84-year-old Sedaka, is still in love with his wife of 61 years, as his grandchildren saying, “he was born married to his wife.”
“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.” Sedaka explained.
He was no more than 13, as he had a scholarship from Julliard’s Preparatory for Children, and he had a band with 16-year-old Howard Greenfield, that named, Linc-Tones, which later turned into the Tokens.
“We had a cubicle with a piano and a bench but no window. You only got a room with a window after you’d had a hit song,”
“Every day from 9am to 5pm we’d write and then we’d play what we’d written to people from record labels. It was hard but it was wonderful training.” He added.
Greenfield had lost his life in 1968, as he was an openly gay man, and they had continued on their band until the mids of 70s.
Sedaka was no more than 19 when he left his band, the Tokens, and with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Tonight I Fell in Love”, he had gained a huge fame and success.
“The Diary” was his first single hit, a song that he inspired from the diary of Connie Francis, as stated that he wanted “to look into that little book”.
A year later, he married with Leba Strassberg, in 1962, as he met at the Esther Manor resort in the Catskills Mountains, NY, a place that is abandoned now.
And the mother of Leba, Esther, was not happy with their relationship.
“She soon changed her mind when I got a royalty cheque for $62,000 for “Stupid Cupid.” My father was a taxi driver and never made more than $10,000 a year,” Sedaka added.
“My father knew about him and accepted him so after the initial shock so did I. I even understood it, in a way. My parents lived in two rooms with nine other relatives and my dad was very thrifty whereas the other man bought her jewels and furs and took her to nice places.”
“Only they were living the high life on my money. They went through hundreds of thousands of dollars. I couldn’t pay my taxes, nothing. My wife and I had to start from scratch.”
He had fired his mother’s boyfriend, because he was a bad influence on his mother, as she had almost overdosed from sleeping pills, he stated, “because she couldn’t stand to see her son and her lover at odds. She said she didn’t realise it was my money they were spending. I didn’t speak to her for a year.”
“Well, I used to walk down the street and people asked, ‘Didn’t you used to be Neil Sedaka?’ I said, ‘well, I’m still Neil Sedaka, you haven’t heard the last of me.’ I had to change my style. It was the early ‘70s, and I met a guy by the name of Elton John. Did you ever hear of him?”
When it was 1983, he had received his own star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He was a guest judge on American Idol, in 2003.
In the times of COVID, he had many live concerts on his social media, as he had celebrated their 60th anniversary with his wife on one of those too. “I’d like to dedicate today’s mini-concert to my beautiful wife, Leba. In September, we will be celebrating our 60th Anniversary. Here are three songs especially written for Leba!” he had stated for the occasion.
“Dear Neil, your songs brighten up the day. I often find myself humming melodies you created…as if they have become a part of me. Thank you for the joy you bring to the world!” is a comment under the announcement that Sedaka shared from his Facebook account, that he had joined to the Cameo family.
“I was born married… if you’re lucky to have that companion that does it for you, that’s a great gift,” he had stated.
“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 had talent and I was hungry for fame, and you can’t say I didn’t get it.”
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