Neil Sedaka was born on March 13, 1939. Neil’s interest in music began at the young age of eight, when he would listen to The Make-Believe Ballroom. It was not Rock and Roll, but Classical music that would shape Neil into the musician he is today. By the time he was nine, he had already begun his intensive classical piano training at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music attending both the Preparatory School and the College. At 16, Arthur Rubinstein voted Neil as The Best New York High School Pianist. Though Neil considered pursuing his Doctorate in music, Neil’s next choice became his chosen vocation.
Eager to gain acceptance from his peers at Abraham Lincoln High School, Neil began performing Rock N Roll outside of his classical training. At this time, he would form the Doo-Wop group The Tokens, in which they would record two singles that would go on to be regional hits. But, it was his introduction to his young neighbour Howard Greenfield, by Greenfield’s mother, that began one of the most prolific songwriting partnerships of the last half-century that sold forty million records between 1959-1963. Sedaka and Greenfield became one of the original creators of the “Brill Building” sound in the late fifties and early sixties when they were the first to sign with Don Kirshner and Al Nevins at Aldon Music. Aldon Music would go on to sign Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Paul Simon among many others, and they became the centre of the pop world.
Sedaka catapulted into stardom after Connie Francis recorded his “Stupid Cupid.” She then sang the theme song Neil and Howard had written for the 1960 MGM spring break classic, Where the Boys Are, which would be her biggest hit. Rhythm and blues stars Clyde McPhatter and LaVern Baker also scored hits with his songs. As a result of these hits, Sedaka was able to sign a contract with RCA Victor as a writer and performer of his own material. Sedaka soon recorded chart toppers “The Diary,” “Oh! Carol,” ” Stairway to Heaven,” “Calendar Girl,” “Little Devil,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Next Door To An Angel,” and “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” songs that have become a part of peoples’ lives and can still instantly take listeners back to special moments.
Sedaka found enormous popularity in the UK with the release of a trio of critically praised albums “Emergence”, “Solitaire” and “The Tra-La Days Are Over”. These albums caught the attention of Elton John, who was riding the wave of his own tremendous success. Sir Elton would sign Sedaka to his fledging new label Rocket Records and re-introduced Sedaka to American audiences. The two albums recorded for Rocket, “Sedaka’s Back” in 1974 and “The Hungry Years” in 1975, became top selling albums globally. His comeback was further heralded by two of his songs co-written with Phil Cody; “Bad Blood” and the quintessential “Laughter in the Rain,” both reaching the #1 position on the music charts. “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” was re-released as a ballad in 1975, and made music history by becoming the first song recorded in two different versions by the same artist to reach Number 1. During this time, Captain and Tennille scored a worldwide #1 hit and the Grammy for Record of the Year with Sedaka/Greenfield’s “Love Will Keep Us Together”. The line “Sedaka Is Back” can be heard as the song fades out. Captain & Tennille would follow this up with the release of “Lonely Night (Angel Face)”, a song Neil solely wrote the music and lyrics to, that hit #3 on The Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart.
In 1995, Neil took a break from composing pop songs and turned his attention to classical music for the first time since his days at Juilliard. The result was the acclaimed “Classically Sedaka”, where Neil adapted classical melodies by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, & Puccini and crafted original lyrics for each piece. Neil has made many television appearances throughout his career, including being one of the first musical guests on “Saturday Night Live”, two NBC prime-time TV Specials & FOX’s hit Television show American Idol, as a guest judge. Clay Aiken would perform Neil’s “Solitaire”, which saw an inevitable release, reaching #4 on the Hot 100 Singles chart, was one of the Top Selling Singles of 2004 and reintroduced Neil to a new generation of fans. The accolades showered on Neil Sedaka have been numerous. Sedaka has been inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, has had a street named after him in his hometown of Brooklyn, and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sedaka died on the 27th February 2026.
