NEIL SEDAKA, STILL KEEPING IT TOGETHER

NPR has been running an interview with Neil Sedaka who is celebrating his 50th anniversary in the music business, on their Fresh Air program. The photo in this post is from the Hulton Archive and shows Sedaka in a recording studio in 1955. That year I was "16 going on 17" and starting my senior year in high school. (Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen was one of his hits) How time flies!

The interview is a good one and surprising at that. It turns out that Sedaka comes from a classical music background having studied piano at the Julliard school in New York. A critical juncture was reached and he had to make a decision whether to continue his classical career or jump to rock and roll. He chose the latter. Who knew? Many of his songs have survived the decades. I think I liked "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" the best. His career (and CD sales) got a boost when Clay Aiken from American Idol recorded Sedaka's "Solitaire". That was in 2004. Neil has now released a new CD called "The Definitive Collection" which is a career-spanning greatest-hits compendium.

You can hear the interview which includes clips of some of his songs at ...... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9603438