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" Tra-la-las and doo-be-do's became a Neil Sedaka trademark. I was the king of the tra-la-las and doo-be-do's in the '50s and '60s. But then when I re-recorded 'Breaking Up,' I started with a verse instead of the doo-be-do's! "

Neil Sedaka

King

Started

Breaking

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" I love kids. I think I'm a child at heart. "

" I like Manchester - I've played it many times. The people have a lot of chein, a lot of heart, and the audiences are very receptive. "

" I had talent, and I was hungry for fame, and you can't say I didn't get it. "

" If you have a passion for something, never be discouraged by anyone. "

" There have been 700 or 800 songs I've written over the last 60 years, as I went through different periods of writing. I listen and marvel at how different they are and how they still stand up. They are very well done, if I must say so. "

" I used to think the whole world was Jewish. "

" Being a New Yorker, I used to dance to Latin music. There was a place called the Palladium on Broadway. And Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez used to play. So I still have that in my blood. "

" I think there are three kinds of songs; it's only my theory: psychological, emotional, and spiritual. When you write psychologically or intellectually, you have a tune in your mind, and you re-write it. It's an intellectual approach. The emotional is my favorite because it comes from my kishkas; it comes from my soul. "

" Music is so much a part of me: my parents told me that when I was an infant, I wouldn't eat unless the radio was playing music. "

" I didn't want to be a rock and roller. I wanted to be a Bobby Darin because he was the epitome of the performer, the sophisticated. "

" I remember Pavarotti telling me, 'Oh, Neil, after seventy, the voice is going to go.' But I've been lucky. You almost have to learn how to sing all over again. You use your diaphragm more. You have to choose the notes and pace yourself. "

" I was driving my 1959 Chevy Impala down King's Highway in Brooklyn with the top down, and I heard 'Oh! Carol' on three stations at the same time while I was channel surfing. I knew then that I made it. "

" I actually started as a concert pianist. I had a scholarship to the Julliard School of Music. "

" My songs lie somewhere in between the evergreen standards, rock n' roll and pop. "

" I am very proud of being Jewish. "

" My teachers said, 'Always keep a Beethoven sonata under your fingers.' I always have. I still play chamber music, and I always play classical. "

" I admire Gaga. She's very talented and wise, that girl. "

" My music is nostalgic. The early Neil Sedaka songs are always catchy and very singable. "

" I did have my beginnings in doo-wop music; I had a group called the Tokens in Brooklyn. They went on, of course, to do 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and a lot of other great things. I went on as a soloist. But I still love doo-wop music. "

" I started out just as Elvis was going into the army, Jerry Lee Lewis married his 14-year-old cousin, and Little Richard became a priest. "

" The hymn 'Amazing Grace' is so inspirational - I wish I'd written it. "

" I have written for, very fortunately, some great singers from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley. "

" I was from very poor people: 11 of us in a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I wanted the large houses, the cars, jets, and yacht. "

Neil Sedaka

Brooklyn

Poor People

" Howie Greenfield and I started writing music when I was 13 and he was 16. We lived in the same building. "

" The spiritual writing of the song is where you're chosen as a vehicle, and it comes from something up above. You don't move; it writes itself. It's very spooky, but that's happened to me just a few times. "

Neil Sedaka

Spiritual

Writing

" I could have been bigger, but I wasn't controversial enough. I didn't do drugs or wreck rooms. There were no dramas in my private life. "

" I knew I had a remarkable voice, but I was embarrassed because it was so high. But when I sang at my bar mitzvah, the rabbi was in tears. He said to my parents, 'He must become a cantor in the synagogue,' but my mother said, 'No, he's going to be a concert pianist.' "

" I am a Jew, and I'm convinced that Israel is the homeland. "

" America has a tendency to chip away at you if you've been a success for a long time, whereas in Europe, they put you on a pedestal. "

" I love America, and parts of New Jersey remind me of Newfoundland - rolling hills and gardens - it's great! I guess that's why they call it the Garden State. "