Neil Diamond almost gave up on marriage after two divorces because he feared he was too "high maintenance" to make a lasting union work.

The 70-year-old Sweet Caroline singer recently wed his manager Katie McNeil, and he's convinced the 42 year old is the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with - because she is "up to the task of being my wife."

Diamond tells Parade magazine his only regrets about his two previous marriages are he couldn't make them work: "I had every possible chance to do it right. Both are spectacular women."

And the failure of both marriages made the singer think he was no good as a husband: "I felt if I couldn't make something wonderful and lifelong happen with them, then maybe I wasn't capable of it."

"I'm throwing myself back in because I like being married. I don't want to end this whole fabulous journey alone. I want someone by my side who I love and who loves me. I've finally found somebody who's up to the task of being my wife, because I'm very high maintenance."

"When I need my wife or when I need companionship or someone to talk to, I need it, like, now. So my wife will have to give up whatever she's doing at that moment to tend to my needs. And, in the same way, I would tend to hers. That's not such an easy thing to do."