Don’t stop the music

09/03/2009

 There are many singer songwriters who have helped shape popular music, and Neil Sedaka is right up there in the higher echelons of contributors. Interestingly though, pop music was never his first love. “I trained to be a classical pianist,” he tells me, “but I was lucky enough to master the art of the three minute pop song.” And, from the end of the 50s through the early years of the 60s, he was part of a song writing partnership with Howard Greenfield that generated a conveyor belt of hits.

 

The first big pay cheque was for writing ‘Stupid Cupid’ for Connie Francis, but he was soon recording his own chart toppers – including ‘The Diary’, ‘Oh! Carol’,  ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Calendar Girl’, ‘Little Devil’, ‘Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen’, ‘Next Door To An Angel’, and ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’. Songs penned by the duo – invariably catchy and cheerful - sold forty million records between 1959 and 1963.

 

But then The Beatles came along, and the new, harder sound knocked acts like Neil out of the charts. But you can’t keep a good man down. He changed his song writing style, focused on writing for others and the hits started to flow again – for big names such as Frank Sinatra (‘The Hungry Years’), Elvis Presley (‘Solitaire’) and Tom Jones (‘Puppet Man’). A new tone also came along as the years advanced – more sombre and more mature.

As he tells me, “I’d be lynched if I didn’t sing some of the hits from those years in my concerts! But this tour is just me, my piano and my songs.” And any new tracks? “Absolutely. I’ve never stood still. I’ve a new album with 11 new compositions – and I’m very proud of them. So I’ll be playing some of those too.”

 

I mention one of my favourites – ‘Rosemary Blue’ – which is also probably one of the most melancholy and thoughtful he has written, but never a hit. “I’m planning to include that,” he says. “You need the sad ones too!”

 

If it’s only ‘old school’ Sedaka you want, watch out for a new musical coming to the UK shortly which is the story of his life interspersed with the songs that defined it. “It’s the first 35 years,” he says, “and that has meant having two Neils.” Musicals based on pop oeuvres have done rather well lately – notably ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘We Will Rock You’ – and Neil is hoping that the musical, with the ‘book’ by the Beatles biographer Philip Norman, will follow in their wake.

 

It’s been over 50 years since he set out, so how much does Neil have in common with the person he was then? “It’s so many years ago,” he says. “Entirely different generations. But I can look back and still recognise the wonderful spirit coming through the songs.

 

“You can see how straightforward it was. No gimmicks, no unusual clothes. I was very disciplined. I just got out there and sang.”  Perhaps an echo of his beginnings as a classical musician. And, curiously, his life has come full circle recently, as he explains. “I’ve written two new pieces for a symphony orchestra, and classical music is where a lot of my time is now spent. I just feel that it’s a step above pop music.

 

“But I’m still touring five months of the year – around 60 or 70 concerts – and the fan base in the UK is so loyal that I try to come over as often as possible. When things got a little quiet for me in the early 70s I lived and worked for a long time in London. I just loved it there – I had a 14-room apartment on Park Street which cost me a $1000 a month. I can’t imagine it’s that much now!”

 

The British links continue: Neil penned ‘Amarillo’, which was a huge hit for Tony Christie all over again recently, making it (so far) the UK’s best selling single this Millennium. It’s not just on these shores where Neil still retains a loyal following, and his concerts take him all over the world – and it

does help that he speaks five languages and records in different 
languages too, including Japanese!

“My songs are like children,” he says. “They’re part of me that I send out into the world. Certainly I don’t write as many these days –  at the beginning I can remember writing two or three in a afternoon. These days I’m pleased to write 11 in a year. A lot of songs start off but never make it – I never put out a composition unless I’m proud of it.”

 

And on the subject of offspring, Neil’s latest venture, inspired by his three young grandchildren to whom he is ‘Papa Neil’, is now spanning the generations: “I’ve adapted some of my records with lyrics aimed at children,” he tells me. “So on there you’ve got ‘Lunch will bring us together’ and ‘Waking up is hard to do’. My five year old grand-daughters made their recording debut as my backup vocalists!”

 

With so many of his songs big hits for other people rather than himself, what role is most important to him: writing, recording or performing? “It’s impossible to separate them,” he says. “They are so intertwined. My voice is my vehicle for my music.

 

“I love a lot of the music that’s around today – Coldplay, Corrine Bailey Rae. The way music is produced is very different today – we only had four tracks to record on. But above everything, I’m still looking to develop and grow. I’m still writing, still recording, still performing.”

 

Neil Sedaka might be in the sixth decade of his career, but he has no plans yet to stop making music. And if you want to catch up with the singer, the songs and his piano, the dates for his forthcoming tour are below.

Neil Sedaka – 2009 UK Tour Dates

 

Mon 22nd June Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Tue 23rd June Sheffield City Hall
Thu 25th June Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Fri 26th June Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
Sun 28th June Gateshead The Sage
Tue 30th June London Royal Albert Hall
Wed 1st July Birmingham Symphony Hall
Fri 3rd July Bristol Colston Hall
Sat 4th July Cardiff St. David’s Hall
Mon 6th July Bournemouth BIC