Neil Diamond is one of those 'inhertence' artists... my mother 'loved' him and seemingly watched The Jazz Singer on a weekly basis, so all the songs from that movie are very familiar and take me to a happy place... just like hearing The Carpenters does.
It took me a long time to discover his absolute gems though; Shilo, The Boat that I Row and Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show, to name a few.
He did have really bad hair though.