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IDENTIFICATION AND BIO: Lyricist, Songwriter, Film/Television Composer In partnership with singer and composer Neil Sedaka, lyricist Howard Greenfield authored some of the most irresistible pop songs to emerge from the famed Brill Building. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, in late 1952 the 16-year-old Greenfield was introduced to 13-year-old neighbor and piano prodigy Sedaka, with whom he immediately began writing songs. Their collaboration continued while Sedaka attended Juilliard, and in 1958 they were the first songwriters signed to Al Nevins and Don Kirshner's newly-formed Aldon Music, where they worked in the legendary Brill Building alongside such legendary teams as Carole King/Gerry Goffin and Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich. After first landing their "Passing Time" with the Cookies, Sedaka and Greenfield scored their first major pop hit with Connie Francis' "Stupid Cupid"; they also sold songs to Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler for sessions with Clyde McPhatter and LaVern Baker. In 1959 Sedaka signed to RCA as a solo artist, becoming one of the biggest pop stars of the pre-British Invasion era. Together, he and Greenfield generated a series of hits — among them "Oh! Carol," "Stairway To Heaven," "Calendar Girl," "Little Devil," "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," "Next Door To An Angel" and the chart-topping "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" — which sold a combined 25 million records. Although Sedaka's solo career cooled after 1963, the duo continued writing hits for other artists, including the Fifth Dimension's "Workin' On A Groovy Thing" and Tom Jones' "Puppet Man." Apart from Sedaka, Greenfield also collaborated with Carole King ("Crying in the Rain"), Helen Miller ("Foolish Little Girl," the Shirelles' final Top Ten hit) and Jack Keller, his partner on "Breakin' In A Brand New Broken Heart," "Ev'rybody's Somebody's Fool," "My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own" and "When Somebody Loves You," in addition to themes for the television hits Bewitched and The Flying Nun. Although Sedaka and Greenfield ended their partnership in 1973, two years later their song "Love Will Keep Us Together" topped the charts for The Captain and Tennille on its way to earning a Grammy as Record of the Year. He and Sedaka later resumed their collaboration and continued writing together in the years to follow. —Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Sixteen-year-old Howard Greenfield and Sedaka, who was 13 at the time, both lived in the same apartment building in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach section. However, they didn't know of each other's existence until Greenfield's mother had a chance meeting with the young Sedaka in a Catskills Mountain resort. Suggesting to the juvenile pianist that "You should meet my son; he writes great lyrics," Mrs. Greenfield arranged the meeting (in the same apartment complex) and the rest was history! Soon, Greenfield, the budding poet, and Sedaka, the 13-year-old piano student at the Juilliard School, had become a team, and established a regimen of writing a song a day, a routine they continued for nearly two years. At the same time, they began making the rounds together in Broadway's Brill Building, one of several major centers for writers and producers of pop music. During one of their music publisher visits, they met what was to become another brilliant songwriting duo of the era, Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus, who steered them to another office in another music business center known as 1650 Broadway, where a new publishing company was just being formed by the veteran music man, Al Nevins, and his younger partner, Don Kirshner. Hearing some of the material as Sedaka played the piano and sang, and Greenfield watched for hopeful reactions, Nevins commented, "Where did you steal these songs?" Finally convinced they were on the level, Nevins signed the pair. Thereupon, an association began which was to last, off and on, for the next 36 years, and which was interrupted only by Greenfield's death in 1986. The new team enjoyed its first major hit in 1958, when Connie Francis recorded their song, "Stupid Cupid," into immortality. From 1959 to 1963, Sedaka became an important hit recording artist on RCA Records on the strength of such Greenfield/Sedaka songs as "Oh! Carol," "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen," "Calendar Girl" and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." Following the British invasion, and the attendant success of the English stars, the pair took a hiatus from the frantic pace of trying to write hit songs, with Greenfield turning his attention to creating lyrics for such television favorites as Bewitched, Hazel, Gidget and The Flying Nun. He also became active in the world of the large screen with credits that included The Night of the Generals, Murderer's Row and Deadly Affair. Years later, the partnership reactivated in another ambitious spate of songwriting. Greenfield, with Sedaka, enjoyed an immense new run of success, sparked by their song, "The Hungry Years," a hit not only for Sedaka himself, but for the duo, The Captain and Tenille. The song actually launched their hit record career, and their version went on to be acclaimed "Number One Record of the Year," by The National Academy of Recorded Arts and Sciences (NARAS). The song itself was accorded a tribute by the performing rights organization, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) as the most performed song (on radio) during 1975. —The Songwriters Hall of Fame (www.songwritershalloffame.org) SONGS See BMI website for publishers and many other titles
Breakin' In A Brand New Broken Heart (Jack Keller/Howard Greenfield)
FILM
Deadly Affair
TELEVISION
Bewitched
NEIL SEDAKA
Neil Sedaka: All Time Greatest Hits — RCA (1958); RCA Records 6876 (1990)
Neil Sedaka: All Time Greatest Hits, Volume 2 — RCA 2406-2-R (1988, 1991)
Sedaka: The '50s & '60s — RCA Victor APL1-2254 (1977)
Neil Sedaka and Songs: A Solo Concert — Polydor (1977)
Emergence — Kirshner KES-111 (1971); RCA Victor APL1-1789 (1971)
OTHER ARTISTS
20th Century Masters: The Best of Connie Francis —
Polydor 547 898 (1999)
The Shirelles: Golden Hits — ITC Masters 1097 (1997)
The Very Best of the Fifth Dimension — BMG International/Camden (1999)
The Best of Tom Jones — Polygram Records (1998)
Air Supply: The Definitive Collection — Arista
Records 14611 (1999)
PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
RESOURCES:
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