THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

539-Neil Sedaka-Next Door to an Angel.

1962-Number 29 single.

Best Bit-At 2.04. There are worse things you could live next door to, how about Alice for instance.

Neil Sedaka was born on March 13th, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, he is a singer, songwriter, and pianist. His success can be split into two eras, the late 1950’s through until the early 1960’s, and then his comeback in the the mid 1970’s. It was the changing sounds in ‘Pop Music,’ with the emergence of the Beatles, (see also best songs 599-456-319-238-141-80-51-10 and 6) and the so called ‘British Invasion,’ which primarily caused Sedaka to drop out of the limelight. He reinvented, and updated his sound, and then arguably found even greater success in the 1970’s.

Neil Sedaka has had two longstanding partnerships with his co-songwriters. The first was with his boyhood friend Howard Greenfield, (1936-1986) the two were first introduced to each other when Sedaka was 13 years old, and Greenfield was 16, and the second was with the American born Phil Cody, during Sedaka’s 1970’s comeback. The discography of Neil Sedaka includes 27 studio Albums released between 1959-2016, and 79 singles released between 1957-1992, there are also 10 extended plays, 83 official compilation Albums, live Albums, and foreign-language Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, Neil Sedaka has had 20 top 40 hit singles, with ‘Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,’ (1962) ‘Laughter in the Rain,’ (1974) and ‘Bad Blood,’ with unaccredited backing vocals by Elton John, (1975) all reaching the Number 1 position, while ‘Next Door to an Angel’ peaked at Number 5. In the UK he has had 15 top 40 hit singles, with ‘Oh Carol,’ (1959) and ‘Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,’ (1961) both charting the highest at Number 3. Neil Sedaka has also recorded several of his 1960’s songs in foreign-languages, including Italian, German, Japanese, and Hebrew.

With his songwriting partner Howard Greenfield providing the lyrics, Neil Sedaka has also had great success writing hits for other artists, including ‘Stupid Cupid,’ in 1958, for Connie Francis which made Number 14 on Billboard. In 1975, the American duo ‘Captain & Tennille,’ covered the Sedaka/Greenfield composition ‘Love Will Keep Us Together,’ which reached Number 1 on Billboard, and became the best selling song of that year. In 2005, the Sedaka/ Greenfield penned song ‘(Is This the Way to) Amarillo,’ which had originally reached Number 18 in the UK in 1971, when recorded by the English singer Tony Christie, was re-issued in aid of the charity ‘Comic Relief,’ and promoted with a video featuring the English comedian Peter Kay, (see also best songs 598) this time the song reached Number 1, becoming the best selling single of the millennium up to that point in the UK. In 1972 Neil Sedaka released the Album ‘Solitaire,’ with seven of the 11 tracks co-written with Phil Cody, apart from it signifying that Sedaka was back, the Album is notable for the four musicians who played on the Album. They were Graham Gouldman, Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, and Eric Stewart, who would soon go on to find great success as 10cc (see also best songs 663 and 154.)

‘Next Door to an Angel’ was released as a stand alone single, and first appeared on Album format on Neil Sedaka’s 1963 compilation Album ‘Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits,’ as the Album’s opening track. The song was co-written by Neil Sedaka, and Howard Greenfield, with the production being by Al Nevins, (1915-1965) and Don Kirshner, (1934-2011) the song would be Neil Sedaka’s last top 10 hit until 1974 in America, and his very last one in the UK as a performer.

Howard Greenfield was born on March 15th, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, United States, he died on March 4th, 1986, from complications from AIDS, at the age of 49. Greenfield was openly gay, and was in a domestic partnership with the cabaret singer Tory Damon (1939-1986) from the early 1960’s until his death. Greenfield and Sedaka had worked together creating songs at the famous ‘Brill Building,’ on 49th Street, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, a collaboration that would continue through until the 1970’s. With Sedaka’s touring commitments taking up a lot of his time in the 1960’s, Greenfield began to write with the American composer Jack Keller, (1936-2005) their joint efforts include two Billboard Number 1 hits for Connie Francis, ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,’ (1960) and “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own’ (1960.) They also wrote ‘Venus in Blue Jeans,’ a Billboard Number 5 hit for Jimmy Clanton in 1962, and a UK Number 4 hit for Mark Wynter in the same year. Howard Greenfield also collaborated with the American songwriter Helen Miler, (1925-2006) on the track ‘It Hurts To Be In Love,’ (1964-Billboard Number 7 & UK Number 36) and with the American singer/songwriter Carole King on ‘Crying in the Rain,’ which was made famous by the Everly Brothers, (1962-Billboard Number 6 & UK Number 6) and later by the Norwegian group ‘a’ha’ (1990-UK Number 13.)

‘I’m living right next door to an angel, and I just found out today. I’m living right next door to an angel, and she only lives a house away. She used to be a skinny little girl, but all of a sudden she’s out of this world. I’m living right next door to an angel, and I’m gonna make that angel mine.