Neil decided to record it with Nevins and Kirshner producing (as they did regularly for the next several years) for his first Victor release, and in January '59 "The Diary" made the top 20 to the dismay of everyone involved with the Imperials and End Records. Little Anthony and the Imperials recorded Neil and Howard's "The Diary," intending it to be their follow-up single to "Tears on My Pillow," but internal disagreements at End Records resulted in a different song getting the nod. "Ring-A-Rockin'," meanwhile, turned out to be more of a career stepping stone than Neil had anticipated after catching his performance on Bandstand, executives at RCA Victor became interested and signed him to a contract. They responded with "Stupid Cupid," which became the writing duo's first major hit in the summer of 1958, followed by "Fallin'," another '58 hit for Francis. Her breakthrough hit had been a 35-year-old song, "Who's Sorry Now," but she was set on targeting a younger market and asked if they had any songs geared toward teenagers. They submitted songs to Connie Francis, but she rejected them as too sophisticated. About that time he and Greenfield went to work for Al Nevins and Don Kirshner's Aldon Music publishers and began working out of the Brill Building on Broadway, right in the midst of many large and small record companies. Falling back on the songwriting he felt was his strong suit, he wrote "Never Again" with his brother-in-law Edward Grossman, which Dinah Washington recorded for Mercury Records in the spring of '58. Next up was "Ring-A-Rockin'" on the Legion label, but even an appearance lip-syncing the song on American Bandstand failed to generate interest or airplay. Decca Records gave Neil a shot and his first and only solo disc for the label was "Laura Lee," released around the end of 1957. Having felt he'd achieved a level of accomplishment as a songwriter, the singing bug had bitten him while with the Tokens and, noticing his cousin Eydie Gorme enjoying some chart success, he left the group, feeling emboldened as he approached some of the bigger labels based in New York (the Tokens continued with Medress fronting a changing lineup eventually the group scored several hits during the '60s including the number one smash "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"). Sedaka had succeeded in breaking into the music business! Neil sang lead on the single's flip side, "While I Dream." Morty Craft, one of Melba's owners, arranged for him to play the chimes on what turned out to be the label's biggest hit, "Church Bells May Ring" by The Willows. The song, featuring a lead vocal by Medress, received a noticeable amount of airplay in New York during 1956 but it was a tough sell in other markets. The Melba label released "I Love My Baby," written by Sedaka (the "k" a permanent part of his stage name by this time) and Greenfield. With a few of his classmates at Abraham Lincoln High School, including Hank Medress, Jay Siegel and Cynthia Zolotin, he put together a doo wop group called The Tokens. By the time Neil had entered high school in the mid-'50s, he was leaning away from classical music and looking for ways to make it as a songwriter or, perhaps, even a rock and roll singer. While in junior high, he met Howard Greenfield, whose interest in poetry was a perfect fit for his non-lyrical music interests. His parents, Mac and Eleanor Sedacca, were supportive, going so far as to take second jobs for periods of time in order to make extra money for Neil to continue his music education. This led to piano lessons, and those led to a scholarship to study classical piano at New York's Juilliard School of Music. It started during his childhood in Brooklyn, New York's Brighton Beach district, when his second grade teacher observed a level of musical ability unusual for someone his age. And as time marched on (referencing one of the several hundred songs he's written), that's exactly what he got. But like Johnny Rocco (portrayed so nefariously by Edward G. If Neil Sedaka had done nothing more than write songs, his name would rank among the most successful pop composers of the past five or six decades.
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