No R&R HOF for him as well as Connie Francis, Tommy James, and many deserving other artists. All wrong!<\/p>\n
Ron Alexenburg<\/p>\n
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Hi Bob. We all have our pet artist (and pet peeve) who hasn\u2019t made it into the RRHOF and number one on my list is Neil Sedaka. How is Percy Sledge in the Hall and Sedaka isn\u2019t? Not that it really matters who\u2019s in and who\u2019s left out. My very first album, before The Beatles onslaught, was a Neil Sedaka album. Recently I\u2019ve been enjoying his Tik Tok videos. What a great writer. RIP Neil.<\/p>\n
Regards,<\/p>\n
Steven Ehrlick<\/p>\n
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Neil Sedaka is gone, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be ashamed of themselves for deliberately excluding him all these years. But they won\u2019t feel anything, because they are a sham of an organization.<\/p>\n
Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield were famously snubbed in 2010 when the RRHOF inducted all the great songwriters of their era. Burt Bacharach and Hal David were also snubbed that year, yet Dionne Warwick gets inducted years later – make that make sense! \u00a0Just like how they induct Randy Rhoads before Ozzy\u2019s solo career (I could go on\u2026)<\/p>\n
Neil should have been inducted both as a songwriter AND performer. Carole King is in twice this same way, and as a performer she\u2019s basically a one-album-wonder. But that album turned 50 in 2021 and somebody paid somebody to time that induction for marketing purposes\u2026<\/p>\n
Neil was one of the first true singer-songwriters, but he wasn\u2019t cool. He didn\u2019t wear a cool hat like Dion. He didn\u2019t play guitar. He wrote his own hits AND those for Connie Francis, who also should be in. Lots of acts from his era are in the hall and never wrote one song, and had less hits!<\/p>\n
I hope he gets his induction someday, but it will be too little too late. Just like Jimmy Buffett and so many other missteps the RRHOF has made over the years.<\/p>\n
God bless you Neil Sedaka, thank you for the music.<\/p>\n
Vincent Innocente
\nMusician – Staten Island, NY<\/p>\n
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Hi Bob,
\nLike you, I\u2019m terribly saddened by Neil\u2019s passing. I thought I\u2019d share my experience with Neil Sedaka\u2026.
\n\u201cLaughter in the rain\u201d was starting to climb the charts in the US; continuing a comeback that had started in the UK.
\nNeil was about to do \u201cThe Midnight Special\u201d and the guitar player who played on the record wasn\u2019t available. I got a call from Robert Appere (Neil\u2019s Producer) to fill in. I was a year and a half out of Brooklyn and that call changed my life!
\nI spent the next 2 years, up until Neil\u2019s departure from Rocket Records, as a member of Neil\u2019s band. Sedaka was Back!
\nRIP Neil
\nRichie Zito<\/p>\n
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I obviously always respected the songs, but as you say – they were before my time.<\/p>\n
But when he started posting his playing and singing on TikTok (up until this week!) – I became a fan. Timeless songs never go out of style.<\/p>\n
Adam Lewis<\/p>\n
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His greatest little-known composition was the haunting, heart-rending \u201cSolitaire.\u201d His rendition was terrific, as was Karen Carpenter\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Jim Rowbotham<\/p>\n
Manhattan<\/p>\n
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As I\u2019m sure many have said, writing two UK no 1\u2019s in Stupid Cupid and Amarillo can\u2019t be too bad!<\/p>\n
All the best<\/p>\n
JC Reid<\/p>\n
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40 years ago, one of my first gigs was a short tour with Neil Sedaka.\u00a0 He was past his 70\u2019s resurgence and playing small performing arts centres. He had the best Nashville sideman in tow and treated us really well – we flew to all gigs, everyone had their own rooms in nice hotels.\u00a0 I doubt he made any money. But I don\u2019t think that was the purpose – he just wanted to get out there and hear the applause.\u00a0 Tons of hits and standing ovations.\u00a0 And some hilarious stories behind the scenes.\u00a0 RIP to one of the great pop songwriters.<\/p>\n
Iain Taylor<\/p>\n
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Thanks for the remembrance of Neil.<\/p>\n
Twenty years back, I was incredibly lucky and got to work with him. When I was at Razor & TIe, I helped compile a new greatest hits compilation. I met with Neil at his Upper East side apartment and got to listen to a pile of acetates of unreleased recordings. We dug out an incredible demo versions of “Where The Boys Are”, as well as “It Hurts to Be in Love”. Neil wrote the latter but was blocked from releasing by his label at the time, RCA Records, because it wasn’t recorded at their studio. Gene Pitney took the same song(with the original backing track from Neil\u2019s version) and it went number one.<\/p>\n
Later that same year I asked Neil to do a run of shows at Joe’s Pub, his first in a NYC club in decades. I invited Chris and Adam from Fountains of Wayne to sing Neil’s “Calendar Girl” with him on stage since I knew the FOW guys had covered it previously. \u00a0We filmed the performance and Stereogum even posted about it. My parents came to the show, the first and only time they knew who an artist I worked was. My folks were NY Jews of a similar age; Neil couldn\u2019t have been nicer, and my parents talked about meeting him for years.<\/p>\n
RIP Neil Sedaka. A true mensch.<\/p>\n
“Neil Sedaka w\/Fountains of Wayne – Calendar Girl – Joe’s Pub – May 2007”<\/p>\n