Neil Sedaka: An appreciation

Sunday Morning Neil Sedaka: An appreciation By David Pogue David Pogue Correspondent, "CBS Sunday Morning" David Pogue is a six-time Emmy winner for his stories on "CBS Sunday Morning," where he's been a correspondent since 2002. Pogue hosts the CBS News podcast "Unsung Science." He's also a New York Times bestselling author, a five-time TED speaker, and host of 20 NOVA science specials on PBS. For 13 years, he wrote a New York Times tech column every week - and for 10 years, a Scientific American column every month. Read Full Bio David Pogue March 1, 2026 / 9:52 AM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Neil Sedaka was one of America's most popular singer-songwriters, twice! As a boy growing up in Brooklyn, his talent was hard to miss. "I was a child prodigy," he told "Sunday Morning" in 2020. "I started at nine years old. Got a scholarship to the prep school of Julliard." When he was 13, he met a kid in his apartment building named Howard Greenfield. He'd found his lyricist, and they quickly hit it big. When we met six years ago, Sedaka told me about the song that made him a star, "Oh, Carol," inspired by his relationship with high school classmate Carole King: "I did date Carole King for about two minutes," he laughed. "Yes. I had a crush on Carole King." In the next few years, Sedaka composed-and performed one hit teen anthem after another, including "Calendar Girl" and "Stupid Cupid," Asked if there is a throughline as to what makes songs popular, Sedaka replied, "It always goes back to, 'Oh, that song could be my life. That's my story.'" He landed his first #1 single in 1962, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." Neil Sedaka had become a superstar. Between 1958 and 1963, he sold 40 million records "I pushed three buttons on my car radio, and I heard 'Oh Carol' on three stations at the same time," he said. And then, suddenly it was over. In 1963, a new group arrived: The Beatles. Sedaka's brand of bouncy pop quickly fell out of favor. He'd become a has-been at age 24. Fo...