{"id":305709,"date":"2026-02-28T00:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/305709\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T00:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:58:08","slug":"neil-sedaka-the-singer-songwriter-behind-dozens-of-hits-of-the-60s-and-70s-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/305709\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Sedaka, The Singer-Songwriter Behind Dozens Of Hits Of The \u201860s And ’70s, Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Neil Sedaka<\/a>, the hit-making singer-songwriter whose boyish soprano and bright melodies made him a top act in the early years of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and led to a second run of success in the 1970s, has died.<\/p>\n

Sedaka, whose hits included \u201cBreaking Up Is Hard to Do\u201d and \u201cLaugher in the Rain,\u201d died Friday at age 86.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather, Neil Sedaka,\u201d his family said in a statement. \u201cA true rock and roll legend, an inspiration to millions, but most importantly, at least to those of us who were lucky enough to know him, an incredible human being who will be deeply missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

No other details of his death were immediately available.<\/p>\n

A key member of the Brill Building songwriting factory, Sedaka teamed with lyricist and boyhood neighbor Howard Greenfield on songs that reflected the teen innocence of the post-Elvis\/pre-Beatles era of the late 1950s-early 1960s, including \u201cHappy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,\u201d \u201cCalendar Girl\u201d and \u201cOh! Carol,\u201d a lament for his high school sweetheart, Carole King.<\/p>\n

\"SingerSinger Neil Sedaka performs with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on stage at the Sydney Opera House on May 9, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Lisa Maree Williams via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"SingerSinger Neil Sedaka seated at a piano.<\/p>\n

Bettmann via Getty Images<\/p>\n

After a long dry spell, he reemerged with such smashes as \u201cLaughter in the Rain\u201d and \u201cBad Blood.\u201d The Captain & Tennille\u2019s<\/a> cover of his \u201cLove Will Keep Us Together\u201d was a chart-topper in 1975.<\/p>\n

Short and dark-haired, with a big smile and high-pitched voice, he was a Juilliard-trained, Brooklyn-born son of a Jewish taxi driver who began performing as a teen and kept at it for decades.<\/p>\n

Sedaka still played dozens of concerts a year well into his 80s. He retained the enthusiasm and broad vocal range of his youth and never tired of the standards he had sung hundreds of times.<\/p>\n

\u201cPast 70, Pavarotti told me the vocal cords are not what they used to be. I\u2019m very fortunate that my voice has held,\u201d he told The Associated Press in 2012. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be a legend, but it\u2019s better to be a working legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sedaka\u2019s songs sold millions worldwide and have been covered by a range of performers, from Elvis Presley<\/a> and Frank Sinatra<\/a> to The 5th Dimension<\/a> and Nickelback. Sedaka helped propel the career of Connie Francis with \u201cStupid Cupid\u201d and \u201cWhere the Boys Are,\u201d the latter for the soundtrack of the movie with the same name. The Captain & Tennille received a best-album Grammy thanks largely to \u201cLove Will Keep Us Together\u201d and included a nod to Sedaka at the end of the song, when Toni Tennille exclaimed \u201cSedaka\u2019s back!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Neil Sedaka, the hit-making singer-songwriter whose boyish soprano and bright melodies made him a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69,18995],"class_list":{"0":"post-305709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-obituaries"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}