Neil Sedaka
Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard "Howie" Greenfield and Phil Cody.After a short-lived tenure as a founding member of the doo-wop group the Tokens, Sedaka achieved a string of hit singles over the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Oh!Sedaka maintained a successful career as a songwriter, penning hits for other artists including "Stupid Cupid" (Connie Francis), "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" (Tony Christie) and "Love Will Keep Us Together" (Captain & Tennille).[9][10] Sedaka demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class and, when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright.The band had minor regional hits with songs like "While I Dream", "I Love My Baby", "Come Back, Joe", and "Don't Go", before Sedaka launched his solo career and left the group in 1957.failed to become hits (although "Ring-a-Rockin'" earned him the first of many appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand), but they demonstrated his ability to perform as a solo singer, so RCA Victor signed him to a recording contract.[citation needed] His first single for RCA Victor, "The Diary", was inspired by Connie Francis, one of Sedaka and Greenfield's most important clients, while the three were taking a temporary break during their idea-making for a new song.RCA Victor issued four LPs of his works in the United States and Great Britain during this period, and also produced Scopitone and Cinebox videos of "Calendar Girl" in 1961, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" in 1962, and "The Dreamer" in 1963.Other recordings followed, such as "Tu non lo sai" ("Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"), "Il re dei pagliacci" ("King of Clowns"), "I tuoi capricci" ("Look Inside Your Heart"), and "La terza luna" ("Waiting For Never").Sedaka stated in 2020 that he was talked into focusing on the international markets because Elvis Presley, the biggest rock star in America, never toured overseas (largely because of Colonel Tom Parker's desire to avoid immigration officials), and because his publishers and managers considered it a much lower risk for a new performer not to face American audiences who knew him.For the remainder of his tenure with RCA Victor, Sedaka never fully recovered from the effects of Beatlemania, the loss of "It Hurts to Be in Love" to Pitney, or the failure of his recordings.[21] Morgan's warning turned out to be prescient, however: despite Sedaka's classical roots, his "other" life as a pop star spurred the Soviet Union to disqualify him from entering the competition."[22] Sedaka made several trips to Australia to play cabaret dates, and his commercial comeback began when the single "Star-Crossed Lovers" became a major hit there.In late 1972, producer Stig Anderson approached Sedaka to write the lyrics for a single by a new Swedish pop quartet then known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid.The single, credited to Andersson, Ulvaeus, Anderson, Sedaka and Cody, reached number 1 in Sweden and Belgium, and charted in the top 5 in at least four other countries.[33] "Captain" Daryl Dragon and Toni also recorded a Spanish-language version of the song the same year that cracked the top half of Billboard's Hot 100 chart ("Por Amor Viviremos", US pop No.1 on the Billboard 100 and stayed there for three weeks (October 11, 18 and 25, 1975), was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and was the most commercially successful individual single of his career.36), it also marked the beginning of a slowdown in Sedaka's music sales and radio play, not unlike what he experienced in 1964 when The Beatles and the British Invasion arrived.A musical comedy based on the songs of Sedaka, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,[38] was written in 2005 by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters; it is now under license to Theatrical Rights Worldwide.A biographical musical, Laughter in the Rain, produced by Bill Kenwright and Laurie Mansfield and starring Wayne Smith as Sedaka, had its world premiere at the Churchill Theatre in the London borough of Bromley on March 4, 2010.On November 15, 2013, Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters in Los Angeles gave him their Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award at a luncheon in his honor.As Aiken explained to the studio and TV audiences, host Ryan Seacrest, and the four regular judges, "Solitaire" had long been one of his mother's all-time favorite songs.Sedaka told Aiken that he officially passed ownership of the performance of "Solitaire" to Clay, offering to record and produce a single of the song or an entire CD with him.When interviewed for an "extras" feature for a DVD set of a concert filmed in London on April 7, 2006 (see below), Sedaka jokingly said that he had heard that Christie had retired and was "golfing in Spain.In early 2006, the song received new life yet again when a dance beat was added and the lyrics were revised to become a novelty hit, released as "Is This the Way to the (England) World Cup?[citation needed] On April 7, 2006, Sedaka was appearing at the Royal Albert Hall and filming for the aforementioned CD/DVD package, when he was interrupted mid-concert by a gentleman who walked onstage from the wings.The CD was a children's album that used the melodies of many of Sedaka's best-known songs but changed the lyrics to fit the everyday lives of babies and toddlers, along with their parents, grandparents, babysitters, and other caregivers.Other guests included The Captain and Tennille; Natalie Cole; Connie Francis; recording legend and decades-long Sedaka friend and former manager Don Kirshner; and new Solitaire "owner" Clay Aiken, among many others.Also in 2014, Sedaka duetted with up-and-coming Nashville star Mary Sarah (Gross) on Connie Francis' classic, "Theme from Where the Boys Are", on her all-duets CD Bridges.[51] Then, on August 12, 2016, Sedaka released his new acoustic album, I Do It for Applause, which includes 11 new tracks and a bonus of his first symphony that was debuted in Australia in 2008, "Joie de Vivre (Joy of Life)"; the recording features the London Philharmonia Orchestra.
New York CityBrill Buildingrock and rolldoo-wopRCA VictorMGM RecordsPolydor RecordsRocketElektra RecordsRazor & Tie RecordsHoward "Howie" Greenfieldthe TokensOh! CarolCalendar GirlHappy Birthday Sweet SixteenBreaking Up Is Hard to DoBillboard Hot 100Laughter in the RainBad BloodStupid CupidConnie Francis(Is This the Way to) AmarilloTony ChristieLove Will Keep Us TogetherCaptain & TennilleSongwriters Hall of FameCOVID-19 pandemicBrooklynNew YorkJewishBrighton BeachEydie GorméAbraham & StrausJuilliard School of MusicVan CliburnHoward Greenfieldshow tunesthe BeatlesBritish InvasionPleasantville, New YorkAbraham Lincoln High SchoolDick ClarkAmerican BandstandThe DiaryLittle Anthony and the ImperialsI Go ApeCrying My Heart Out for Youone-hit wonderAl NevinsOne Way TicketCarole KingGerry GoffinCashboxStairway to HeavenYou Mean Everything to MeRun, Samson, RunLittle DevilNext Door to an AngelStan ApplebaumScopitoneCineboxShindig!Who's Sorry Now?Shepherd SistersUK Singles ChartWhere the Boys Aresignature songJimmy ClantonNeil Sedaka Sings "Little Devil" and His Other HitssessionDream LoverBobby DarinItalianaElvis PresleyColonel Tom ParkerIt Hurts to Be in LoveGene PitneyMusicorScreen GemsThe MonkeesThe CyrkleWorkin' On a Groovy ThingPatti DrewThe 5th DimensionFrankie ValliI've Got a SecretTchaikovskyHenry MorganFantaisie ImpromptuBob Rogers'The Hungry YearsGo-SetFestival RecordsPat AultonJohn FarrarOlivia Newton-JohnAyers RockJohn SangsterCarole Bayer SagerEmergenceDon KirshnerHarvey LisbergI'm Not in LoveThe Things We Do for LoveSolitaireStrawberry StudiosStockportAndy Williamsthe CarpentersTopPopThe Tra-La Days Are OverBo Donaldson and the HeywoodsPolydorDarby CrashElton JohnRocket Record Company, LimitedcompilationSedaka's BackNeil Sedaka Sings His Greatest HitsBillboardThe ImmigrantJohn Lennoneasy listeningStig AndersonBjörn UlvaeusBenny Andersson