Neil Sedaka

Acting

Born: 1939-03-13
Died: 2026-02-27
From: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Gender: Male
Popularity: 0.3

Biography

Neil Sedaka (March 13, 1939 — February 27, 2026) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Beginning his music career in 1957, he sold millions of records worldwide and wrote or co-wrote over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody. After a short-lived tenure as a founding member of the doo-wop group the Tokens, Sedaka achieved a string of hit singles over the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Oh! Carol" (1959), "Calendar Girl" (1960), "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (1961), and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (1962). His popularity declined by the mid-1960s, but revived in the mid-1970s, solidified by the 1975 US Billboard Hot 100 number ones "Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood". Sedaka maintained a successful career as a songwriter, penning hits for other artists, including "Stupid Cupid" (Connie Francis), "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" (Tony Christie), and "Love Will Keep Us Together" (Captain & Tennille). As a performer, he had ten No. 1 hits and four as a songwriter. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983 and continued to perform, mounting mini-concerts on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sedaka was hospitalized in Los Angeles after experiencing an undisclosed medical emergency and later died on February 27, 2026, aged 86.

Awards & Nominations1 won · 5 nominated

Nominated

Grammy Award for Song of the Year

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

1977
Nominated

Grammy Award for Song of the Year

Love Will Keep Us Together

1976
Nominated

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Bad Blood

1976
Nominated

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

1963
Nominated

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song

Rock with Sedaka

1959
🏆 Won

star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Acting35 titles

Sound3 titles