Happy Birthday Neil Sedaka
Born in Brooklyn, New York on March 13th, 1939, Neil Sedaka was playing the piano for five hours a day by the time he was eight. While attending the Abraham Lincoln High School, Neil was selected as one of the best seven New York high school classical pianists by the legendary Arthur Rubinstein and was awarded a scholarship at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music. Much to his mother's apprehension, Neil was dividing his time between classical studies and Pop music. In 1956, Sedaka formed a high school group called The Tokens, who were heard by record producer, Morty Craft. Neil accepted Craft's invitation to play the chimes on a recording by the Willows called "Church Bells May Ring". Craft then recorded some singles by the Tokens which became regional hits. By the time he was eighteen, Neil had outgrown the group and went solo, releasing his first single on the Decca label. On "Snowtime" backed with "Laura Lee", Sedaka had multi-tracked his vocals and was one of the first artists to achieve that sound. The record went nowhere and his next single, "Ring - A- Rockin'" also failed to dent the national charts. In 1958, Morty Craft produced Connie Francis singing a song that Neil had written called "Stupid Cupid". Neil played the piano at the session. The song was an international best seller and gave Sedaka his first taste of success as a songwriter.
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