From Amarillo to Stockport: 15 of Neil Sedaka’s greatest songs, and their extraordinary stories

By Alexis Petridis•The Guardian Music

From being a writer for hire in the 1950s to his solo pop stardom and emphatic 1970s comeback, the late musician’s catalogue is stuffed with stunning, surprising songcraft• News: Neil Sedaka, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do singer and pop song hitmaker, dies aged 86As a young jobbing songwriter charged with devising a hit for Connie Francis after the singer released a couple of flops, Neil Sedaka was unsure about Stupid Cupid: modest to a fault, he suggested that Francis, “a classy lady”, would be insulted by its daftness. Instead, she literally jumped up and down with excitement when she heard it. Understandably so: if Stupid Cupid is certainly silly – listen to the off-key guitar twangs – it’s irresistibly silly, a perfect encapsulation of a certain kind of 50s pop innocence, and Francis’s vocal completely sells it. Continue reading...

From being a writer for hire in the 1950s to his solo pop stardom and emphatic 1970s comeback, the late musician’s catalogue is stuffed with stunning, surprising songcraft

• News: Neil Sedaka, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do singer and pop song hitmaker, dies aged 86

As a young jobbing songwriter charged with devising a hit for Connie Francis after the singer released a couple of flops, Neil Sedaka was unsure about Stupid Cupid: modest to a fault, he suggested that Francis, “a classy lady”, would be insulted by its daftness. Instead, she literally jumped up and down with excitement when she heard it. Understandably so: if Stupid Cupid is certainly silly – listen to the off-key guitar twangs – it’s irresistibly silly, a perfect encapsulation of a certain kind of 50s pop innocence, and Francis’s vocal completely sells it.

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