A Night with Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka is a songwriting legend who's been in the game for 52 years. He's written somewhere between 800 to 900 songs since he was 13 years old and is still going strong. After seeing him in concert last weekend, I know I've found my songwriting hero.

He jumped and danced around the stage like a teenager, played 2 incredible new songs he recently wrote, and even brought his young grandchildren on stage to help him sing his hit Calendar Girl! You could tell he loves to perform and I paid close attention to how he engaged the crowd. The thing I love most though is his songs are simple and have happy melodies. I feel inspired to try my hand at a 50's style tune!

Neil has written songs for people including Connie Francis, Cher, Elton John, Captian & Tennille, ABBA, the Carpenters, Petula Clark, The Four Seasons, Neil Diamond, and many more. He was at the forefront of building the rock and roll sound (even though today his songs would be considered more pop rock).

When the Beatles hit the scene in 1964 and music was forever changed, Neil was one of the few male solo artists who didn't fade away. During that time, he wrote hits for Frank Sinatra (The Hungry Years), Elvis (Solitaire), Tom Jones (Puppet Man), The Monkees (When Love Comes Knockin At Your Door), and The 5th Dimension (Workin On A Groovy Thing).

In addition to all of this, the first music video ever produced was for Calendar Girl.

(Check out those outfits and dance moves!)
Let me know what you think!

Jessica Marciel (my vocal coach), Neil Sedaka, Me,
& Eric Bikales (talented piano player, writer, and friend)

A big thanks to Eric for showing us a great time. I can't wait to come back to Nashville!

Jessica, I'm so blessed to have been able to share such a lovely evening with you!

Here are more of Neil's songs to enjoy!