Neil Sedaka (1939 - 2026)

[Zoneboy]

https://variety.com/2026/music/news/...do-1236675098/

Neil Sedaka, legendary singer-songwriter behind hits like “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” “Bad Blood,” “Laughter in the Rain” and “Calendar Girl,” has died, a rep confirms to Variety. He was 86.

“Our family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather, Neil Sedaka,” a statement from the family reads. “A 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.”


A Brooklyn native and a veteran of the legendary “Brill Building” hit factory of the early ’60s, Sedaka scored three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and nine in the Top 10, primarily during his peak years in the early 1960s and a mid-’70s comeback assisted by Elton John (who performed with him on the 1975 No. 1 “Bad Blood”).


Sedaka also wrote many songs that were hits for other artists, most notably Connie Francis’ 1958 hit “Stupid Cupid” and, 17 years later, the Captain and Tennille’s breakthrough chart-topper “Love Will Keep Us Together.” He continued to tour and record for many years after his commercial peak.

Over the course of his six-decade-plus career, Sedaka was nominated for five Grammy awards (including one at the second-ever edition of the show in 1959). In 1983, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 1978 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“This is a gift I was born with,” Sedaka wrote on his website. “My main objective is to always top the last collection, raise the bar and reinvent Neil Sedaka.”


A member of the same Brooklyn generation that produced Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Carole King and many others, Sedaka was born on March 13, 1939 and grew up in the borough’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. He showed early musical aptitude and his second-grade teacher recommended piano lessons; within a couple of years he had successfully auditioned for a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music’s Preparatory Division for Children, which he continued to attend.


While he initially pursued classical music, he was bitten by the pop music bug as a teen. At the age of 13, a neighbor heard him playing piano and introduced him to her son, Howard Greenfield, who was three years older. However, the pair began a songwriting partnership that was to take them to the top of the pop charts multiple times over the following 25 years.

Sedaka is survived by his wife, Leba Strassberg, whom he married in 1962, and his two children, Marc and Dara Sedaka.

[Dude111]

Very sad........

[stevea]

Excellent artist. RIP.

[Dude111]

I dont have any 8 tracks by him I dont think.... (I dont think I have ANYTHING by him)

[Hawkee]

Did Neil Sedaka co-write Ring Ring by ABBA? Because in the liner notes it states that it is the only ABBA song Neil co-wrote and he was the reason it was a smash hit for ABBA