Quotes from Neil Sedaka

I had talent, and I was hungry for fame, and you can't say I didn't get it.

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 love America, and parts of New Jersey remind me of Newfoundland - rolling hills and gardens - it's great! I guess that's why they call it the Garden State.

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.

The spiritual writing of the song is where you're chosen as a vehicle, and it comes from something up above. You don't move; it writes itself. It's very spooky, but that's happened to me just a few times.

Music is so much a part of me: my parents told me that when I was an infant, I wouldn't eat unless the radio was playing music.

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

The hymn 'Amazing Grace' is so inspirational - I wish I'd written it.

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

I am a Jew, and I'm convinced that Israel is the homeland.

I am very proud of being Jewish.

I used to think the whole world was Jewish.

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.

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.

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.

'Love Will Keep Us Together' was a combination of three different singing styles - Al Green, the Beach Boys, and Diana Ross. I loved all these people, and I put their singing styles together and wrote that tune.

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.

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 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.

When the Beatles came to America and took me off the map, I thought I would return the favor, and I moved the family to England!

My songs lie somewhere in between the evergreen standards, rock n' roll and pop.

My music is nostalgic. The early Neil Sedaka songs are always catchy and very singable.

Between 1958 and 1963, I sold about 40 million records - to the shock of my mother and father because I was always playing Beethoven. But I bought my mother a mink stole. She was very happy, and she said, 'I think this is better than Beethoven.'