Music Legend, 84, Reveals Why He Looked So Mad on Famous Album Cover originally appeared on Parade.
Let’s set the scene: you’re a famous Hollywood photographer getting paid to take a shot of Neil Diamond.
You don’t know it yet, but the photo you’re taking will be used for a platinum-selling retrospective of the music icon’s entire career. It’s an album that Diamond, 84, himself will curate. It’ll contain chart-topping hits like “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” “Song Sung Blue,” and “Yesterday Songs”; songs that were hits for other bands like “I’m a Believer” and “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon”; and, of course, “Sweet Caroline.”
With all that said, would you still quack at the man to get him to smile? Because that’s apparently what the photographer did.
On July 21, the official Neil Diamond TikTok uploaded a clip from an early 2000s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, explaining “the story behind The Essential Neil Diamond album cover!” The album cover in question does show Neil looking a bit perturbed, and Diamond revealed the reason behind the look to Jay Leno.
“This [album art] was taken by one of the most famous photographers in Hollywood history,” explained Diamond. “He came over to my house. He gets set up…and he says, ‘Okay, you ready?’ I say, ‘yeah, I’m ready.’ And he goes, ‘QUACK, QUACK! QUACK, QUACK!’ You know, to get me to laugh? It’s like one of these baby photographers.”
“It really took me off guard,” explained Diamond. “So, the expression on my face is ‘what? I’m paying so much money for this guy, he could have shot my kids for that.’” And to drive the point home, Diamond quacked one more time.
Neil Diamond performs onstage with an acoustic guitar in circa 1971.Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
While Diamond didn’t name the photographer, Discogs lists George Hurrell as the man who took the front album’s cover. Hurrell, who died in 1992 at the age of 87, took photos of some of Hollywood’s classic stars, including Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Humphrey Bogart.
Released in 2001, The Essential Neil Diamond compilation peaked at No. 90 on the Billboard 200 album chart. In 2016, the RIAA awarded it double platinum status.
Related: Music Legend, 84, Delights Fans with Surprise Performance Despite Parkinson’s Diagnosis
Music Legend, 84, Reveals Why He Looked So Mad on Famous Album Cover first appeared on Parade on Jul 22, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared.