Jason Scott spun around and looked across the crowded bar. People were cheering.
“I thought the Canucks had scored a goal,” he said, referring to the muted TV screens dotted on the walls of the local watering hole that were showing the hockey game.
But the cheering wasn’t for the hockey team. It was for Scott who had ventured up on the pub’s small stage, at his sister’s urging, to try his hand at karaoke, singing the Neil Diamond classic Love on the Rocks.
“People were really liking what I was doing and had got up on their feet and started cheering,” he said.
That’s when the lightbulb went off.
And in the two decades or so since, Scott has fashioned a career to become a tribute artist, performing a host of Diamond’s tunes across the country. And he brings his one-man show, Diamond Forever, to the Royal Canadian Legion on Bridgeport Road on Jan. 28.
Scott, a classically trained musician in Ontario, had come to the west coast in the late 1980s, and was the front man in a number of bands before the chance performance took place at the bar.
In the early 90s he had been in the midst of cutting an album with producer and former Chilliwack lead guitarist Brian “Too Loud” MacLeod when MacLeod died after a short battle with cancer.
That put things on hold and Scott briefly retreated from the music business, only to have it revived with his show that channels Diamond, who this year celebrates 50 years of performing.
Making the switch from rock and roll front man, singing in a high register, to Diamond’s trademark, rumbling low register was easy, Scott said.
“It was like playing in a kid’s pool,” he said. “I just naturally dropped down and thought maybe there’s a few more laps around the track for the old horse yet.”
So, Scott started to earnestly look into giving a career on tribute artist’s circuit a go. He started out with a small back up band and a couple of years later replaced that with a quality collection of recorded musical tracks of Diamond’s songs that he uses in his show.
He estimated there are about 80 performers like him who cover Diamond - a relatively small number compared to the legion of Elvis Presley singers out there - and believes the popularity comes from an audience’s willingness to temporarily suspend their belief and celebrate their favourite artist.
“Even though my show is a tribute, I don’t consider it to be an impersonation, but rather a celebration of the music and the history of Neil Diamond,” Scott said. “I have a similar look and do represent him, but I also execute the music from my own perspective.”
Diamond’s staying power in the music industry has also helped fuel Scott’s career.
“I think he’s sold about 140 million albums worldwide over the last 50 years,” Scott said. “He’s truly an iconic figure. And there’s new legions of fans who come out to my shows because Neil has created such great, quality music that resonates with people who hear it.
“It’s also fun, ‘up music.’ It’s inspiring and a reason why there have been so many faithful fans over the years.”
And what would his favourite Diamond songs be?
“If you know what I mean is one because it’s a tribute to the boys in the band that I can relate to as a touring performer,” Scott said, adding his current favourite is a new song called Nothing but a heartache, which is about how Diamond and his fourth wife - his long-time manager - got together.
Diamond Forever plays one night only on Jan. 28. Tickets are $25 and include a gala spaghetti dinner. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is at 6 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Richmond Royal Canadian Legion (11131 Bridgeport Road) or by calling 604-278-6423.
