In 1980, the Grammy Awards stage was empty. No announcer. No flashy introduction. Just a few seconds of awkward, dead air that felt like a lifetime on live television. Then, from opposite wings, two figures walked out. The crowd didn't just cheer; they lost their minds. It was Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond, and they were about to give the world a performance that felt less like a song and more like an eavesdropped conversation.
Kinda wild, honestly, when you think about how that moment even happened. It wasn't some corporate master plan. It was basically a fluke—a radio DJ’s DIY project that turned into a global phenomenon.
The Brooklyn Chorus Kids Nobody Noticed
Long before they were the king and queen of the adult contemporary charts, Streisand and Diamond were just two "poor kids from Brooklyn." They both attended Erasmus Hall High School in the late 1950s. If you dig up the old yearbooks, you’ll find them both listed in the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club.
They weren't "Barbra and Neil" back then. They were just two students in a sea of thousands. Interestingly, they also shared hallways with chess legend Bobby Fischer. Streisand has famously admitted she had a bit of a crush on Fischer because he was "sexy" and "intense," while she and Neil mostly just "hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes."
It’s sort of surreal to imagine two of the most distinctive voices in music history standing in a high school choir room, probably getting scolded for not following the sheet music. They didn't really stay in touch after graduation, at least not until a weird twist of fate brought them back together twenty years later.
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The song "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" wasn't originally a duet. It wasn't even meant to be a hit. Neil Diamond wrote it with Alan and Marilyn Bergman as a 45-second theme song for a Norman Lear sitcom called All That Glitters. The show’s premise was a "gender-swapped" world where women ran the corporations and men stayed home.
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The song was supposed to be a "torch song" from a man's perspective—something men "don't usually think about." But the show's concept shifted, the song was scrapped, and Neil eventually expanded it into a full track for his 1977 album, I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight.
A year later, Barbra heard it. She loved it. She recorded her own solo version for her album Songbird.
Then came Gary Guthrie.
Guthrie was the program director at WAKY-AM in Louisville, Kentucky. He was going through a divorce, and he noticed his soon-to-be ex-wife, Becky, cried every time Neil’s version came on. As a parting gift—and a bit of a radio experiment—Guthrie used two turntables to splice Barbra’s version and Neil’s version together.
The "mashup" went viral before "viral" was a thing. Other DJs across the country started doing their own "live mixes." The demand became so insane that Columbia Records realized they were sitting on a gold mine. They rushed Streisand and Diamond into a studio to record the official duet version we know today.
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The Rehearsal That Wasn't
When they finally agreed to perform the song at the 1980 Grammys, Barbra—notoriously stage-shy and a bit of a perfectionist—was terrified. The original plan from the producers involved three stools on stage: one for Neil, one for Barbra, and one in the middle for a bouquet of flowers.
Barbra hated it.
She called the executive producer, Ken Ehrlich, late at night to overhaul the staging. She wanted it simple. She wanted a "backstory." In her mind, they were a couple who had been married for 20 years and were finally calling it quits.
There was a catch, though. They didn't actually rehearse together in person until the very last minute. Some reports suggest they even rehearsed their harmonies over the phone. That raw, slightly tentative energy you see in the video? That wasn't acting. That was the real-time chemistry of two old schoolmates finding their rhythm.
When Barbra reached out and caressed Neil’s face at the end of the song, the audience exploded. It felt intimate. It felt like they were the only two people in the room. Even the camera crew struggled—they couldn't get Neil’s face out of the shadow of Barbra’s profile, which only added to the "private conversation" vibe of the whole thing.
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Why the Magic Never Repeated
People often ask why Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond never did a follow-up. They were the biggest duo on the planet for a minute there. But honestly? You can’t manufacture that kind of lightning twice.
They won over the world with a song about things falling apart. To try and do a "Part 2" would have felt like a cheap sequel. They remained friends, but they let that 1980 performance stand as the definitive peak of their collaboration.
Streisand later auctioned off the famous silk pantsuit she wore that night, and Diamond eventually retired from touring due to Parkinson's, but the recording remains a staple of every "Greatest Duets" list for a reason. It wasn't just about the voices; it was about the history of two kids from Brooklyn who made it out.
Your Next Steps for a Deep Dive
If you want to really "feel" the history of this collaboration, here is the best way to experience it:
- Watch the 1980 Grammy Performance: Look specifically for the moment Barbra touches Neil’s cheek. It’s the most "human" moment ever captured on an awards show.
- Listen to the Solo Versions: Play Neil’s 1977 version from I’m Glad You’re Here with Me Tonight and then Barbra’s from Songbird. You can actually hear why Gary Guthrie thought they belonged together—the phrasing is almost identical, despite them recording months apart.
- Check out the Erasmus Hall Alumni List: It’s a trip. Seeing names like Streisand, Diamond, Bobby Fischer, and Mae West all coming from the same Brooklyn school puts their "regular kid" beginnings into perspective.