David Bianculli

He was 86 years old.

Neil Sadaka was born in Brighton Beach in 1939 and displayed his musical talent early on.

His mother bought him his first piano at age seven, and at age nine he got a Child Prodigy Scholarship at Juilliard and was hand-selected by classical pianist Arthur Rubinstein to perform on live radio.

But Sadaka was drawn elsewhere.

Another young kid interested in pop music, Neil Diamond, lived across the street from him.

His girlfriend in high school, Carol Klein, turned out to be a pretty good songwriter, too, once she broke up with Sadaka and renamed herself Carol King.

By then, young Neil had teamed with another budding songwriter, Howard Greenfield, who wrote lyrics to Neil's music.

Their first break and first hit came in 1958, when Connie Francis was looking for a song to appeal to teenagers.

Neil Sadaka was only 19 at the time, and she loved the song's innocence.

Stupid Cupid became a top 20 hit for her.

Neil scored his own hit, a top ten on Billboard, the next year with O'Carroll.

And even though the lyrics were written by Greenfield, the message for Neil Sadaka was personal.

He was singing about his ex-girlfriend, Carole King.

Sadaka scored another top ten hit with Calendar Girl in 1960.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do in 1962 was his first number one hit.

But after the British invasion arrived and music tastes changed, Neil Sadaka vanished from the charts for more than a decade.

Then, in 1975, he enjoyed a major renaissance.

Elton John signed him to his record label, and Sadaka had two number one hits that year.

One was a soft ballad, Laughter in the Rain.

That same year, Neil Sadaka and Howard Greenfield, who had written their first hit songs together back in the 50s, collaborated again on a song that became a number one hit for the Captain and Tennille, Love Will Keep Us Together.