Article المقال ( Septembre )

 

Lockdown Songs: Sedaka’s Mini-Concerts

Written by : Essam & Laila Fattouh

 

  

In these difficult times, when our movement has been limited, and our connections have been restricted, and when we have been separated from our loved ones, we can only turn to music. It is good for the soul, it soothes and consoles, and it inspires hope and joy.

With this purpose in mind, Neil Sedaka launched the first of his series of mini-concerts, dedicated to his fans and the world. His aim is to ameliorate the impact of a pandemic that has grounded the world in compulsory isolation, with all the boredom and frustration that it entails. Neil Sedaka, who is in his early eighties now, is one of the pioneers of quick-paced pop-music, which had taken the world by storm in the late 1950s.

This kind of music made its way into the Arab World, and Egypt in particular, where it was played on such programs as At Your Request on the European FM Radio station Friday mornings, and Sawsan Samy’s program on Middle East Radio every Tuesday evening. Soon the Egyptian fans got to know Elvis Presley, Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka, and their songs were played on records at birthday parties or on the beach. This was accompanied by the appearance of young groups, playing Rock’n’Roll hits, including megahits by Neil Sedaka such as You Mean Everything to Me, One-way Ticket, Breaking up is Hard to Do, and many others.

The generations of the 1950s and 60s heartily welcomed the daily mini-concerts posted on Facebook since March 2020. With the passage of days, and the diversification of Sedaka’s songs, more of the older generations joined in. They inundated the star with likes, comments and requests for songs that revived memories and triggered a nostalgia for the past, their youth, their first love. Soon enough, they were joined by the younger generations who found a taste for Sedaka’s music. The followers and fans who eagerly anticipate every morning the star’s appearance at home, playing the piano, with Basil in the background, singing with no accompanying orchestra or chorus, count in the thousands from every corner of the world. 

 

 

Neil Sedaka was born in 1939 to a humble family from New York. His musical talents and stunning abilities with the piano appeared in early childhood. Sedaka’s parents saved up to buy a piano, and found a tutor to help the talented child develop his musical gift. The teacher soon suggested that the parents find a scholarship with Juilliard Institute for his protégé, to which the latter was instantaneously admitted. His abilities to play the piano indicated a budding world-caliber pianist. At the time, Sedaka’s dreams focused on pursuing a PhD in music.

Neil Sedaka used to be an introvert, with only few friends, for not many of his peers at Lincoln High School shared his love for Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart – until he decided to partake in the annual talent show held by the school. At the show he shed the role of the serious classical music player, and played – and sang – a number of songs popular with the youth that year.  

Overnight, Neil Sedaka became the school star. All the girls and boys rushed to befriend him. From then on, it became Sedaka’s conviction that he can easily and successfully adopt this genre of music. He composed a number of melodies that only needed lyrics to be ready to be sung in his little world. Soon he found the long-sought for lyricist in Howard Greenfield, a neighbor he had been visiting for years. Talented in writing poetry and lyrics, they soon became partners – the writer and the composer – forming one of the most important partnerships in Rock’n’Roll and Pop-music.

Next, Neil Sedaka founded The Tokens, a band that succeeded in issuing Sedaka’s first album to gain local recognition in New York and around it. Connie Francis, famous singer of the 1950s, helped Sedaka on to international fame, when she recorded two songs written by Greenfield and set to music by Sedaka. The songs, Stupid Cupid and Where the Boys Are, made it to the top of the charts in both the USA and Britain. 

Although recording companies worried about Sedaka’s ability to perform his songs due to his high voice, and because he played the piano rather than the guitar like Elvis Presley, his song Oh Carol was an immediate hit. Sedaka had dedicated it to his first love, Carol King, who later became a star herself. In a few years he became a major competitor of Elvis Presley in the US and Cliff Richard in England. He was invited to Europe to hold a number of successful concerts, from where he moved to Italy where he recorded his most famous songs in Italian. Sales of his albums between 1959 and 1963 exceeded 40 million.

With the appearance of the Beatles, the year 1964 witnessed a massive upheaval in the world of pop-music. The four young men from Liverpool swept through the music scene, toppling many singers, such as Bobby Darin, Frankie Avalon and others, into oblivion. They were soon replaced by the Rolling Stones and the Animals, and when RCA discounted Neil Sedaka from their recordings, Sedaka found himself close to bankruptcy.

For a while, Sedaka accompanied new bands on the piano, for his financial obligations had increased after getting married and becoming a father of two. His fame on the decline, Sedaka agreed to his manager’s proposition to relocate to England, where he had received a number of offers to sing at different theatres and night-clubs. The pay was meager, but it secured him and his family a constant monthly income.

Next, the manager of a newly formed band offered Sedaka to introduce him to the members of 10cc, and to record a new album with them. It was a golden chance for Sedaka to record a number of songs he had written, and he found in 10cc the ideal performers. The fame he had missed for years was on the rise again.

And then, none other but Elton John, who had only just founded a new record company, proposed the production of an album to be entitled Sedaka is Back. It included the latest songs for the writing of which Phil Cody had been selected, and world-fame was regained. Indeed, three songs made it to the top of the world charts: “Bad Blood”, “Laughter in the Rain” and “Love will Keep us Together”.

Invitations flooded in from all over the world, requesting Sedaka to perform his music. Radio and TV competed to air shows for him, as well as documentaries of his life and songs. World stars, such as Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Shirley Bessey and others, rushed to buy the right to public performances of Sedaka’s work.

In his mini-concerts, Neil Sedaka surprised his fans with songs and tunes, some of which they had not heard before. When he set out preparing for these mini-concerts, Sedaka opened his musical treasure chest, which contained songs and music written over a period of six decades. They included songs written for his mother, for Liba, his wife, for his son and daughter, and even for his grand-children. He had rewritten his most popular songs into children’s songs, and had written words to some of the most wonderful music of Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart.

Today, as we come to the close of the sixth running month of Sedaka’s mini-concerts, we would like – from this corner of the world - to express our gratitude to a man who solidly believes in the role of art to overcome the most difficult of times and the toughest of crises. In the name of your Arab fans, and in particular those in Egypt, we thank you, NEIL SEDAKA, for your music and your love. God Bless You.

Y Essam & Laila ¯  

Beirut, 27^th September 2020