Already falling out of fashion by the time the Beatles arrived in the United States, Sedaka didn\u2019t weather the rise of the British Invasion: By the end of the 1960s, his lack of a record label caused him to leave the States for England. Unlike his Brill Building peer Carole King \u2014 he wrote \u201cOh! Carol<\/a>,\u201d his first big hit, about her \u2014 Sedaka wasn\u2019t able to refashion himself as a hip singer-songwriter. Instead, he relied on showbiz hustle and savvy commercial instincts, teaming up with the musicians that became the iconoclastic hitmakers 10cc on records that positioned Sedaka squarely in the soft-rock mainstream. Elton John signed the veteran vocalist to his fledgling label Rocket and Sedaka immediately had two No. 1 hits with \u201cLaughter in the Rain<\/a>\u201d and \u201cBad Blood<\/a>,\u201d a success compounded by Captain & Tennille taking \u201cLove Will Keep Us Together<\/a>,\u201d a tune from one of Sedaka\u2019s albums with 10cc, to No. 1 in 1975.<\/p>\n Sedaka\u2019s second stint in the spotlight didn\u2019t last much longer than his first flush of stardom \u2014 by 1980, he was no longer a Top 40 artist \u2014 but his \u201970s comeback cemented his status as a showbiz fixture, allowing him to carve out a career onstage and, at times, onscreen. Occasionally, the world would turn and place Sedaka back in the mainstream, as when he appeared on \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d in the early 2000s or when his 1971 composition \u201c(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?<\/a>\u201d was rejiggered into the World Cup novelty anthem \u201c(Is This the Way to) The World Cup\u201d in 2006.<\/p>\n Neil Sedaka in 1960.<\/p>\n (Bettmann Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n A descendant of Turkish and Ashkenazi Jews, Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 13, 1939. Growing up in Brighton Beach, Sedaka exhibited a musical proclivity at an early age, earning a piano scholarship to Juilliard\u2019s children\u2019s division when he was 8 years old. He studied classical piano for the next few years, his ears being drawn to pop music all the while. At the age of 13, he happened to meet a neighbor when they were both vacationing at a Catskills resort. She brought him to meet her son, an aspiring lyricist named Howard Greenfield, and the pair quickly became a songwriting team, with Greenfield writing the words and Sedaka handling the music.<\/p>\n As Sedaka and Greenfield developed their creative partnership, Sedaka sang in the Linc-Tones, a vocal group that evolved into the Tokens just prior to his departure; he left them prior to their hit single \u201cThe Lion Sleeps Tonight.\u201d Although he didn\u2019t abandon his dreams of performing, Sedaka concentrated on songwriting with Greenfield. Attempting to gain a foothold in the Brill Building, the pair first caught the attention of Jerry Wexler, who had Clyde McPhatter and LaVern Baker cut a couple of their tunes. Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus suggested to Sedaka and Greenfield that they would have better luck at 1650 Broadway, where Al Nevins and Don Kirshner had just opened their publishing company Aldon Music.<\/p>\n Aldon signed Sedaka and Greenfield to a publishing deal \u2014 still a minor, Sedaka needed his mother to sign in his stead \u2014 and the pair had their first big hit when Connie Francis took \u201cStupid Cupid\u201d into the Top 20 in 1958. Not long after, Sedaka signed with RCA Records as a performer. \u201cThe Diary<\/a>,\u201d inspired by Francis refusing Sedaka and Greenfield access to her diary, became Sedaka\u2019s first hit single in 1958 after the doo-wop group Little Anthony and the Imperials passed on the chance to record it first. Sedaka had difficulty delivering a successful sequel to his initial hit for RCA, so he constructed \u201cOh! Carol\u201d to mimic the lovelorn yet sweet sounds filling the charts in 1959. Sedaka\u2019s gambit paid off: \u201cOh! Carol\u201d was a Top 10 hit, popular enough to generate an answer record \u2014 King\u2019s husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote \u201cOh! Neil<\/a>,\u201d which failed to be a hit for King.<\/p>\n With many of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u2019s initial stars waylaid \u2014 Elvis Presley was in the Army, Chuck Berry was embroiled in legal problems, Little Richard left the music behind for church, Jerry Lee Lewis\u2019 career imploded \u2014 Sedaka stepped into the breach, offering well-scrubbed, buoyant tunes designed to mirror teenage concerns. \u201cStairway to Heaven<\/a>,\u201d \u201cCalendar Girl,\u201d \u201cHappy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,\u201d \u201cBreaking Up Is Hard to Do\u201d and \u201cNext Door to an Angel<\/a>\u201d all bounced to a bright beat and boasted ornate arrangements that highlighted Sedaka\u2019s youthful cheer.<\/p>\n While he was ensconced in the Top 10, Sedaka continued to write hits for other artists, remaining a regular composer for Francis but also reaching the charts with Jimmy Clanton. He\u2019d occasionally moonlight in the studio too: He plays piano on \u201cDream Lover,\u201d one of Bobby Darin\u2018s biggest hits.<\/p>\n By the time the Beatles and the British Invasion took over teen bedrooms and the pop charts in 1964, Sedaka\u2019s hit-making streak had run dry. Panicked, he recorded \u201cIt Hurts to Be in Love,\u201d an operatic pop song co-written by Greenfield and Helen Miller. Rushing into a nearby demo studio, Sedaka cut a version that was ready for radio, but RCA refused to release it, on the grounds that it only released records made in its studios. Gene Pitney<\/a> took the track, subbed his vocals for Sedaka\u2019s and wound up with a Top 10 hit at a time Sedaka couldn\u2019t break the Top 40. Sedaka later claimed, \u201cIt was horrible. That would have been my No. 1 song, my comeback song.\u201d<\/p>\n After his deal with RCA expired in 1966, Sedaka started playing hotels in the Catskills and clubs on the East Coast, venues that grew progressively smaller with each passing year. He continued to get work as a songwriter, penning songs for the Monkees (\u201cThe Girl I Left Behind Me<\/a>,\u201d \u201cWhen Love Comes Knockin\u2019 at Your Door<\/a>\u201d) with lyricist Carole Bayer, and the 5th Dimension (\u201cWorkin\u2019 on a Groovy Thing<\/a>\u201d) with Roger Atkins.<\/p>\n Faced with dwindling prospects in the United States, Sedaka began to regularly tour England and Australia in the late 1960s. By the dawn of the \u201970s, he realized that the times had changed around him: \u201cThe era of the singer-songwriter had begun and I was being left behind. I needed to be part of it. I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted it with a vengeance!\u201d He returned to RCA with \u201cEmergence,\u201d a mellow record designed to follow King\u2019s \u201cTapestry\u201d onto the radio, but that airplay never materialized: Sedaka was still seen as a relic of the early \u201960s.<\/p>\n Olivia Newton-John and Neil Sedaka performing in a BBC television studio in 1971. <\/p>\n (Warwick Bedford \/ Radio Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Frustrated with the disinterest in \u201cEmergence,\u201d Sedaka decamped to the U.K., working its club circuit until he was introduced to Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, a group of British pop veterans who soon would form the art-pop outfit 10cc. The quartet brought Sedaka into their Strawberry Studios \u2014 a place where they recorded a number of bizarre bubble-gum hits under such pseudonyms as Crazy Elephant and Hotlegs \u2014 and backed him on 1972\u2019s \u201cSolitaire<\/a>\u201d album, whose title track was his first collaboration with lyricist Phil Cody; it\u2019d later be covered by Elvis Presley.<\/p>\n \u201cSolitaire\u201d gave Sedaka his first U.K. hit in nearly a decade with \u201cThat\u2019s When the Music Takes Me<\/a>.\u201d Encouraged, the singer-songwriter reunited with 10cc in 1973 for \u201cThe Tra-La-La Days are Over,\u201d an album that featured the bubbly \u201cLove Will Keep Us Together.\u201d By the time Sedaka released \u201cLaughter in the Rain\u201d in 1974, he had severed ties with 10cc and found a new benefactor in Elton John.<\/p>\n Then at the height of his phenomenal 1970s popularity, John signed Sedaka to his recently launched American imprint Rocket Records. Rocket repackaged highlights from the 10cc records as \u201cSedaka\u2019s Back,\u201d adding \u201cLaughter in the Rain\u201d for good measure. The lush number slowly worked its way up the charts, eventually reaching No. 1 on Billboard in 1975. \u201cBad Blood,\u201d a lively duet with an uncredited Elton John, followed \u201cLaughter in the Rain\u201d to the top of the pop charts later in \u201975, arriving just after Captain & Tennille had a No. 1 with \u201cLove Will Keep Us Together.\u201d<\/p>\n Elton John and Neil Sedaka in 1975.<\/p>\n (Richard E. Aaron \/ Redferns via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Sedaka\u2019s comeback cooled as quickly as it had ignited. He reached the lower rungs of the Top 40 a couple of times in 1976, parted ways with Rocket, then signed to Elektra in 1977, releasing a series of records that found him countering his satiny easy listening with a louche streak on such songs as \u201cSleazy Love<\/a>,\u201d \u201cOne Night Stand<\/a>\u201d and \u201cJunkie for Your Love<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Neil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772369845_806_.jpeg\")
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