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Nostalgia August 2019

Neil Sedaka – Hall of Fame Songwriter

By Bobby Dee

Sedaka not only made a successful singing and songwriting career for himself, he also penned hit songs for many other singers over the years. There was “Stupid Cupid” and “Where the Boys Are” for Connie Francis; Gene Pitney’s hit, “It Hurts to Be in Love;” Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” and many more, including songs for ABBA, Jimmy Clanton, the Monkees, The Fifth Dimension, Dinah Washington and Frankie Valli.

I attended my first Neil Sedaka concert back in the 1960s, but not too long ago I was fortunate enough to see him perform again to a packed-house audience at the Mohegan Sun arena in Connecticut.

After playing a quick tune on the piano, Sedaka, a Julliard-trained pianist, jumped up, went over to the microphone and said, “Hi! I’m Neil Sedaka! Would you like to hear a few of my songs?”

The audience went wild, and as soon as he began singing, “I love, I love, I love my Calendar Girl,” everyone began singing along with him.

With each song (“Oh Carol,” “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” “Stairway to Heaven,” “Next Door to an Angel,”) the cheering grew louder. Surprisingly, Sedaka seemed almost shy, even somewhat humbled, by the thunderous applause after each of his songs. He even blushed like a schoolboy as he thanked the audience.

“Now I want to teach you a song I first sang in the shower,” he said, and launched right into “Comma, comma, down dooby doo down down,” which everyone immediately recognized as the intro to his undeniably biggest hit, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.” Within seconds, the audience members were on their feet, moving to the music and singing along.

The concert was just as exciting as my first Sedaka concert, and the quality of the singer’s fantastic vocals had not diminished at all over the years.

Sedaka first began composing songs at age 13 along with his neighbor, 16-year-old Howard Greenfield. It was a song-writing team that would last from the late 1950s into the mid-1970s and produce a string of top-40 hits.

Sedaka’s professional music career began in 1955 as one of the original members and founders of the band The Tokens, whose biggest hit was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” That hit, however, was not recorded until four years after Sedaka left the band to begin his own solo career as a future teen-idol.

“Oh, Carol,” Sedaka’s first top-ten hit, was written in honor of his former high-school girlfriend, Carole King, also a singer and composer. In response, she recorded a song called “Oh! Neil,” which had been written, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, by her songwriting partner and then-husband, Geff Goffin.

Sedaka not only made a successful singing and songwriting career for himself, he also penned hit songs for many other singers over the years. There was “Stupid Cupid” and “Where the Boys Are” for Connie Francis; Gene Pitney’s hit, “It Hurts to Be in Love;” Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” and many more, including songs for ABBA, Jimmy Clanton, the Monkees, The Fifth Dimension, Dinah Washington and Frankie Valli.

Sedaka said he and his songwriting partner, Greenfield, once met with Connie Francis to offer her some of the songs they’d written, but none of them, all soft ballads, appealed to her. Looking a bit bored, Connie then began to write in her diary while Sedaka watched. He asked her if he could read what she was writing and she gave him an emphatic, “No!” Her actions inspired him to write the song “The Diary,” which begins with the lyric, “How I'd like to look...into that little book. The one that has the lock and key.”

Later, Sedaka, upon the urging of Greenfield, played one of their other songs, “Stupid Cupid,” for Connie, never imagining she actually would like something he felt was too immature and whimsical for such a sophisticated lady. She not only loved it, she predicted it was going to be her next big hit...and her intuition proved to be right. It charted in the top 20.

In 1966, as the British invasion and the Beatles continued to gain popularity, Sedaka’s records took a downturn and failed to chart. As a result, RCA Records decided not to renew his contract. During that time, however, he still earned a living as a successful songwriter. He also was a popular attraction on the live-concert tour circuit, especially in Australia and the United Kingdom.

In 1973, Sedaka met singer/songwriter Elton John at a party in London and ended up signing with Elton’s Rocket record label. In 1975, Sedaka then scored another number-one single with “Laughter in the Rain,” his first chart-topper since 1962. His LP with Rocket, “The Hungry Years,” also was released that year and soon became certified gold. It contained the memorable hits, “Bad Blood,” with Elton singing back-up vocals, and a new, softer, ballad-style version of “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” which attracted an entirely new generation of fans.

Eventually Sedaka had a falling out with Elton John and left the Rocket label and signed with Elektra. The final U.S. top-40 hit in his career, “Should’ve Never Let You Go,” a duet he sang in 1980 with his then 17-year-old-daughter Dara, peaked at number 19 on the U.S. charts. Sedaka’s talents have been honored with his induction into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Now 80, he still keeps a rigorous touring schedule, which, this year alone, will take
him from New York to Hawaii. And I’m certain that after every concert, he will be leaving the members of his audiences humming, “Down dooby doo down down...” all the way home.

 

Bobby Dee is an internationally renowned radio personality, author and music aficionado. He currently hosts Bobby Dee’s Rock & Roll Caravan radio show on WNHN 94.7 FM in Concord, N.H. Contact him at: b This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .