Neil Diamond and Marcia Murphey divorced after 24 years, 5 months of marriage. The settlement was reportedly about $150M. See the full timeline.
Figures are reported estimates. Last updated Oct 2026.
Diamond reportedly said Murphey was 'worth every penny.'
Neil Diamond, the singer-songwriter behind hits such as Sweet Caroline and Cracklin' Rosie, married Marcia Murphey in December 1969, as his career as a recording artist was gaining real momentum. Murphey was a former production assistant from Texas whom Diamond had met earlier in the decade. The couple had two daughters, Jesse and Elyn, and for a quarter of a century she was a central part of his domestic life while he toured and recorded. Their marriage lasted much of his rise from Brill Building songwriter to arena headliner.
Diamond's wealth came from songwriting royalties, record sales and touring. He had written hits for other acts, including I'm a Believer for the Monkees, before building a solo career with a string of gold and platinum albums in the 1970s. His 1972 Hot August Night concert album and the soundtrack to The Jazz Singer in 1980 were commercial peaks, and he continued to sell out concert venues for decades. Because publishing rights, recording income and concert earnings all accumulated during his marriage to Murphey, they formed the bulk of the estate that was later divided.
Diamond and Murphey married in 1969 and stayed together through the first great decades of his career. By the early 1990s the marriage was under strain, and the couple divorced in 1994 after about 25 years. Diamond later married Katie McNeil in 1995, after a relationship that began in the early 1990s, and he subsequently settled in California. The end of the marriage came at a time when he was still touring heavily and earning large sums.
Reports of the time put Murphey's settlement at about $150 million, which would have made it one of the largest divorces of the 1990s. The precise terms were not published, and the number is best understood as a media estimate. Coverage described the settlement as covering a share of royalties, cash and property rather than a single payment, reflecting the fact that Diamond's income was drawn from many different sources over a long career.
California's community property rules generally treat income earned during a marriage as owned equally by both spouses, and Diamond's catalog of songs and recordings had been created, performed and monetized largely during the 25 years of the marriage. A long marriage, a high-earning career and the lack of any publicly reported prenuptial agreement all pointed toward a large division. The fact that royalties continue to flow from old recordings also made the estate worth far more than a snapshot of bank balances might suggest.
Diamond's career was not damaged by the divorce. He kept touring and recording, released albums in the decades that followed, and in 2018 announced his retirement from live performance after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In 2022 he sold his entire song catalog to Universal Music Publishing in a deal widely reported to be worth around $300 million, showing that the underlying rights remained highly valuable even after a large share of earlier income had been divided with his first wife.
In the 1990s a settlement of this size was extremely rare and put Diamond's divorce among the most expensive of its decade. It stands comparable to other music-industry payouts that came later, such as Phil Collins's reported settlement with Orianne Cevey or Paul McCartney's with Heather Mills, though those were driven by different circumstances. It also shows how song royalties, which can run for decades, can make a musician's divorce far more costly than the income of a single year might suggest.
Sweet Caroline, one of Diamond's signature songs, became a sporting anthem sung at Boston's Fenway Park and at many other venues around the world. Diamond married three times, with his third wife, Katie McNeil, becoming his manager. His first marriage was to Jaye Posner in 1963 before he wed Murphey. The reported $150 million figure for his second divorce is an estimate, but the headline sum was widely quoted as a record for its time.
Marcia Murphey's reported settlement was about $150 million.
They married in 1969 and divorced in 1994, a marriage of roughly 25 years.
No prenuptial agreement was reported.
Yes, the family is reported to include 2 children.
Reported assets include: Music royalties, real estate, cash.
California's community property rules generally treat income earned during a marriage as owned equally by both spouses, and Diamond's catalog of songs and recordings had been created, performed and monetized largely during the 25 years of the marriage. A long marriage, a high-earning career and the lack of any publicly reported prenuptial agreement all pointed toward a large division.