There have been many tributes to the late Neil Sedaka since the news of his passing. To say that his contributions to music were important is an understatement.
His story is one of ups and downs. He was a man who spent his early days at Juilliard. He then had a short venture in doo-wop with the Tokens. He was one of the most important songwriters in his days at the Brill Building As a solo artist he took his songs to the top of the charts only to have the British Invasion put an unexpected halt to his career.
Over the next decade he moved to the UK, recorded for Elton John’s Rocket label. In 1975, his second album on the label “The Hungry Years” was actually a US edition of Neil’s British Polydor album “Overnight Success.” The first first single, Bad Blood, put him back at the top of the charts.
In 1983 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2006, he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Despite these accolades, he remains absent from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What an injustice! He played such an important role in rock and roll.
I followed Neil on social media. When Covid hit in 2020 he began doing a series called “Today’s Mini Concert,” where he’d chat and play a song or two. This continued until he passed.
Here is Neil in his own words:
“I was driving my 1959 Chevy Impala down King’s Highway in Brooklyn with the top down, and I heard ‘Oh, Carol’ on three stations at the same time while I was channel surfing. I knew then that I made it.”
“I have inner peace; I have accomplished a great deal.”
“I knew I had a remarkable voice, but I was embarrassed that it was so high. But when I sang at my bar mitzvah, the rabbi was in tears. He said to my parents, ‘He must become a cantor in the synagogue,” but my mother said, ‘No. He is going to be a concert pianist.’”
“When the Beatles came to America and knocked me off the map, I thought I’d return the favor, and I moved the family to England!”
“America has a tendency to chip away at you if you’ve been a success for a long time. Whereas, in Europe, they put you on a pedestal.”
“I remember Pavoratti telling me, ‘Oh Neil, after seventy, the voice is going to go, but I’ve been lucky.”
“I could have been bigger, but I wasn’t controversial enough. I didn’t do drugs or wreck rooms. There were no dramas in my private life.”
“ I didn’t want to be a rock and roller. I wanted to be a Bobby Darin because he was the epitome of the performer, the sophisticated.” (Neil played piano on Bobby’s hit Dream Lover.)
“The spiritual writing of the song is where you are chosen as a vehicle, and it comes down from something up above.You don’t move; it writes itself. It’s very spooky, but that’s happened to me just a few times.”
“I started out just as Elvis was going into the army, Jerry Lee Lewis married his 14-year-old cousin, and Little Richard became a priest.”
“If you have a passion for something, never be discouraged by anyone.”
“I still play old vinyl LPs. I like the scratches. I miss browsing in record shops, because they held great nostalgia for me.”
“Ive always enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my grandchildren.”
To me, it is a shame that too many inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are inducted posthumously. Shame on them for not inducting this legend while he was still alive.
Thanks for the music, Neil.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 