There are

some songs that are timeless, spanning generations and

uniting them with their message. Neil Sedaka, performing

this weekend at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater, has

written thousands of songs in his career, many of which

are such monstrous hits they continue to entertain almost

40 years after they were originally written.

Classics

like "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,"

"Breaking Up is Hard To Do," "Calendar

Girl" and "Oh Carol" have made Sedaka a

pop music pioneer.

Sedaka grew

up in Brooklyn, N.Y. He started playing the piano at the

age of 8 and was in the Juliard Prep School at age 9.

Sometimes working more than five hours a day on the

piano, Sedaka dedicated himself to the pursuit of being a

classical pianist. At the age of 13, Sedaka was voted one

of the finest high school pianists in the New York State

high school system by renowned pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

It was the

same year that a lifelong friendship with neighbor Howard

Greenfield was forged. Sedaka's mother introduced the two

boys and they began a song writing career that made both

of them stars in the song writing and pop music worlds.

In 1956,

Sedaka formed a band called The Tokens with some friends

from high school. The band was "discovered" by

Marty Craft and released two songs that became regional

hits. Neil quit the band the following year and signed

with the Decca label. He released two songs,

"Showtime" and "Ring -A- Rockin," and

both failed to make a dent in the charts. Sedaka was

already showing his vision and promise. He studied what

was popular in music and started using chord changes and

multi-tracking his lyrics.

The

breakthrough year was 1958 for both Sedaka and

Greenfield. They started working in the famous Brill

Building, during what is now referred to as the "Tin

Pan Alley" days. Also part of that scene at the time

were artists Carole King and Paul Simon. King was later

the subject of one of Sedaka's biggest hits, "Oh

Carol." Connie Francis recorded Sedaka's song

"Stupid Cupid" in 1958 while he played piano on

the track. It was the first bona fide hit with Sedaka's

name attached to it, but it was far from the last.

Over the

next four years Sedaka sold over 25 million albums. The

two albums recorded during that time were "Neil

Sedaka" and "Circulate." Things began to

slow down, however, in 1963 when the British Invasion

started. Sedaka continued to succeed, though, as he

toured the world and recorded his classic hits in several

different languages. He emerged back into the mainstream

in the 1970s when he was inspired by King's album,

"Tapestry."

Sedaka

recorded two albums for Elton John's Rocket label, and

both "Sedaka's Back" and "The Hungry

Years" were commercial successes. The albums

produced two more number one hits for Sedaka, "Bad

Blood" and "Laughter in the Rain."

The 1970s

were good for Sedaka and good for artists that were lucky

enough to record his songs. The Carpenters recorded his

song "Solitaire" and Captain and Tenille

recorded "Love will Keep Us Together" which won

Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards that year. Sedaka

hit gold once again when he recorded a duet with his

daughter, Dara, a top ten hit called "Should've

Never Let You Go."

Sedaka has

won numerous awards and recorded several platinum albums.

He has a street named after him in Brooklyn, a star on

the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an induction into the

Song Writer's Hall Of Fame. He has performed with the New

York Pops and the Royal Festival Hall in London and has

played almost every stellar venue in the world. This

year, Sedaka has recorded an album with a jazz trio

called "Tales of Love" and released an

autobiography called "Laughter in the Rain."

Neil Sedaka

will perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Fred.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the box office or

will open the show. King has toured the country

extensively and been a writer for Dennis Miller and

"The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.

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