Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Happy Birthday Neil Sedaka!

Before the Beatles “loved us do” and the Rolling Stones searched for “Satisfaction,” there was Neil Sedaka.

A Jewish heartthrob from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, he was one of the legendary Brill Building composers, along with collaborators Howard Greenfield and Carol King — also his former girlfriend, and namesake for the hit song “Oh Carol” (1959). Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sedaka topped charts with songs like “Calendar Girl” (1961), and “Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do” (1962).

More than 55 years after he first started, the singer-songwriter is still crooning.

Here’s a little treat in honor of his 74th birthday:

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.