Diamond said that during his younger years he got involved with the wrong crowd in Brooklyn, New York and was only convinced to leave the gang when he ran into trouble.

"On weekends, my friends and I would go out and get into fights with kids from other neighbourhoods.

"One night we were scrapping with these guys, when all of a sudden I heard a pop and felt a hit under my left eye,” he told Blender.

"It turned out I'd been shot. It was only a pellet gun, but it hurt pretty bad. That was my first and last gang fight."

Neil Diamond previewed songs off his number one album 'Home Before Dark' in New York earlier this year.

(by Jason Gregory)