Neil Sedaka

A New Yorker descended from Turkish Jewish immigrants, Neil Sedaka won a scholarship to study piano at Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children. At 13 he teamed up with a 16-year-old neighbour Howard Greenfield, launching one of pop's most successful and enduring songwriting partnerships. They wrote the Connie Francis hit Stupid Cupid and Sedaka went on to become a star himself with infectious teen hits like Oh Carol (about his then girlfriend, Carole King, 1959), Calendar Girl (1960), Little Devil and Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen (both 1961) and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (1962). These singles made Sedaka an early pop idol but, although the hits declined with the advent of the beat boom later in the 1960s, his career revived in the 1970s after Elton John signed him to his Rocket label and he had major hits with Solitaire, Laughter In The Rain and Bad Blood; while also writing Love Will Keep Us Together, a Number 1 for Captain And Tennille. Later Sedaka wrote the Tony Christie hit Is This The Way To Amarillo to revive interest in his work; thus cementing his status as pop royalty and continuing his career with collaborations and occasional tours and albums.