Neil Sedaka Brad Barket/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Neil Sedaka, the buoyant singer-songwriter and pianist who had No. 1 hits with "Laughter in the Rain," "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," "Bad Blood" and, for Captain & Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together," died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 86. "Our family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather," his family said in a statement. "A true rock and roll legend, an inspiration to millions, but most importantly, at least to those of us who were lucky enough to know him, an incredible human being who will be deeply missed." Related Stories TV Bobby J. Brown, Actor on 'The Wire,' Dies at 62 in a Fire General News Elizabeth Snead, Former Hollywood Reporter Contributor, Dies at 74 First teaming with lyricist Howard Greenfield - a neighbor in his Brooklyn apartment building - while still in his teens, Sedaka scored his first hit as a songwriter in 1958 when Connie Francis recorded the duo's "Stupid Cupid," a peppy single that rose to No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. They wrote several other hits for Francis, including 1958's "Fallin'" and "Where the Boys Are," the theme to the popular 1960 MGM comedy; the latter reached No. 4 in the U.S. and became her signature song. The clean-cut Sedaka quickly cemented his pop stardom with a string of popular tunes that included "Oh! Carol" (No. 9), "Stairway to Heaven" (No. 9), "Run Samson Run" (No. 28), "Calendar Girl" (No. 4), "Little Devil" (No. 11), "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" (No. 6) and "Next Door to an Angel" (No. 5). Sedaka and Greenfield's "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," with a carefree, nonsensical opening - "Do do do, Down dooby doo down down, Comma, comma, down dooby doo down down, Comma, comma, down dooby doo down down" - proved irresistible to teens, enjoying a 14-week run on the singles chart and in the summer of 1962 becoming Sedaka's first No. 1 hit. "I was the king of the tra-la-las and doo-be-do's in the '50s and '60s," he told Reuters in 2010. "It had to have a very catchy tune, with a catchy beat that you can dance to." Between 1958-62, Sedaka and Greenfield would sell 25 million records, with 10 big hits in a row. "First, his songs have clever lyrics and wonderfully infectious tunes," The New York Times wrote in 1976. "Second, his melodies have just enough soft‐rock and rhythm and blues underpinnings to avoid bonelessness. Third, he leavens the cheeriness with sentimentality more innocent than crass. Fourth, he has remarkable voice - a sweetly mellow, evocative high tenor that shades imperceptibly into falsetto." Despite all that, Sedaka's popularity and that of other American pop stars began to wane in the mid-'60s amid the British music invasion. He didn't release an album for six years as singles including "Sunny," "The World Through a Tear" and "The Answer to My Prayer" barely made a ripple. When his label opted not to renew his contract in 1966, Sedaka took a break from singing and focused on songwriting. Over the next several years, he teamed with Carole Bayer to write "When Love Comes Knockin' (at Your Door)" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me," hits for The Monkees. He and Greenfield also penned tunes for The Cyrkle ("We Had a Good Thing Goin'") and Davy Jones ("Rainy Jane"). The 5th Dimension landed in the top 20 with "Workin' on a Groovy Thing," a tune he wrote with Roger Atkins. The Carpenters, Andy Williams and Shirley Bassey enjoyed success with "Solitaire," a song Sedaka recorded and wrote with lyricist Phil Cody. When his album releases in 1969 (Workin' on a Groovy Thing) and 1971 (Emergence) didn't generate much excitement, Sedaka moved to England in 1970 to change things up. After a chance meeting with Elton John in 1973, he signed with John's fledgling label, The Rocket Record Co. The move led to one of the most successful periods in Sedaka's career. In 1974, Polydor Records released Sedaka's Back, a collection of songs - some recorded with future members of 10cc - from three albums that had only been released in the U.K. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 album chart and gave Sedaka his second No. 1 song when the lilting "Laughter in the Rain," co-written with Cody, became a stateside sensation. The following year, Sedaka scored again with the Rocket Records release The Hungry Years. It went gold in the U.S. and gave him another No. 1 with "Bad Blood," featuring John on backing vocals. The LP also featured a new version of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"; rearranging it as a ballad, he breathed new life into the song and turned it into another top 10 hit and a Song of the Year nominee. In 1975, Captain & Tennille recorded his "Love Will Keep Us Together" and featured it as the title tune on their debut album. The jubilant tune became the y