Neil Sedaka

“I was one of the first American rock n' rollers in the '50s to go to many foreign countries. It's a wonderful thing to go out and spread joy and love rather than hate.”

“I think there are three kinds of songs; it's only my theory: psychological, emotional, and spiritual. When you write psychologically or intellectually, you have a tune in your mind, and you re-write it. It's an intellectual approach. The emotional is my favorite because it comes from my kishkas; it comes from my soul.”

“I didn't want to be a rock and roller. I wanted to be a Bobby Darin because he was the epitome of the performer, the sophisticated.”

“Much of my music is inspired by what I heard at picnics and weddings and bar mitzvahs.”

“These are some of my awards - an Ivor Novello, a Variety Club Silver Heart, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. I also have a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and a street named after me in Brooklyn where I used to live.”

“I love kids. I think I'm a child at heart.”

“Howie Greenfield and I started writing music when I was 13 and he was 16. We lived in the same building.”

“I remember Pavarotti telling me, 'Oh, Neil, after seventy, the voice is going to go.' But I've been lucky. You almost have to learn how to sing all over again. You use your diaphragm more. You have to choose the notes and pace yourself.”

“I have inner peace; I have accomplished a great deal.”

“I've always enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my grandchildren.”

“I actually started as a concert pianist. I had a scholarship to the Julliard School of Music.”

“My teachers said, 'Always keep a Beethoven sonata under your fingers.' I always have. I still play chamber music, and I always play classical.”

“I did have my beginnings in doo-wop music; I had a group called the Tokens in Brooklyn. They went on, of course, to do 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and a lot of other great things. I went on as a soloist. But I still love doo-wop music.”

“I was from very poor people: 11 of us in a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I wanted the large houses, the cars, jets, and yacht.”

“I am very proud of being Jewish.”

“I have written for, very fortunately, some great singers from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley.”