Neil Sedaka Executed One of Pop’s Great Comebacks. Now, He Just Plays.
After the man in a dark cashmere sweater and tortoise shell glasses sat down at a piano and leaned into the microphone, his first words were a declaration: “Sedaka’s back … again!”It was late March and the lounge at Vitello’s — an old-school Italian restaurant in the heart of Studio City, Calif. — was packed for a show by the irrepressible 86-year-old singer and songwriter Neil Sedaka. He had booked a series of semiregular Sunday night appearances here to mark the golden anniversary of his professional resurrection.Fifty years ago, Sedaka completed one of the most remarkable comebacks in pop music. A smiling star of the teen idol era, he’d made his name with run of hummable hits — “Oh Carol,” “Calendar Girl,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” — but his bubbly tunes, sung in a high tenor, were soon swept away, first by the arrival of the Beatles and then by the turmoil of the 1960s.In the difficult years that followed, Sedaka lost his fortune, his record deal and his sense of self. At his lowest, he would walk down the street and people would ask: “Didn’t you used to be Neil Sedaka?”Neil Sedaka gave up his classical pursuits after hearing the Penguins’ 1954 hit “Earth Angel,” and instead learned his trade as a pop songwriter at the Brill Building.Philip Cheung for The New York TimesIn the early ’70s, Sedaka exiled himself to England, where he gradually rebuilt his career, playing small clubs as he rediscovered his muse and a new group of collaborators. A fellow piano man and avowed fan, Elton John, eventually midwifed his return to the American charts in 1975, helping release the hit LP “Sedaka’s Back,” which has just been reissued in a deluxe vinyl package.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
