NEIL SEDAKA (1939 - 2026)

Neil Sedaka, the pop performer and prolific songwriter, has passed away on February 27th at the age of eighty-six. After briefly singing with a doo-wop group, the Tokens as a teenager, the Brooklyn-born performer teamed up with Howard Greenfield to write many chart topping songs together at the Brill Building for other artists before becoming a popular recording artist himself, all which happened not long after Sedaka had turned eighteen.

During his time at the Brill, which began in 1958, Greenfield was handling the lyrics while Sedaka writing the music. The team had their first hit with their song, "Stupid Cupid" for Connie Francis that year. They would write other songs for Francis including "Where The Boys Are" which was the theme song for the 1960 movie which she co-starred and became Francis' signature song. 

Sedaka was still determined to become a recording artist himself and signed with RCA Records. His first charting song was "The Diary", which was inspired by Francis not allowing him to read her own journal, reaching number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. But his next single, "Oh! Carol" (which was inspired by his former girlfriend, Carole King) became an even bigger hit, peaking at number nine in 1959. More hits followed for Sedaka which included "Calendar Girl",  "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" and "Breaking Up is Hard To Do".

Once the British invasion began around 1964, like many of the clean-cut, American pop stars, Sedaka could no longer get his music to chart. He was dropped by his label in 1966 and went back to songwriting full time. Sedaka wrote or co-wrote songs with Greenfield and other writers for The Monkees, the 5th Dimension, Patti Drew and Frankie Valli. But by the early 1970's, Sedaka was back trying to revive his own music career. He found some success touring in Australia and England and was able to rejoin RCA, recording the albums, "Emergence" in 1971 and "Solitaire" the following year. Neither album attracted much attention but the song, "Solitaire" found chart success for Andy Williams and the Carpenters.

Sedaka's fortunes began to shift around 1974 when he recorded the album, "Laughter in the Rain" in Britain. This title track went on to become a number one hit for the singer in the US in 1975, leading to Sedaka being signed to Elton John's label, The Rocket Record Company and a compilation album, "Sedaka's Back" featured material from three previous records he had recorded in the UK. Then later that year, Captain & Tennille recorded a version of Sedaka's song, "Love Will Keep Us Together", becoming a worldwide number one hit. Sedaka's follow-up album, "The Hungry Years" had the first single, "Bad Blood" (that features an uncredited Elton John) become his second number one hit that year. Another single from the album was a slowed-down version of Sedaka's 1962 hit, "Breaking Up is Hard To Do" which this ballad made it to number eight on the pop chart in 1976, making him the only artist to ever record an entirely new version of the same song with both reaching the Billboard Top Ten.

Unfortunately, Sedaka was unable to maintain this remarkable comeback. He recorded one more album, "Steppin' Out" for Rocket before joining Elektra Records, creating a bit of riff between himself and John but their relationship was repaired years later. None of the albums Sedaka recorded on his new label achieved great success. His last charting song was "Should've Never Let You Go", a duet with his daughter, Dara, which made it to number nineteen on the US pop chart in 1980.

But Sedaka would go on to receive plenty of appreciation for his sweeping and influential work. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983, a jukebox musical, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" came out in 2005 and a theatrical musical biography, "Laughter in the Rain" appeared five years later. Sedaka toured extensively over the last thirty years and even did a series of free mini-concerts online during the COVID-19 shutdown.