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I am a Jew, and I'm convinced that Israel is the homeland.
Neil Sedaka -
I like Maroon 5, Cold Play. Snow Patrol from Ireland is very good. Adele is wonderful. I enjoy a new singer named Rumer. I don't care for rap or hip-hop.
Neil Sedaka
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Andy Warhol was a good friend of mine. We used to go to the Studio 54 nightclub together with the likes of Liza Minnelli, and we'd dance through the night.
Neil Sedaka -
America has a tendency to chip away at you if you've been a success for a long time, whereas in Europe, they put you on a pedestal.
Neil Sedaka -
Between 1963 and 1975, I worked very little. The Beatles had come to New York and changed music - all the solo singers were out of work.
Neil Sedaka -
Being a New Yorker, I used to dance to Latin music. There was a place called the Palladium on Broadway. And Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez used to play. So I still have that in my blood.
Neil Sedaka -
My teachers said, 'Always keep a Beethoven sonata under your fingers.' I always have. I still play chamber music, and I always play classical.
Neil Sedaka -
I have inner peace; I have accomplished a great deal.
Neil Sedaka
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Family has always been very important to my life. Even though I make my living as an artist, my creativity is merely a fantasy world. Having a close family has been a stabilizing rock for me.
Neil Sedaka -
I could have been bigger, but I wasn't controversial enough. I didn't do drugs or wreck rooms. There were no dramas in my private life.
Neil Sedaka -
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.
Neil Sedaka -
I am very proud of being Jewish.
Neil Sedaka -
I actually started as a concert pianist. I had a scholarship to the Julliard School of Music.
Neil Sedaka -
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.
Neil Sedaka
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My music is nostalgic. The early Neil Sedaka songs are always catchy and very singable.
Neil Sedaka -
My songs lie somewhere in between the evergreen standards, rock n' roll and pop.
Neil Sedaka -
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.
Neil Sedaka -
Much of my music is inspired by what I heard at picnics and weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Neil Sedaka -
You have to learn how to sing from your diaphragm, and you don't become a great performer overnight. It takes a while. The more you do it, the better you are.
Neil Sedaka -
I've always enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my grandchildren.
Neil Sedaka
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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.
Neil Sedaka -
The Apollo Theatre was a difficult audience, and if they didn't like you, they would let you know. Luckily, they liked me.
Neil Sedaka -
There have been 700 or 800 songs I've written over the last 60 years, as I went through different periods of writing. I listen and marvel at how different they are and how they still stand up. They are very well done, if I must say so.
Neil Sedaka -
I was a teenage idol, but not the one that the girls would put up on their walls, like Fabian and Frankie Avalon. I was more cerebral, like a Roy Orbison or a Buddy Holly. I was one of the few who could write songs.
Neil Sedaka