<P> He began wearing colorful beaded shirts in concert, originally out of necessity so everyone in the audience could see him without the aid of binoculars . Bill Whitten designed and made the shirts for Diamond from the 1970s till approximately 2007 . </P> <P> In 1974, Diamond released the album Serenade, from which "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before" were issued as singles . The latter had been intended for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull score, but Diamond had completed it too late for inclusion in the same . That same year he also appeared on a TV special for Shirley Bassey where they sang a duet . </P> <P> In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band . On Thanksgiving night, 1976, Diamond made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz, performing "Dry Your Eyes", which he had written and composed jointly with Robertson, and which had appeared on Beautiful Noise . He also joined the rest of the performers onstage at the end in a rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released". </P> <P> Diamond was paid $650,000 (US $2,795,380 in 2017 dollars) from the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, to open its new $10 million Theater For the Performing Arts on July 2, 1976 . The show played through July 5, 1976, and drew sold out crowds for the 7,500 seat theater . A "who's who" of Hollywood attended opening night, ranging from Elizabeth Taylor to Chevy Chase, with Diamond walking out on stage to a standing ovation . He opened the show without music, but rather a story about an ex-girlfriend who dumped him before he became successful . His lead - in line to the first song of the evening was, "You may have dumped me a bit too soon baby, because look who's standing here tonight ." </P>

Who sings soon i'll be 60 years old