Many celebrities look the part and it is easy to see how they fit into the industry. That isn’t always the case, however, and Neil Sedaka is living proof of it.
You may know him as the singer who wrote the song, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do. That was many decades ago, but it is a song that is still recognized down to this day.
One thing about Neil Sedaka is the fact that he likes to stick it out for the long term. He has been married to his wife for 61 years and recently celebrated his 84th birthday.
At one time, the singer would have thousands of teenage girls screaming as a result of his singing the songs. He melted hearts with his music, but now he loves his grandchildren and he swears that he was born married to his wife.
Neil recorded one of the catchiest songs that was ever written. When he was a child, however, he felt differently because he wouldn’t even get up in front of an audience to sing.
He said: “I knew I had a remarkable voice, but I was embarrassed because it was so high. But when I sang at my bar mitzvah the rabbi was in tears.”
When he was 13, he began pursuing music and even composed some songs at that time. He worked in New York along with Howard Greenfield and the two of them wrote a number of songs together. This includes the tune Breaking up Is Hard to Do, Stupid Cupid, and Even Captain and Tenille’s song, Love Will Keep Us Together.
“We had a cubicle with a piano and a bench but no window. You only got a room with a window after you’d had a hit song,” Sedaka said, adding the pair were earning $50 a week. “Every day from 9am to 5pm we’d write and then we’d play what we’d written to people from record labels. It was hard but it was wonderful training.”
When he was 19, he left the Tokens before they hit their height with songs such as The Lion Sleeps Tonight. He went on to perform solo and even though he didn’t make the charts at first, he did end up on American Bandstand with Dick Clark.
Things were not always smooth for Neil, and there were times when his family did not get behind him. After writing Stupid Cupid, however, he received a royalty check for $62,000 and they started changing their minds.
“My father knew about him and accepted him so after the initial shock so did I. I even understood it, in a way. My parents lived in two rooms with nine other relatives and my dad was very thrifty whereas the other man bought her jewels and furs and took her to nice places.” He continued, “Only they were living the high life on my money. They went through hundreds of thousands of dollars. I couldn’t pay my taxes, nothing. My wife and I had to start from scratch.”
He continued to perform through the years, including during the COVID pandemic. During that time, he would perform on social media to keep his fans entertained.
We may not recognize him these days and he has put a few years on him, but he still seems to be doing well. We look forward to any opportunity to see him again in the future.