{"id":231059,"date":"2026-03-22T08:34:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/231059\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T08:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:34:38","slug":"neil-sedaka-cause-of-death-atherosclerotic-cardiovascular-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/231059\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Sedaka cause of death: atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Neil Sedaka<\/a>, the singer and songwriter whose signature hits include \u201cCalendar Girl\u201d and \u201cBreaking Up Is Hard to Do,\u201d died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. <\/p>\n

The condition is caused by the buildup of plaque \u2014 meaning fats, cholesterol and other substances \u2014 in and on the artery walls, which can lead to events such as heart attacks, strokes and aneurysms. According to the American Heart Assn.<\/a>, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. <\/p>\n

The musician\u2019s death certificate, published Wednesday by the New York Post<\/a>, also listed kidney failure as a contributing factor. <\/p>\n

Sedaka died<\/a> Feb. 27 in Los Angeles at age 86. The songwriter\u2019s family previously told The Times that his death was sudden. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather, Neil Sedaka,\u201d their statement read. \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

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sedaka was a Juilliard-trained classical pianist who translated his skill to pop stardom in the 1960s. His popularity as a performer waxed and waned over the years, but he maintained a steady career writing hits for other artists for decades, collaborating with lyricists such as Howard Greenfield. <\/p>\n

\u201cSongwriting is a difficult undertaking that gets harder and harder because you have to top your past work,\u201d Sedaka told The Times in 1996. \u201cYou have to keep proving yourself. … It\u2019s wonderful to sing \u2018Calendar Girl\u2019 and \u2018Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,\u2019 but you need more than that. You have to break new ground. As an artist, I have to choose what I feel is good and hope that the public will go along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sedaka is survived by his wife Leba; children Dara and Marc; and three grandchildren. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neil Sedaka, the singer and songwriter whose signature hits include \u201cCalendar Girl\u201d and \u201cBreaking Up Is Hard to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[104789,104792,339,1431,6314,45043,28333,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,104793,104788,104791,92667,29335,27042,104790],"class_list":["post-231059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-atherosclerotic-cardiovascular-disease","tag-calendar-girl","tag-death","tag-family","tag-father","tag-feb","tag-grandfather","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-n-y","tag-neil-sedaka-cause","tag-other-artist","tag-sedaka","tag-songwriter","tag-stroke","tag-sudden-passing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}