Sedaka was born in Brooklyn and began taking piano lessons in second grade. His mother took a part-time job at a department store to help pay for a secondhand upright piano. Sedaka earned a piano scholarship to Juilliard in 1947, and his family hoped he would turn out like Van Cliburn. But Sedaka had an eye for pop music and got a big royalty check for “Calendar Girl” in 1961. At age 13, he met Howard Greenfield, and the two became writing partners, eventually landing as Brill Building composers alongside Carole King, Neil Diamond, Jeff Barry, and Cynthia Well. Together, they built a musical foundation on show tunes and radio pop, penning hits for Frank Sinatra, the Monkees, the Fifth Dimension, Jimmy Clanton, Elvis Presley, and others. Sedaka eventually became a teen idol, but the British Invasion undercut his recording career. He and Greenfield wrote “Our Last Song Together” in the early 1970s and ended their partnership. After that, Sedaka began working with Phil Cody.
He and a few classmates at Abraham Lincoln High School formed the Linc-Tones, scoring regional fame through singles like “I Love My Baby,” “Don’t Go,” and “Come Back, Joe.” Before Sedaka departed the group, they changed their name to the Tokens. After he left, they scored four Billboard hits, most notably “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in 1961. Sedaka’s solo career struggled at first. His inaugural three singles failed to chart well, though he did land an appearance on American Bandstand. His first song with RCA Victor, the Connie Francis-inspired “The Diary,” was a Top 15 hit in 1958. When RCA started losing money on Sedaka, they considered releasing him from the label. But Sedaka and Al Nevins convinced them to keep him on the roster, and he landed a Top 10 hit in “Oh! Carol” (which was written for Carole King, whom Sedaka dated in high school). He had great success in the 1960s, reaching the Top 30 eight times. His signature tune, “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” went to #1 in August 1962.
The 1970s were kind to Sedaka and his mellow tenor. He helped jumpstart 10cc’s career by having them play on Solitaire and The Tra-La Days Are Over, and he wrote “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which later became a smash-hit for Captain & Tennille (the Carpenters and ABBA also scored hit status on Sedaka-penned tracks). But his best year was 1975, when he had two #1 hits on Elton John’s Rocket label: “Laughter in the Rain” and “Bad Blood.” I dig “Laughter in the Rain” the most because Sedaka and Cody co-wrote it after smoking dope and taking a nap outside. My favorite piece of Neil Sedaka trivia is that he played piano on Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover.” I also love that he was a superstar in Italy. In fact, he was so popular in Italy that he started recording some of his singles in Italian, including “Little Devil” and “I Must Be Dreaming,” which were titled “Esagerata” and “Un giorno inutile,” respectively. In 1983, Sedaka was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and, across his 60-year career, he earned five Grammy nominations.
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