SEDAKA, NEIL

SEDAKA, NEIL (1939– ), pop composer and performer whose songs appeared on the music charts from the 1950s through the early 21st century; member of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. Born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Sedaka is the son of Mac, a Turkish Jewish immigrant and cab driver, and Eleanor (Appel), a concert pianist of East European descent. Sedaka's parents bought him a piano before he was 10, and he attended Juilliard School of Music. At his bar mitzvah, his parents were approached to discuss training him to be a cantor. At 16, arthur rubinstein named him one of the finest classical pianists in New York City high schools. Despite the classical training, Sedaka formed a pop music vocal group while at Brooklyn's Lincoln High School and began his recording career shortly after. From 1959 to 1963, songs co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield sold more than 25 million records. The two were among creators of the "Brill Building Sound" in the late 1950s and early 1960s that was dominated by young, primarily Jewish songwriters, including neil diamond , carole king , and paul simon . Sedaka's best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits are: "Oh, Carol" (a reference to King, a onetime girlfriend) (\#9), "Calendar Girl" (\#4) and "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (\#6) in 1961, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (\#1) (1962), "Laughter in the Rain" (\#1, 1975), and "Bad Blood" (\#1, also 1975). Sedaka re-released "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" as a ballad in 1974 and made music history when it reached \#1 on the charts, becoming the first song recorded in different versions by the same artist to reach the Top Ten. "Breaking Up" was later listed by recording industry group BMI as one of the 50 most performed songs of the 20th century. He and Greenfield wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together," a No. 1 hit for The Captain and Tennille and the bestselling record of 1975. In 1980, Sedaka had a Top Ten hit with "Should've Never Let You Go," which he recorded with his daughter, Dara; it was one of the few father-daughter songs ever to make the charts. He continued to reach the charts sporadically in coming years, becoming one of the only performers to reach the pop music charts in six decades, and recorded jazz and pop classical albums, as well. He also recorded an album of Yiddish songs in 2003, and released a Christmas album in 2005. Sedaka was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2004, had a street named after him in Brooklyn, and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2005 he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame. The prolific Sedaka had written more than 1,000 songs by 2005. In 2005, a petition was circulated to have Sedaka named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Alan D. Abbey (2nd ed.)