Posted on 09/13/2020 7:29:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
He has more than 800 songs he wrote to choose from.
Many performers have recorded videos of encouragement for fans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic months. But few, if any, have been as prolific as Neil Sedaka.
With some 90 mini-concerts already posted since early April on his YouTube channel, NeilSedakaMusic, the singer, pianist and composer of 1960s hits such as “Calendar Girl” and “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” continues to churn out the casual performances from behind his home piano several times a week.
“The response from people all over the world has been unbelievable, even those who were never really Neil Sedaka fans before,” said the 81-year-old singer from Los Angeles. “They can’t believe my body of work.”
Sedaka’s repertoire would impress any artist.
“I started writing songs when I was 13 and have composed over 800,” said Sedaka who, on March 27, was one of the first entertainers to post a video of hope during the early pandemic days in the U.S. in the form of rewritten lyrics to “Oh! Carol,” his hit from the late 1950s.
A week later, his first mini-concert – filmed by his wife on a cellphone from their New York home with the family parrot in the background – consisted of a medley of a half-dozen Sedaka hits.
“I just thought the music could be therapeutic for people locked down at home,” he recalled. “Then people began requesting songs on my Facebook page, so I decided to continue the mini-concerts and have performed three songs nearly every day ever since.”
For Sedaka, too, the performances have helped get through the months of isolation after moving to the family’s Los Angeles home several months ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at goerie.com ...
Entirely possible as music has few "boundaries".
Rick Wakeman was the keyboard player for the prog-rock band Yes during their heyday. Excellent, if somewhat flamboyant performer.
Neil and Bobby rock!
Robby Steinhart of Kansas was a classically trained violinist.
Rick Wakeman, formerly of the band Yes, was classically trained. I think he would call himself a keyboardist, and not necessarily a pianist, but he was great on the piano.
Keith Emerson, from Emerson, Lake and Palmer also had classical training. He put a bullet in this head a few years ago. He had become a heavy drinker and suffered nerve damage so badly, that he really couldn’t play any more. His playing and arrangements with ELP were truly great. Listen to anything from the ELP album, “Pictures at an Exhibition” and you’ll get a good taste of how great he was.
Wakeman had to be classically trained, just listen to his solo albums, to include Six Wives of Henry 8th, and King Arthur.
Rick Wakeman was classically trained. Loved the joke in his speech when Yes was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Coarse for some, but funny. Also, when they played Roundabout for the ceremony, Geddy Lee filled in for Chris Squire, which I thought was an excellent choice. Geddy totally pulled it off, IMHO.
Absolutely true; among other studies, he attended the Royal College of Music in London, aiming to become a concert pianist. Fate intervened, but his abilities displayed in his later professional career certainly show the influence of those earlier studies.
I like him. I admire his talent, and I like how he talks, too. He’s actually a humorous guy.
RE: Stairway to Heaven
Not to be confused with the Led Zeppelin song of the same title :)
Mr. William Joel (in my Ed Sullivan voice)... of Long Island.... is classically trained and has written classical pieces, although he has not published them.
I've heard that other group's "Stairway to Heaven," but I don't like it. Neil's "Stairway to Heaven" rules.
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