NEIL SEDAKA - DOCUMENT SIGNED 12/05/1961 - HFSID 952

NEIL SEDAKA
Sedaka signs publicity release in 1961
Typed Document Signed: "Neil Sedaka", 1p, 8½x11. No place, 1961 December 5. Headed: "Release Form". In letter form to News Syndicate Co., Inc., New York, New York. Begins: "Gentlemen". In full: "In consideration of the publicity to be given to me and which may arise herefrom, my consent is hereby irrevocably given to you, your assignees and licensees, and to the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate, Inc., and its subscribers and licensees, to use my name, picture, or portrait, in publications for editorial or promotional purposes, excluding, however, commercial advertising." Name typed at upper left edge. In the year he signed this document, Sedaka had a Top 10 hit with "Calendar Girl". The following year, he would have his biggest hit, "Breaking Up is Hard to Do", which reached No. 1 on the charts and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Trained as a classical pianist, singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka (born in 1939) had a succession of Top 40 hits in the 1950s and 1960s.He had his first Top 10 hit in 1959 with "Oh! Carol" (resulting in Sedaka's first Grammy Award nomination), a tribute to former girlfriend Carole King, a fellow songwriter at the Brill Building. Other top songs include "Calendar Girl" (1961), "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (1962; a Grammy Award nominated number one song and his biggest hit), "Laughter in the Rain" (1974; another number one hit, this time on Elton John's Rocket label) and "Should've Never Let You Go" (1980; a single from his In the Pocket album). Sedaka, whose well known songs also include "Alice in Wonderland", "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen", "Next Door to An Angel", "Stairway to Heaven", "Run, Samson, Run" and "Stupid Cupid" (a hit for Connie Francis in 1958), had sold 25 million records worldwide by 1963. He also wrote songs for a long list of other artists, including "Love Will Keep Us Together", a huge hit for the Captain and Tennille. Sedaka still writes and releases his own new music and is a popular concert draw in both the U.S. and internationally. Lightly creased. Fine condition.