'Nearly Neil' is a polished Diamond in performance

Photo by Photo by Ron Nelson of Red Bluff

Bobby Bruce, performing as "Nearly Neil" Diamond, invited two women out of the Redding Convention Center audience to help him sing "Song Sung Blue."

As a stage performer, Bobby "Nearly Neil" Bruce is no Diamond in the rough.

I caught his Jan. 20 tribute show to the early days of Neil Diamond at the Convention Center in Redding and now I'm a believer.

To complete my conversion from skeptic to fan, Bruce even sang The Monkees ballad, "I'm a Believer," composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966, near the end of a 21-song set that easily spanned two hours but covered two decades of Neil Diamond's more than 40-year career.

Backed by the superb musicianship of the Solitary Band, Bruce belted out one Neil Diamond hit after another from "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Kentucky Woman" to "Cherry Cherry" and "Sweet Caroline." He covered "America," "Holly Holy," "Solitary Man" and "Song Sung Blue."

Bruce got the northern California audience clapping along by his second number, "Forever in Blue Jeans," which he followed up with Diamond's soft ballad, "Play Me," which was eerily right on the mark as a sound-alike for the music legend that he portrays so effortlessly.

A native of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a suburb on the eastern edge of Vancouver, the 40-year-old Bruce said he cut his musical teeth on Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" album that his parents played endlessly on the family's 8-track player while driving too and from their summer lake cabin vacations.

"Let that be a lesson to all of you parents out there," Bruce joked from the stage. "Please be careful what music you play your children or they may end up like me."

A charismatic performer who seemingly can do it all - besides being a singer he has been an actor, a writer and a painter - Bruce began his professional career on stage at the age of 11.

By age 25, while competing in a karaoke contest in Toronto, Bruce was discovered by an Elvis impersonator who caught him singing Glenn Campbell's ubiquitous "Rhinestone Cowboy," a song actually composed by Brooklyn-born songwriter Larry Weiss, who grew up in the shadows of Broadway with the likes of Neil Diamond and Tony Orlando.

"Neil Diamond never recorded 'Rhinestone Cowboy,' but he sure could have," noted Bruce, who sprinkled his on-stage patter with nuggets of information about the artist he so lovingly portrays.

By the fourth song - Diamond's first hit tune - "Solitary Man" from his first recording for Bang Records in 1966, Bruce was talking up and introducing members of his tribute backup musicians collectively known as "Solitary Band."

Jeremy Scott filled in for Dave Corman on lead guitar, Craig Zurba played keyboards and some guitar, Kyle Radomsky played drum. And Marlow Holder played bass.

However, it was the power and purity of Bruce's voice that convinced me this was no ordinary MockStar.