Happy Birthday Neil Sedaka!

Neil Sedaka Image by Getty Images
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:
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
