The musical world lost one of its brightest stars last week with the death at 86 of Neil Sedaka, famous for his writing and performing many popular hits including Breaking Up is Hard to Do and Calendar Girl.
Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Mordechai "Mac" Sedaka, was a taxi driver of Sephardi Jewish descent from Turkey. Sedaka's paternal grandparents came to the United States from Istanbul in 1910.
Sedaka's mother, Eleanor (née Appel), was an Ashkenazi Jew of Polish and Russian descent. He grew up in Brighton Beach. Sedaka (the name is a variant of the Hebrew word Tzedaka - charity) was a cousin of singer Eydie Gorme.
Here are videos of his greatest hits. Enjoy!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment