Neil Sedaka

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka 2005
Neil Sedaka 2005
Background information
Birth name Neil Sedaka
Born March 13, 1939 (1939-03-13) (age 69)
Origin Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genre(s) Pop
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, music producer
Instrument(s) Vocals, Multiple instruments
Years active 1959 - present
Label(s) Columbia Records
Website www.neilsedaka.com

Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building. He teamed up with Howard Greenfield to write many major hit songs for himself and others. Sedaka's voice is in the tenor and alto ranges.

Contents

[edit] Career beginnings, 1960s success

Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 13, 1939. His father, Mac Sedaka, a taxi driver, was the son of Turkish-Jewish immigrants; his mother, Eleanor (Appel) Sedaka, was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent.

He first 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. He took to the instrument immediately.

In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children, which he began to attend on Saturdays. He also maintained an interest in popular music, and when he was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. The two began writing songs together.

The best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits of his early career are "The Diary" (#14, 1958), "Oh! Carol" (#9, 1959), "You Mean Everything to Me" (#17, 1960), "Calendar Girl" (#4, 1960), "Little Devil" (#11, 1961) "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (#6, 1961), "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (#1, 1962), and "Next Door To An Angel" (#5, 1962). "Oh! Carol" refers to Sedaka's Brill Building compatriot and former girlfriend Carole King. King soon responded with her own answer song, "Oh, Neil", which used Sedaka's full name. A Scopitone exists for "Calendar Girl". Sedaka wrote his other known hit Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen for his then close friend Annette Funicello.[citation needed]

A similar sharing of creative hits came earlier with Sedaka and singer Connie Francis. As Francis explains at each of her concerts, she began searching for a new hit immediately after her 1958 single Who's Sorry Now? became a success. She was then introduced to Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, who played every ballad they had written to date, for her. After a few hours, Francis began writing in her diary while the two songwriters played the last of their songs. After they finished their last song of the session, Francis told them that they wrote very beautiful ballads, but that she considered them too intellectual for the young generation of the time. Greenfield then suggested to Sedaka a song they had written that morning for another girl group. Sedaka protested, believing that Francis would be insulted, but reluctantly agreed to play "Stupid Cupid" with Greenfield for Francis. As soon as they finished playing the song, Francis told them that they had just played her new hit record. Francis' song reached #14 on the Billboard charts.

While Francis was writing in her diary, Sedaka asked her if he could read what she had written. After she refused, Sedaka was inspired to write "The Diary", which was his first hit single. Through the rest of her early career Sedaka and Greenfield wrote many of Connie Francis' hits such as "Fallin" and "Where the Boys Are".

Between 1960 and 1962, Sedaka had eight Top 40 hits. But he was among the early 1960s performers whose careers were waylaid by the British Invasion and other sea changes in the music industry. His singles began to decline on the US charts, before disappearing altogether.

On an "I've Got a Secret" episode in 1965, Sedaka's secret was that he was set to represent the United States in classical piano at the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow. Sedaka even flawlessly played a classical piece ("Fantasy Impromptu") on the game show itself. Panelist Henry Morgan made a point that the Russians, at least the older ones, literally hated rock and roll music. Ironically, Sedaka's participation in the competition, which Van Cliburn had won in 1958, was soon cancelled by the USSR because of Sedaka's rock and roll music ties.[original research?]

[edit] 1970s comeback

Sedaka reinvented himself in the 1970s. In 1972 he embarked on a successful English tour and in June recorded the Solitaire album in England at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, near Manchester, working with the four future members of pop band 10cc. A year later he reconvened with the Strawberry team – who by that time had charted with their own debut 10cc album – to record The Tra-La Days Are Over, which jump-started the second phase of his career.

He then worked with Elton John, who signed him to his Rocket Records label. Sedaka returned to the public's attention with a flourish, topping the charts twice with "Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood" (both 1975). Elton John provided backing vocals for the latter song. The flipside of "Laughter in the Rain" was "The Immigrant", a wistful, nostalgic piece recalling the days when America was more welcoming of immigrants, which Sedaka wrote to contrast the U.S. government's refusal to grant John Lennon permanent resident alien status.[citation needed]

Sedaka and Greenfield also co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together", a No. 1 hit for The Captain and Tennille and the best selling record of 1975. The song, if listened to carefully, reveals the lyric "Sedaka is back" in the coda; Toni Tennille sang this lyric in an ad lib while laying down background vocals.[citation needed]

It was those hits, plus Sedaka's own stagecraft, that made him a comeback success story. Sedaka was chosen to be the opening act for the The Carpenters by their manager, Sherwin Bash. According to the biography The Carpenters: The Untold Story by Ray Coleman, Richard Carpenter ordered Sedaka fired, which resulted in a media backlash against The Carpenters after Sedaka publicly announced he was off the tour. This was before, however, Karen and Richard recorded and released Sedaka's now-celebrated standard "Solitaire," which became a Top 20 hit for the duo. Richard Carpenter denied allegations that he ordered Sedaka fired for "stealing their show," stating in his newsletter that they were proud of Sedaka's success. However, Sherwin Bash was later fired as The Carpenters' manager.

"Solitaire" would find success yet again in the 21st century, when American Idol finalist Clay Aiken sang the song on the Fox TV show when Sedaka appeared as a guest judge in the series' second season, ultimately won by Ruben Studdard. (The "guest judge" aspect has since been eliminated from the show.) Aiken explained that the song was one of his mother's all-time favorites and that she begged him to sing it when she learned that Sedaka would be on the show. After he was awarded a recording contract, he added "Solitaire" as the B-side to his single "The Way," whose sales were faltering. When "Solitaire" was moved to the A-side of the single, both radio and record sales responded and the single hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart, ending up being one of the biggest hits of 2004. Sedaka was invited back to American Idol several weeks after Aiken's single hit #1 to celebrate its success and could be seen in the audience several times thereafter as well.

In 1975, Sedaka recorded a new version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do." The chart-topping 1962 original was fast-tempo and bouncy teen pop, but the remake was much slower and in the style of a Jazz/Torch Piano centered arrangement. Lenny Welch had previously recorded the song in this style in 1970. It reached #8 on the pop charts in early 1976, thus becoming the second artist to hit the US Top Ten twice with two separate versions of the same song. (The Ventures had hits in 1960 and 1964 with recordings of "Walk, Don't Run". Coincidentally, Sedaka's record label boss Elton John would later accomplish the feat twice, with 1991's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and 1997's "Candle in the Wind".)

Sedaka's second version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The same year, Elvis Presley recorded the Sedaka song "Solitaire". This was followed by a #16 hit in 1976, "Love in the Shadows." In 1980, Sedaka had a Top 20 hit with "Should've Never Let You Go," which he recorded with his daughter, Dara.

Sedaka is also the composer of "Is This The Way to Amarillo", a song he wrote for Britain's Tony Christie. It reached #18 on the UK charts in 1971, but hit #1 when reissued in 2005, thanks to a cameo-filled video starring comedian Peter Kay. Sedaka recorded the song himself in 1977, when it became a #44 hit. On April 7, 2006, during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Neil Sedaka was presented with an award from the book Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums as the writer of the Best-Selling Single of the 21st century for "Amarillo".

Ben Folds, an American pop singer; credited Neil Sedaka on his "iTunes Originals" album as being his inspiration when it came to song publishing. Hearing that Neil had a song published by the age of 13 gave Ben the goal of also getting a song published by his own 13th birthday.

Sedaka continues to perform regularly. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October 2006.

A special concert performance was held on October 26, 2007 at the Lincoln Center in New York City, to honor the 50th anniversary of Sedaka's debut in show business. Guests included Captain and Tennille, Natalie Cole, Connie Francis, and Clay Aiken.

During his 2008 Australian tour, Sedaka premiered a new classical orchestral composition entitled "Joie de Vivre".[1] Neil also toured the Philippines for his May 17, 2008 concert at the Araneta Coliseum.[2]

[edit] Other musical works

In 1985, certain songs composed by Sedaka were adapted as music for the Japanese anime TV series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. These included the two opening themes "Zeta - Toki wo Koete" (originally written in English as "Better Days are Coming") and "Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete" (originally written in English as "For Us to Decide", but the English version was never recorded), as well as the ending theme "Hoshizora no Believe" (originally written as "Bad and Beautiful"). Due to copyright issues, the songs were replaced with other music for the North American DVD release.

In 1994, Sedaka provided the voice for Neil Moussaka, a character that was parody of himself, in Food Rocks, which was an attraction at Epcot from 1994-2006.

A musical comedy based around the songs of Sedaka, titled [1] "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", was written in 2005 by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters; it is now under license to Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

[edit] Personal life

Sedaka attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, graduating in 1956. He has been married to his wife, Leba, since 1962. They have two children: daughter Dara, a recording artist and vocalist for television and radio commercials and son Marc, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Pop culture references

In the Friends episode "The One With the Two Parties", Ross says that he is wearing the same glasses frames that Neil Sedaka wears.

In the lyrics to mini-opera "Billy the Mountain", on the album Just Another Band from L.A. by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, it is alleged that some people say Studabacher Hoch "could sing just like Neil Sedaka."[2]

In the Boy Meets World episode "Killer Bees", Alan Matthews is being sarcastic when he says he couldn't find tickets to the Neil Sedaka concert.

In Career Day on That '70s Show, Kitty starts out singing "Bad Blood" on the radio, which makes everyone, including Fez and Hyde's mother sing, too, in the lunchroom.

[edit] Discography

  • 1959 Rock with Sedaka
  • 1961 Circulate
  • 1963 "Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits" (RCA 2627)
  • 1971 Emergence (UK)
  • 1972 Neil Sedaka (UK)
  • 1972 Solitaire (UK)
  • 1973 The Tra-La Days Are Over (UK)
  • 1974 Laughter in the Rain (UK)
  • 1974 Live at the Royal Festival Hall (UK; live)
  • 1974 Sedaka's Back (USA)
  • 1975 Overnight Success (UK)
  • 1975 The Hungry Years (USA)
  • 1976 Sedaka Live in Australia at the South Sydney Junior Leagues Club
  • 1976 Steppin' Out
  • 1977 Neil Sedaka and Songs — A Solo Concert (live 2-LP)
  • 1977 A Song
  • 1977 Neil Sedaka and Songs
  • 1978 All You Need Is the Music
  • 1979 In the Pocket
  • 1981 Now!
  • 1984 Come See About Me
  • 1986 The Good Times
  • 1991 Timeless — The Very Best of Neil Sedaka (new recordings of old and new songs)
  • 1993 Love Will Keep Us Together (compilation and new songs)
  • 1995 Song Cycle (songs culled from UK albums "Emergence" [1971] and "Solitaire" [1972], previously unavailable in USA)
  • 1995 Classically Sedaka
  • 1997 Tales of Love (and Other Passions)
  • 2000 The Singer and His Songs
  • 2003 Brighton Beach Memories — Neil Sedaka Sings Yiddish
  • 2003 Oh! Carol: The Complete Recordings, 1955-66 (8-CD box with previously unreleased material)
  • 2006 The Very Best of Neil Sedaka: The Show Goes On (2-CD, 46-track career retrospective [UK import] with 7 "new" [2003] recordings); tie-in with release of DVD (filmed 7 Apr 06) in London, Neil Sedaka: Live at the Royal Albert Hall--The Show Goes On
  • 2006 The Miracle of Christmas
  • 2007 Neil Sedaka: The Definitive Collection (2-CD career retrospective including never-released early-career demos)

[edit] Autobiography

[edit] References

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
  1. ^ Munro, Ian. "The master songwriter turns maestro", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-04-21. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. 
  2. ^ Neil Sedaka arrives in RP for concert, 05/15/2008

[edit] External links