Neil Sedaka, the legendary singer-songwriter who made West Hollywood his home, died Friday morning at 86 after paramedics responded to a medical call at his Shoreham Towers residence on Shoreham Drive. It appears to have been sudden.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s West Hollywood Station confirmed that deputies responded to a medical request call at Sedaka’s residence Friday morning and assisted the fire department in transporting him by ambulance to a local hospital at approximately 8 a.m.
His family confirmed the death. “Our family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather,” they said. “A true rock and roll legend, an inspiration to millions, but most importantly an incredible human being who will be deeply missed.”
It’s been reported Sedaka was seemingly healthy just a few days before being rushed to the hospital. The timing made his death all the more unexpected; just days earlier, he’d announced that his 1976 album Steppin’ Out would be released on streaming platforms for the first time in celebration of its 50th anniversary, with the release set for April 10. He’d also been active on social media promoting it, sharing videos as recently as Wednesday.
Sedaka had lived at Shoreham Towers, the 13-story mid-century luxury building at 8787 Shoreham Drive just above the Sunset Strip, a WeHo institution that’s housed its share of legends over the years, including David Lee Roth and Vivian Vance. He’d been part of the fabric of this city long enough that the Strip running below his window was once the center of the very music industry he helped shape.
He Started Writing Hits at 13
Sedaka grew up in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and showed enough musical ability that his second-grade teacher recommended piano lessons. He’d earned a scholarship to Juilliard’s Preparatory Division for Children before most kids his age had figured out long division. At 13, a neighbor introduced him to her son Howard Greenfield, three years older, and the two started writing songs together. That partnership would last 25 years and reach the top of the pop charts multiple times.
By his late teens, Sedaka was a fixture at the Brill Building in Manhattan alongside Carole King, Neil Diamond, and Barry Mann. He and Greenfield wrote Connie Francis’ 1958 breakout “Stupid Cupid,” then Sedaka signed with RCA Victor as a solo artist and piled up hits — “Calendar Girl,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Little Devil,” and the song that’d follow him everywhere, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” which hit No. 1 in 1962.
The British Invasion Didn’t Finish Him
When the Beatles arrived, his solo career stalled. He didn’t disappear — he kept writing, just for other people. He and Greenfield placed songs with Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and the Fifth Dimension. He also co-wrote the English lyrics for a Swedish group’s early single “Ring Ring.” That group became ABBA. It sounds like trivia. It wasn’t.
Elton John Brought Him Back
Sedaka met Elton John at a London party in 1973, and John signed him to his Rocket Records label. “Laughter in the Rain” hit No. 1 in early 1975. A few months later, “Bad Blood” — featuring an uncredited Elton John on harmonies — topped the chart again. Then the Captain and Tennille released Sedaka’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” and it became one of the defining radio songs of the decade.
He also scored a Top 10 hit in 1976 with a slowed-down remake of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” making him one of the very few artists to chart the same song twice in different arrangements. The two men later had a falling out but eventually reconciled — John wrote the foreword to Sedaka’s 2013 biography.
What He Left Behind
Over more than six decades, Sedaka earned five Grammy nominations, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1978, and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983. He kept performing well past his commercial peak and officially retired from songwriting in 2022, selling his catalog to Primary Wave Music two years later.
He’s survived by his wife Leba Strassberg, whom he married in 1962, and their two children, Marc and Dara.
I did not know he lived in WeHo. I had lunch at Mel’s Diner shortly before the pandemic and he was seated about two tables away.