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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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award
In 1983 Sedaka was inducted into the Song
Writers' Hall of Fame. In October, 2006, he
was an inductee of the Long Island Music
Hall of Fame. He has a "shtern" (star) on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"barimtkayt" (celebrity)
Sedaka and Carol Klein (who later became
Carole King), were boyfriend/girlfriend
and went steady.
"fish" (fish)
Sedaka and Carol Klein did a kind of
bump-and-grind slow dance called the Fish.
"froy" (wife)
Neil Sedaka's wife is named Leba (Strassberg). They have been married
since 1962, and have two children, a daughter, Dora and a son, Marc.
"fuftsik" (50)
A concert performance on Oct. 26, 2007, was
held at LIncoln Center, which paid homage to the 50th Anniversary of Sedaka's debut
in show business. Guests included The
Captain and Tennille, Natalie Cole, Connie
Francis, Clay Aiken, David Foster, and many
others.
"gas" (street)
There's a street named after Sedaka in his
native Brighton Beach.
"geboyrn-tog" (birthday)
Singer, Neil Sedaka, was born in 1939.
"gelekhter" (laughter)
Neil Sedaka made us hear laughter in the
rain, even when breaking up was hard to
do. Who can "fargesn" (forget) his nasal
"comma comma down doobie do down down"?.
"hungerik yorn" (hungry years)
Sedaka's stature as a recording artist
was at a low-ebb in the late 1960s. He called them the hungry years.
"khasene" (wedding)
At Ivana Trump's wedding to Italian actor,
Rossano Rubicondi, a 24-piece orchestra
from Paris provided the music. Sedaka sang.
"kvetch" (complain)
When Neil tried singing in Yiddish, he
kvetched: "There are so many pronunciations. Sephardic, Askenazic,
Galitziano."
"klal" (public--at large)
After the Beatles took over the charts, Sedaka faded from the public "oyg" (eye),
only to stage a strong comeback in the early 1970s. In 1974, he had another number one hit with "Gelakhter" (Laughter
in the Rain."
"lid" (song)
Sedaka crafted a new song, "Oh! Carol,"
dedicated to his then-girlfriend and fellow
pop star, Carole King. The song reached
#9 on the American charts and #1 on the
Italian charts, giving Sedaka his first #1
ranking. Carole King would respond with
the answer song, "Oh, Neil!" later that year.
"loshn" (language)
Sedaka also recorded in Spanish, German,
Hebrew and Japanese. He enjoyed popularity in Latin America for his Spanish-
language recordings.
"matsliakhdik" (successful)
Sedaka was very popular in Italy. Many of
his English-language records were released
there and proved quite successful. From a
language standpoint, his recordings in
Italian were flawless, with very little American
"aktsent" (accent), and most pronunciations were spotless.
mentors"mitlshul" (high school)
Sedaka graduated from Lincoln High School
in B'klyn. This NYC school is proud of a
galaxy of prominent alumni, who include
playwright, Arthur Miller, authors, Joseph
Heller and Ken Auletta, the producer, Mel
Brooks, singer, Neal Diamond, ..and Howard Wolfe, Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe's
husband. This school is often called
"Stinkin' Lincoln."
"moltsayt " (meal)
As a youngster, Sedaka spent so much time
practicing the piano that his mom had to
bring his meals to the piano.
"muter" (mother)
Neil's mother, Eleanor Appel, was of
Polish-Russian Jewish descent.
"muzik" (music)
"It's a marvelous thing. Music can really
be therapeutic, emotionally and physically.
People have said that they've grown up
with my music, and that its gotten them
through hard times." (quote).
"non-religyez" (non-religious)
Sedaka grew up in a non-religious family
in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach neighborhood.
"oyftretn" (to act/perform)
Sedaka performed at the Fallsview Casino in 210.
"pyane" (piano)
Sedaka's first piano teacher was Murray
Newman of Brighton Beach. Sedaka was on
Book Six of the John Thompson series
within six months.
"shkheyneshaft" (neighborhood)
Sedaka grew up in Brighton Beach, B'klyn,
a lower middle-class Jewish neighborhood
where everyone looked the same and talked the same. Families spoke Yiddish at
"heym", had no contact with other neighborhoods, and thought the whole
"velt" (world) was Jewish.
"shraybn" (to write)
When Sedaka wasn't recording his own
songs, he and Howard Greenfield were
writing for other performers, most notably,
Connie Francis. Sedaka and Greenfield
wrote the theme to the film, "Where The
Boys Are."
"shvesterkind" (cousin)
Sedaka is the cousin of singer Eydie Gorme.
"tate" (father)
Neil's father, Mac Sedaka, a "taksi" (taxi)
driver, was of Sephardic Turkish Jewish
descent.
"tokhter" (daughter)
In 1980, Sedaka had his first Top 20 hit with
"Should've Never Let You Go," which he
recorded as a duet with his then 17-year-old daughter, Dara.
"tsedaka" (charity)
Joel Siegel ("Lessons for Dylan") wrote that
"tsedaka" is from the Hebrew for "charity."
But because charity is a mitzvah and because mitzvah means both a blessing and
an obligation, tsedaka also means 'justice'
and 'righteousness.' I always liked that about being Jewish. It's also Neil Sedaka's
last name (a Turkish Jew)."
"tsenerlingn" (teenager)
Sedaka horrified his mother by leaving his
classical piano at Juillard to write rock and
roll. (She forgave him after he presented
her with her first mink stole.).
"universal-krom" (department store)
Neil's mother took a part-time job at
Abraham & Sraus Department Store for
six months to pay for a second-hand upright piano.
"velt" (world) tour
In 1975, Sedaka was the opening act for The
Carpenters on their world tour. Manager,
Sherwin Bash, fired Sedaka at the request
of Richard Carpenter. The firing resulted in
a media backlash against The Carpenters
after Sedaka publicly announced he was
off the tour.
"zeyde-bobe" (grandparents)
Beil and Leba are grandparents to 3 children.
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