In the early ’60s, Neil Sedaka was one of the biggest hitmakers in pop music, scoring smash hits like “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Calendar Girl” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” while also penning additional hits for pop peers like Connie Francis. But by the mid-’60s, popular music had shifted, and Sedaka underwent a commercial dry period that lasted well into the next decade, causing him to head overseas to try to revive his career. Then, in the mid-’70s, an old Sedaka fan — one who’d become quite the pop-rock superstar in his own right — would help facilitate his return to the U.S. market, leading to a year where he not only rediscovered his hitmaking mojo, but became bigger than ever before.
On this Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we pay tribute to the late great Neil Sedaka by diving deep on the singer-songwriter’s unlikely comeback year. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by legendary Billboard historian Fred Bronson — who not only covered Sedaka’s biggest songs in his essential Billboard Book of Number One Hits, but ended up becoming a personal friend of the singer-songwriter — to discus Sedaka’s incredible career reinvention, where he dusted off a decade-long cold streak and found his way back to top 40’s center with a pair of Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s (and a third penned for another hitmaking duo).
Along the way, we answer all the biggest questions about the year of Sedaka being Back: Which was the quintessential Neil Sedaka run, ’62 or ’75? Why were Australia and the U.K. up on Sedaka’s comeback before the U.S.? Just how valuable was an Elton John co-sign (or an Elton John backing vocal) in 1975? Did Richard Carpenter really boot Sedaka from the Carpenters’ tour for breaking some unspoken (and possibly imaginary) showbiz rule? How absurdly cool is it to get your comeback specifically shouted out over the outro to the biggest hit you ever wrote for another artist? And perhaps most importantly: Where does ’75 Sedaka rank among the greatest comebacks in pop or rock history?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most memorable moments of Bowie’s 1983, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
Also, find Fred’s Writer: Neil Sedaka playlist below — and follow him on Spotify here.
You can also find Fred’s Rockin’ the Kremlin book here.
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