The Complete Singles and EPs As & Bs 1956-62

Neil Sedaka was one of the most successful and ubiquitous songwriters of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, composing hits for artists like Connie Francis and Jimmy Clanton with his writing partner Howard Greenfield from their base in the legendary Brill Building in New York. However, he achieved an even higher profile as an interpreter of his own songs, rattling up a string of landmark classics like “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen”, “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”, which was a US No. 1, and “Oh Carol” (his paean to fellow Brill Building writer Carole King), and he was every bit as popular in the UK and around the world as he was in the USA. This 2-CD set includes the A & B sides of every single he released, including collectable tracks he recorded for other labels before he joined RCA, along with tracks which were included on the EPs which were released in different configurations around the world. It includes, interestingly, his own recording of “Stupid Cupid” which was a No. 1 success for Connie Francis. The collection plots his concentrated and highly successful early career up to 1962 before his style was overtaken by the British Invasion and he reinvented himself in the 1970s as a noted singer-songwriter. It’s a marvellous slice of top class rock ‘n’ roll era pop, with some examples of his distinctive writing and performing talents which many fans and collectors will not have heard before.