Remembering pop songwriter Neil Sedaka

Fresh Air

NPR

Society & Culture, Arts, Tv & Film, Books

4.3 • 36.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Sedaka, who died last week at 86, wrote and recorded hits in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s – songs like “Calendar Girl” and “Breaking up is Hard to Do.” He was nine years old when he began studying piano at Juilliard. Sedaka told Terry Gross in 2007, “To the shock of my family, after studying at Juilliard I sold 40 million records in five years.” The British invasion derailed his career until years later when Elton John helped revive it, by signing Sedaka to his label.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album by The Paranoid Style, led by composer-singer Elizabeth Nelson. And Justin Chang reviews the new Pixar film, ‘Hoppers.’

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0:00.0	This message comes from stars. The global phenomenon Outlander returns. After a journey that has spanned time and continents, Claire and Jamie's story comes to an unforgettable end. Don't miss the final season of Outlander. Watch now, only on Stars.
0:18.1	This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. and Cooley. Neil Sedaka, the singer and songwriter,
0:23.5	whose recording and performing career stretched from the 1950s to the current decade, died last
0:28.9	week. He was 86 years old. Neil Sadaka was born in Brighton Beach in 1939 and displayed his
0:36.7	musical talent early on. His mother bought him his first
0:40.5	piano at age seven, and at age nine he got a child prodigy scholarship at Juilliard and was
0:46.9	hand-selected by classical pianist Arthur Rubinstein to perform on live radio. But Sadaka was drawn elsewhere.
0:55.5	Another young kid interested in pop music,
0:58.1	Neil Diamond, lived across the street from him.
1:00.9	His girlfriend in high school, Carol Klein,
1:03.8	turned out to be a pretty good songwriter too
1:05.9	once she broke up with Sadaka and renamed herself Carol King.
1:11.1	By then, young Neil had teamed with another budding songwriter, Howard Greenfield, who wrote
1:17.0	lyrics to Neil's music. Their first break and first hit came in 1958 when Connie Francis
1:23.7	was looking for a song to appeal to teenagers. Neil Sadaka was only 19 at the time, and she loved the song's innocence.
1:32.1	Stupid Cupid became a top 20 hit for her.
1:34.9	I can't do my homework and I can't be straight.
1:38.8	I meet them every moment about a half-ass date.
1:43.0	I'm acting like a lobstick fool.
1:45.6	You've even got me carrying his books to school.
1:49.1	Stupid stupid.
1:50.1	Hey, hey, set me free.
	...

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