Throwback: R.I.P. Neil Sedaka

I was drinking coffee and was working on a post when I learned that the legendary Neil Sedaka died. Beginning his career back in 1957, Sedaka has sold millions of records globally while writing or cowriting over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating with lyricists Howie Greenfield and Phil Cody.

Along with Carole King, Sedaka was an integral part of the Brill Building sound.

Between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Sedaka scored a string of hit singles including 1959’s “Oh! Carol,” 1960’s “Calendar Girl,” 1961’s “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” and 1962’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” By the mid 1960s, his popularity declined; but he had a career revival in the mid 1970s, as a result of two Billboard Hot 100 number ones, 1975’s “Laughter in the Rain,” and “Bad Blood.”

Some of the songs he wrote for other artists included Connie Francis’ “Stupid Cupid,” Tony Christie’s “(Is This The Way to) Amarillo” and The Captain and Tennille’s smash-hit “Love Will Keep Us Together.”

He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1983.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Elton John and Ben Folds have cited Sedaka as influences on their work in som way — and you can kind of hear it in these old songs.

Rest in peace, legend!

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