Neil and his Grandson sing. You can tell Neil is so proud of him! Looks like it they enjoyed it! pic.twitter.com/ur4rvKe7iN
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) March 3, 2026
Lovely grandparenting!
March 3, 2026
"Walking hand in hand with the one I love/Ooh, how I love the rainy days."
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33 comments:
Or Grandma was a "beard."
Do the Germans have a word for that?
Transgender, transsocial? Or gay as in lighthearted and cheerful.
The world would be better off with more like Neil Sedaka!
On the other hand, Barely Manenuf still performs in Vegas…
I can’t remember I guy I missed on but I think I’d said hi to Juli Inkster a time or two then a decade later she’s on TV and had her kid climb into her lap as she profusely thanked her husband. Whoops….
Back in the day when people had strong and extended social structures (family, friends, churches), they often found a way to integrate. Gay/bi folks might end up as married with kids, but with art/music/theater social hobbies. This may or may not have involved same-sex physical relationships.
See the "diathesis-stress" model of life outcomes. Of course, this treats gayness as a possible mental illness. The APA did exactly that prior to a series embarrassing policy vs. science flip-flops in the 1970s. Grooming was previously considered a genuine risk factor (see the gay backstory of diver Greg Louganis and the many altar boys who sued the Catholic church).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diathesis%E2%80%93stress_model
Oh, gay suicide rates were far lower back then too. Without cutting and hormones and transitions.
(Consider in context of yesterday's short film of an isolated life and retirement.)
I've seen many of these short reels on FB and YT and have enjoyed them. He seemed a happy man, satisfied with his life, and his work. Very talented in many ways and well-respected in the industry. As with his one-time gf in high school, Carole King (nee Carol Klein), not only did he write songs for others, but for himself. King waited until Tapestry, arguably one of the greatest albums for a female in its time, to venture out into being a performer. I had no idea that he wrote "Where the Boys Are" for Connie Francis, a monster hit. Sedaka has stated that "Where the Boys Are" is the only one of his 700 plus compositions not written with any intent of his singing it himself: "People think I wrote [a lot of] songs for others, but the truth is I wrote them all for me to record. Other people then picked them up and recorded them themselves." Sedaka did perform the song in concert, however, notably for his live album "The Show Goes On" recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. I can imagine some in the audience of that performance, upon hearing Sedaka sing WTBA (if he did not introduce it) coming to the conclusion that he was gay. His songwriting partner, Howard Greenfield, was openly gay.
When, in the fadeout of "Love will keep us together", they slipped in "Sedaka's back!"
He will be missed.
Nothing wrong with being married 64 years and still happy and laughing with (or at) each other. The or at comes with the territory.
They'd been married for 64 years. I thought Neil Sedaka was gay, but I see that he was one of those heterosexual men who seem gay to a lot of people. I think it's good for heterosexual men to see that it's fine to be... whatever it was that made people think Neil Sedaka was a gay man.
Love Sedaka, have gay friends, but (especially coded for the times) watch his appearance on Ed Sullivan singing "Oh Carol," his first big hit, and "whatever it was" will hit most of us in the face.
Completely agree with your sentiment.
He seems very kind and proud of his grandson. I don't care if he was secretly gay or not, he's just one of those talented gentle men whose success is directly derived from their talent. It's not a case of 'only in America', but I would say it's certainly one of 'most likely in America', and long may it continue. RIP.
An amazing talent and a joy to watch him beaming with his grandson, giving him the lead, and only occasionally add some background vocals (while doing a great job on piano.)
I assumed he was closeted, too. Doesn't matter, so many wonderful songs. (And good on him for not replacing Sedaka with a stage name.)
On SCTV, Eugene Levy portrayed him on "Farm Film Celebrity Blow Up," in which "Sedaka" protested that his voice was NOT too high, sang his song, hit a high note, and blowed up real good.
It's his tell-tale smile. A visible grin of gay delight in life, liberty, and a grandson in Posterity.
That is so adorable I could really just die. Love it.
Speaking of gray, it is overcast, and the mood is morose, with intermittent rain.
I remember hearing him say that as a young teenager he used to try to impress girls by telling them he was Danny of Danny and the Juniors.
Sedaka was only 21 when he hit it big with Calendar Girl. About the age of his grandson.
If memory serves, Billy Joel subconsciously plagiarized this tune and didn't realize it until he played it for his band and they told him. So he had to re-work it into "Moving Out."
Like Zappa said, “You can never really tell about a guy like that / whether he’s really a nice person or if he just smiles a lot…”
Sedaka had a show on Sirius XM called “In The Key of Neal”. It was a great show since he knew everyone in the music industry, include a lot of the hard rockers. He had some fascinating back stories about about the songs and artist. He frequently mentioned his wife and how blessed he was to have her. Who cares if he was gay or bi?
I have a pretty strong gaydar, and I never thought he was gay. He struck me as just another smallish, musical Jewish guy. (I grew up in a part of NJ where guys like that weren't uncommon. If you'll forgive the stereotype, if you were Jewish and weren't going to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant, you were likely to become a musician.)
Regarding Christopher's sharing of "Oh! Carole", what was up with all the open-mouthed gum-chewing teenaged girls back then?
PS. I probably did ask myself way back when if I thought he was gay, but my conclusion was negative. To Althouse's point, I agree that "it's good for heterosexual men to see that it's fine to be... whatever it was that made people think Neil Sedaka was a gay man."
What a wonderful and fun video.
That young man will have memories of his grandfather both in his heart and on video. He’ll be able to share that video with his children someday.
My guess is there are more like this that aren’t public.
RIP Neil.
May your family’s memories of you bring them many more smiles than tears.
Here’s an interview where he explains that his mannerisms came about because he idolized his older sister and tried to act like her: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F1dmsufRGiI&t=293s&pp=2AGlApACAdIHCQmOAaO1ajebQw%3D%3D
Leonard Bernstein was famously gay but was married to a woman he also famously loved very much. She tolerated his gay lovers' coming and going. He wrote that he made the decision as a young man to appear heterosexual because being gay would have destroyed any chance of a career as a professional classical musician.
I also thought that Ralph Lauren was gay, but he's been married to the same woman, Ricky, since 1964. Ralph identifies her as his muse, writing in his memoir: "I didn't like the girl with all the makeup and high heels. I liked the girl in jeans and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, wearing her boyfriend's jacket. That's the girl I am attracted to. That's the girl I married—Ricky."
Barry Diller, billionaire businessman, wrote: "“While there have been a good many men in my life, there has only ever been one woman, and she didn’t come into my life until I was 33 years old.” ( Diane von Fürstenberg)
There was no other way for a gay man to have a family and children back in the 50's + 60's, other than to live as a heterosexual.
He was the role model for "Lyle the effiminate hetrosexual" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59HpKD3u6ks
I never thought of Sedaka was Gay, just a lamo.
Martha Gellhorn was in Love with "Lenny" Bernstein but realized he just loved cock too much to ever have a love affair. But the two were great friends.
64 years is a fine achievement in any relationship, beard or not.
If he was trans, he could be worse, he could have harvested viable fetuses from womb farms, and raised them as his own following birth.
Flagrant gays ruined it for gentle straights, just like trans women ruined it for tall or plain women. Or like the rainbow was co-opted. Although now, with so much other stuff added to the LGBT&c flag, maybe the plain rainbow can make a comeback. CC, JSM
His lyrics were all about what it’s like to love a girl, in way that sounded lived.
I guess that's why they say you should never look through the glory hole--
"Billy, what are you doing here?"
--"Grampa?!?"
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