He demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class, and when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Strauss department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright. He took to the instrument immediately. In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children, which he attended on Saturdays. He also maintained an interest in popular music, and when he was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, , an aspiring poet and lyricist. The two began writing together.

The best-known Billboard hot 100 hits of his early career are "The Diary" (#14, 1958), a song that he offered to Little Anthony & the Imperials; "Oh! Carol" (#9, 1959); "You Mean Everything to Me" (#17, 1960); "Calendar Girl" (#4, 1960); "Stairway to Heaven" (#9, 1960); "Run Samson Run (top 30, 1960); "Little Devil" (#11, 1961); "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (#6, 1961); "Breaking up is hard to do" (#1, 1962); and "Next Door To An Angel" (#5, 1962). "Oh! Carol" refers to Sedaka's Brill Building compatriot and former girlfriend Carole King. King responded with her answer song, "Oh, Neil", which used Sedaka's full name.  Sedaka wrote another hit, "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", for his then close friend Annette Funicello.

A Scopitone exists for "Calendar Girl".

Neil Sedaka "Calendar Girl" (Scopitone)

SOUTH AFRICA RCA 71-356 10" 78rpm   (1961)

A SIDE: CALENDAR GIRL

B SIDE: THE SAME OLD FOOL

CONDITION - VG+  (some scuffs and scrapes BUT  PLAYS GREAT)

CALENDAR GIRL MADE IT INTO THE UK CHARTS ENTERING 2 FEB 1961 AND MAKING IT TO NUMBER 8

DON'T MISS OUT