From Amarillo to Stockport: 15 of Neil Sedaka’s greatest songs, and their extraordinary stories

From being a writer for hire in the 1950s to his solo pop stardom and emphatic 1970s comeback, the late musician’s catalogue is stuffed with stunning, surprising songcraft • News: Neil Sedaka, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do singer and pop song hitmaker, dies aged 86 As a young jobbing songwriter charged with devising a hit for Connie Francis after the singer released a couple of flops, Neil Sedaka was unsure about Stupid Cupid: modest to a fault, he suggested that Francis, “a classy lady”, would b...

By Alexis Petridis