Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Categories: 1939 births | American songwriters | Jewish American musicians | Pop pianists | People from New York
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) was an American Brill Building pop singer/songwriter and pianist who teamed up with Howard Greenfield to write many major hit songs for himself and others.
His best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits are,"Oh,Carol"(in reference to Carole King)(#9), "Calendar Girl" (#4) and "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (#6) in 1961, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (#1) (1962), closely followed by "Laughter in the Rain" (#1) (1975). He and Greenfield also wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together", a No. 1 hit for The Captain and Tennille and the best selling record of 1975.
Sedaka began performing with the piano as a youth, and played on a classical music radio station, as well as studying at Juilliard. He also began experimenting with doo wop and rock and roll, playing in an early version of The Tokens. His composition, "Stupid Cupid" was a 1958 success for Connie Francis, and Sedaka signed as a solo performer. A string of hits followed, ending in about 1963.
Later in the 1970s, after he experienced a comeback both in recording and songwriting, he began working in England with Elton John and continued touring for many years after that.
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