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Celebrity Series Season Opens with Neil Sedaka

Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Westminster College's Celebrity Series opens its 2008-2009 with singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka in concert Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Orr Auditorium.

Sedaka, whose early training was in classical music, was voted one of the best New York high school pianists at age 16 by Arthur Rubinstein. In high school, he formed a rock-and-roll group to gain acceptance from his peers.

His collaboration with Howard Greenfield began a prolific songwriting partnership that sold 25 million records between 1959 and 1963.

After Connie Francis and others recorded Sedaka songs that became hits, Sedaka signed with RCA to write and perform his own material. Some his best known pieces are "Laughter in the Rain," "Breaking up is Hard to Do," and "Calendar Girl."

In 2004, Sedaka received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding achievements in furthering the success of songwriters.

The show is sponsored by Balph, Nicolls, Mitsos, Flannery & Clark, Attorneys at Law, in New Castle.

Season subscriptions and single-show tickets are still available. Contact Connie McGinnis, assistant director of the Celebrity Series, at (724) 946-7354 (e-mail mcginncl@westminster.edu) or visit www.westminster.edu/Celebrity for more information.

Neil Sedaka
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