| Sedaka was a promising pianist as a youngster, and was once selected by Arthur Rubinstein to play on New York City's classical radio station; he also studied at New York's prestigious Juilliard school. At the same time, he set down rock & roll and doo wop roots by singing in an early version of the Tokens. After he had his first songwriting success with Connie Francis' "Stupid Cupid" in 1958, he got a deal with RCA in the late 1950's as a solo artist. Sedaka's own hits were well-crafted, but were probably the most innocuous, saccharine smashes to come out of the early Brill Building crowd. His rather thin, high vocals were boosted by multi-tracking, which was still a novel technique at the time. The big hits stopped rolling in for Sedaka a good year or so before the Beatles became popular in America. He concentrated more on the songwriting end of the business for the next decade, continuing to write with longtime partner Howard Greenfield and scoring occasional successes. He made an unexpectedly successful comeback in England in the early 1970's, where three of his albums were co-produced by Graham Gouldman of 10cc. By the mid-1970's he was recording for Elton John's Rocket label, and got a number one hit with the ballad "Laughter In The Rain" in 1974. That and "Love Will Keep Us Together," which he and Greenfield wrote for the Captain and Tennille, did much to get MOR pop off the ground. Sedaka got another number one hit, "Bad Blood," in 1975, with Elton John helping out on background vocals. A slow remake of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" made the Top Ten the following year. Neil scored an unexpected disco hit with the 12" single of "All You Need Is The Music" in 1978. And one final hit, 1980's "Should've Never Let You Go," finished off his career. With his massive songwriting catalogue Neil is secured his place in pop music history. |
