It was classical music that shaped the musicianship of the young Neil Sedaka. At the age of eight, he had already begun his intensive classical piano training at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, practicing up to five hours a day. And by the time Sedaka was sixteen, Arthur Rubinstein voted him one of the finest classical pianists in New York City high schools.
Since his classmates were listening to pop and rock and roll playing on the radio, and being eager to gain the acceptance of his peers, Sedaka began to play the latest music at parties. He formed a doo-wop group in high school, the Tokens, and they recorded two singles that became regional hits. Greater success was soon to follow, when after having been introduced to a young neighbour, Howard Greenfield by the latter's mother, they began a successful song writing partnership. As Sedaka has noted, "for a long period of time, we wrote a song a day." While some songs never made it out of the house, many others made their way around the world.
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. It was in 1958, at the age of eighteen, when Sedaka was catapulted into stardom after Connie Francis recorded his "Stupid Cupid." As a result of these hits, Sedaka was able to sign a contract with RCA 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 instantly take listeners back to special moments. Sedaka had become a "Teen Idol".
Following the "British Invasion" by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the United States, when the music scene began to change and his record sales dwindled, Sedaka continued to develop his gift for song writing. He wrote for other performers such as Tom Jones with "Puppet Man," The Fifth Dimension with "Workin' on a Groovy Thing," and the Monkees with "When Love Comes Knocking At Your Door." Sedaka also achieved success in international markets by recording albums in Spanish, German, Italian, and Japanese, with songs and instrumentation native to each country. Then in 1972, Sedaka re-launched his solo career in England by releasing the album Emergence. A good friend, Elton John, offered to sign Sedaka to his Rocket Record label and re-introduce him to American audiences. The two albums he recorded for the Rocket label, Sedaka's Back in 1974 and The Hungry Years in 1975, both became top selling albums around the world.
1976, Sedaka was seen by millions when his television special, Neil Sedaka: Steppin' Out, was shown on NBC, with a guest appearance by Bette Midler. Two more songs of Sedaka's, "Solitaire" and "Hungry Years," became top hits, helping to cement his reputation as a song writing force. In 1980, Sedaka had a Top Ten hit with "Should've Never Let You Go," which he recorded with his daughter, Dara; this remains one of the few father-daughter songs to have ever made the charts. The Sedaka legacy does not end there. His release in the 1990's, Timeless - The Very Best of Neil Sedaka, which includes both old and new songs, sold over 500,000 copies and earned Sedaka yet another Platinum Album.
As the prolific and versatile author of more than 1,000 songs, the accolades showered on Neil Sedaka have been numerous. Among the honours he has received, 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 was honoured in 1998 as one of a select group of personalities to be enshrined at the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum in Las Vegas. He has received numerous awards from BMI, an organization that monitors the music industry, for having written some of the most played songs on radio or television. Recently, his song "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" was listed by BMI as one of the fifty most performed songs of the 20th century. Yet these serve as perfunctory recognition to a body of work that continues to grow and never ceases to entertain.
Live performances have always been a hallmark of the Sedaka career and have taken him to some of the most hallowed and respected concert stages around the world. London's Royal Albert Hall has always been a favourite and his appeal in England has only grown over the years. His concerts, often with a full orchestra, continue to be enormous draws in Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City, and Sedaka still enjoys the interaction with an audience.
With a career spanning six decades, a rare feat in the entertainment world, Sedaka never ceases to amaze.
