Kingdom-based Gem Diamonds holds a 70% stake in the Letšeng mine with the government of Lesotho owning the remaining 30%.

Credit: Image via Twitter.com/GemDiamondsLtd.