Neil Sedaka Celebrates 50 Years in Show Business

Neil Sedaka Celebrates 50 Years in Show Business

Bountiful Program Honoring Legend to be held at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall on October 26th, 2007.

Performances by Natalie Cole, Clay Aiken, Captain & Tenille, David Foster, Renee Olstead, Raul Midion, The Bad Plus and NEIL SEDAKA. More special performances to be announced.

Proceeds to benefit Elton John's AIDS Foundation

NEW YORK, Aug. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary singer songwriter Neil Sedaka will be honored at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center in New York on Friday, October 26th in celebration of his 50 years in show business. At press time, performances scheduled are Natalie Cole, Clay Aiken, Captain & Tennille, who reached #1 on the Billboard charts with Sedaka's "Love Will Keep Us Together," Raul Midion, Renee Olstead and The Bad Plus. More special performances to be announced. Grammy winning producer David Foster will also be performing. Foster played piano for Sedaka back when Sedaka & Elton John had their smash duet "Bad Blood" back in 1975. Proceeds from the evening will benefit Elton John's AIDS Foundation. Producer of the event is Michael Dorf.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070815/NYW134 )

Recently Sedaka returned to the Billboard top 20 album chart for the first time in 30 years with the compilation of his greatest hits titled, "Sedaka, The Definitive Collection." Brooklyn-native Sedaka began his prolific career as one of the original creators of the "Brill Building" sound in the late 1950s and early 1960s when he and songwriting partner Howard Greenfield signed with Don Kirshner and Al Nevins at Aldon Music. Sedaka was catapulted into stardom after Connie Francis recorded his "Stupid Cupid." She then sang the theme song Sedaka and Greenfield had written for the 1960 MGM spring break classic, Where the Boys Are, which would be her biggest hit. As a result of these hits, Sedaka signed a contract with RCA as a writer and performer of his own material. He soon recorded chart toppers "The Diary," "Oh! Carol," "Stairway to Heaven," "Calendar Girl," "Little Devil," "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," "Next Door To An Angel," and "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do".

In the late 1960s, Sedaka had tremendous success writing for artists such as Tom Jones, The Monkees and The Fifth Dimension ("Workin' On A Groovy Thing", "Puppet Man") and Karen Carpenter's marvelous version of "Solitaire." In the early 1970s, Elton John signed Sedaka to his label, Rocket Records. The result was two tremendous albums (SEDAKA'S BACK in 1974 and THE HUNGRY YEARS in 1975) that produced two of his hugest worldwide hits - "Bad Blood" and "Laughter In The Rain", both of which went to #1 on the music charts. Rolling Stone Magazine hailed Sedaka as "the new phenomenon."

"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" was re-released as a ballad in 1975, and made music history when it reached #1 on the charts, becoming the first song recorded two different ways by the same artist to reach #1. During this time, the Captain and Tennille had a worldwide #1 hit with their version of Neil's "Love Will Keep Us Together". The song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

Neil Sedaka has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, has had a street named after him in his hometown of Brooklyn, and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In June, 2004, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Popular Music / Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization's 35th annual induction and awards ceremony in New York. Named for the former President of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, this award is given to individuals in recognition of their outstanding achievements in furthering the successes of songwriters.

Sedaka recently appeared on FOX's hit TV show "American Idol", as a guest judge. Clay Aiken performed and released a cover of Neil's classic "Solitaire," which reached #4 on the Hot 100 Singles chart, and was one of the Top Selling Singles of 2004. Most recently, Neil concluded a 10 city tour of the United Kingdom, where he filmed a live concert for PBS that resulted in the DVD "Neil Sedaka The Show Goes On - Live At The Royal Albert Hall". During this historical evening, Neil was presented with The Guinness Award for his song "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo", as the best selling single of the 21st century in the UK, a song that was originally performed by Tony Christie over thirty-five years ago. Neil Sedaka continues to tour regularly and sell out concert halls all over the world.

Tickets are on sale now for this once in a lifetime event and can be purchased through www.sedaka50.com.

www.neilsedaka.com

Neil Sedaka proudly supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.ejaf.org/

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Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070815/NYW134
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: PMK/HBH New York

CONTACT: Victoria Varela of PMK-HBH New York, +1-212-373-6117, or
Victoria.Varela@pmkhbh.com

Web site: http://www.sedaka50.com/
http://www.neilsedaka.com/
http://www.ejaf.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment