Neil Sedaka, singer whose hits included “Laughter within the Rain,” dies at 86

Neil Sedaka, the outstanding singer-songwriter whose string of hits within the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s included “Laughter within the Rain,” “Breaking Up is Onerous to Do” and “Calendar Lady,” has died, a consultant confirmed to CBS Information on Friday. He was 86.

“Our household is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather, Neil Sedaka,” a press release from the household learn. “A real rock and roll legend, an inspiration to hundreds of thousands, however most significantly, a minimum of to these of us who had been fortunate sufficient to know him, an unbelievable human being who will probably be deeply missed.” 

A reason for dying was not instantly obtainable.

A key member of the Brill Constructing songwriting manufacturing facility, Sedaka teamed with lyricist and boyhood neighbor Howard Greenfield on songs that mirrored the teenager innocence of the post-Elvis/pre-Beatles period of the late Nineteen Fifties-early Nineteen Sixties, together with “Pleased Birthday Candy Sixteen,” “Calendar Lady” and “Oh! Carol,” a lament for his highschool sweetheart, Carole King.

Sedaka was a Juilliard-trained, Brooklyn-born son of a Jewish taxi driver who started performing as a teen and saved at it for many years. His expertise was acknowledged by a second-grade trainer who urged his homemaker mom, Eleanor, to purchase him a piano. At 9 years outdated, Sedaka had already begun intensive classical piano coaching on the Juilliard Faculty. 

Sedaka cherished songwriting and by no means give up, however he craved performing.

“As soon as a performer, at all times a performer. It is that adrenaline rush. It is like a pure excessive once you’re in entrance of an viewers, and if you happen to get that standing ovation, it is infectious,” he as soon as informed The Related Press.

At 16, Sedaka was chosen by legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein in a contest as the town’s finest highschool piano pupil and carried out on a classical radio station as a prize. It was the identical yr he found rock ‘n’ roll, when he carried out a music, “Mr. Moon,” he had written with Greenfield, his classmate at Abraham Lincoln Excessive Faculty.

In 1958, at age 19, Sedaka signed with RCA Victor Information and his first single, “The Diary,” loved modest success. He started touring and selling his songs by common TV appearances on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” and “Shindig!”

On the Brill Constructing, Sedaka and Greenfield had been joined by different up-and-coming writers and lyricists together with King, Neil Diamond and Paul Simon.

From 1959 to 1962, Sedaka had 10 data within the Prime 10, together with “Calendar Lady,” “Oh! Carol,” “Pleased Birthday Candy Sixteen” and “Subsequent Door to an Angel.” However within the mid-Nineteen Sixties, the Brill Constructing sound, influenced by the doo-wop teams of the New York Metropolis streets, was pushed off the charts by the Beatles-led British Invasion and the psychedelic and protest music that adopted. Sedaka would endure 13 years “within the wilderness,” as he described it to the AP.

After an extended dry spell, he reemerged with such smashes as “Laughter within the Rain” and “Unhealthy Blood.” The Captain & Tennille’s cowl of his “Love Will Preserve Us Collectively” was a chart-topper in 1975.

Sedaka informed “CBS This Morning” in 2012 that Elton John rediscovered him within the Nineteen Seventies when he was attempting to start out his document firm. John signed him to his fledgling, U.S.-based Rocket Information label, offering him an opportunity at extra hits with the album “Sedaka’s Again.”

Of the time between jobs, Sedaka mentioned, “The artistic thoughts continues to be working and it is a drive. You’ve you to show your self every time. It’s a must to elevate the extent of Neil Sedaka. It’s a must to high your self.”

At Rocket Information, Sedaka and a brand new writing companion, Philip Cody, topped charts with “Unhealthy Blood” and the joyous “Laughter within the Rain.” He additionally achieved a uncommon feat with “Breaking Up Is Onerous to Do.” His authentic up-tempo model went No. 1 in 1962. He re-recorded it as a gradual ballad in 1975, and that, too, went No. 1.

Sedaka was nominated for 5 Grammy awards all through his profession. He was inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame, however the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame eluded him regardless of a fan petition drive.

He nonetheless performed dozens of concert events a yr properly into his 80s. Sedaka retained the passion and broad vocal vary of his youth and by no means bored with the requirements he had sung a whole lot of instances.

“Previous 70, Pavarotti informed me the vocal cords usually are not what they was. I am very lucky that my voice has held,” he informed The Related Press in 2012. “It is good to be a legend, nevertheless it’s higher to be a working legend.”

Sedaka’s songs bought hundreds of thousands worldwide and have been coated by a variety of performers, from Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra to The fifth Dimension and Nickelback. 

Sedaka helped propel the profession of Connie Francis with “Silly Cupid” and “The place the Boys Are,” the latter for the soundtrack of the film with the identical identify. The Captain & Tennille obtained a best-album Grammy thanks largely to “Love Will Preserve Us Collectively” and included a nod to Sedaka on the finish of the music, when Toni Tennille exclaimed: “Sedaka’s again!”

Sedaka is survived by his spouse, Leba Strassberg, whom he married in 1962, and his two youngsters, Dara and Marc.