Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli.

Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain, helping humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and providing an emotional context to conversations. Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group — it signals acceptance and positive interactions with others. Laughter is sometimes seen as contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback. This may account in part for the popularity of laugh tracks in situation comedy television shows.

Laughter is anatomically caused by the epiglottis constricting the larynx.

The study of humor and laughter, and its psychological and physiological effects on the human body, is called gelotology.

Nature of laughter

Children are known to laugh a great deal more than adults: an average baby laughs around 300 times a day compared to an average adult, who laughs around 20 times a day, however this can depend on a person's personality. According to some studies, the onset of adulthood causes a gradual change characterized by increased seriousness and a diminished engagement in laughter. Laughter is an audible expression or appearance of excitement, an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from jokes, tickling, and other stimuli. Researchers have shown infants as early as 17 days old have vocal laughing sounds or laughter. It conflicts with earlier studies indicating that infants usually start to laugh at about four months of age. Laughter researcher Robert Provine said: "Laughter is a mechanism everyone has; laughter is part of universal human vocabulary. There are thousands of languages, hundreds of thousands of dialects, but everyone speaks laughter in pretty much the same way.” Babies have the ability to laugh before they ever speak. Children who are born blind and deaf still retain the ability to laugh.

Provine argues that “Laughter is primitive, an unconscious vocalization.” Provine argues that it probably is genetic. In a study of the “Giggle Twins”, two happy twins who were separated at birth and only reunited 43 years later, Provine reports that “until they met each other, neither of these exceptionally happy ladies had known anyone who laughed as much as she did.” They reported this even though they both had been brought together by their adoptive parents, who they indicated were “undemonstrative and dour.” He indicates that the twins “inherited some aspects of their laugh sound and pattern, readiness to laugh, and maybe even taste in humor.”

Norman Cousins developed a recovery program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter induced by Marx Brothers films. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he reported. "When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval."

Scientists have noted the similarity in forms of laughter induced by tickling among various primates, which suggests that laughter derives from a common origin among primate species.

A very rare neurological condition has been observed whereby the sufferer is unable to laugh out loud, a condition known as aphonogelia.

Laughter and the brain

Neurophysiology indicates that laughter is linked with the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, that produces endorphins. Scientists have shown that parts of the limbic system are involved in laughter. This system is involved in emotions and helps us with functions necessary for humans' survival. The structures in the limbic system that are involved in laughter: the hippocampus and the amygdala.

The December 7, 1984, Journal of the American Medical Association describes the neurological causes of laughter as follows:

:"Although there is no known 'laugh center' in the brain, its neural mechanism has been the subject of much, albeit inconclusive, speculation. It is evident that its expression depends on neural paths arising in close association with the telencephalic and diencephalic centers concerned with respiration. Wilson considered the mechanism to be in the region of the mesial thalamus, hypothalamus, and subthalamus. Kelly and co-workers, in turn, postulated that the tegmentum near the periaqueductal grey contains the integrating mechanism for emotional expression. Thus, supranuclear pathways, including those from the limbic system that Papez hypothesised to mediate emotional expressions such as laughter, probably come into synaptic relation in the reticular core of the brain stem. So while purely emotional responses such as laughter are mediated by subcortical structures, especially the hypothalamus, and are stereotyped, the cerebral cortex can modulate or suppress them."

Laughter and health

A link between laughter and healthy function of blood vessels was first reported in 2005 by researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center with the fact that laughter causes the dilatation of the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium, and increases blood flow. Drs. Michael Miller (University of Maryland) and William Fry (Stanford), theorize that beta-endorphin like compounds released by the hypothalamus activate receptors on the endothelial surface to release nitric oxide, thereby resulting in dilation of vessels. Other cardioprotective properties of nitric oxide include reduction of inflammation and decreased platelet aggregation.

Laughter has also been shown to have beneficial effects on various other aspects of biochemistry. For example, laughter has been shown to lead to reductions in stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine. When laughing the brain also releases endorphins that can relieve some physical pain. Laughter also boosts the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T-cells, leading to a stronger immune system.

Causes

Common causes for laughter are sensations of joy and humor; however, other situations may cause laughter as well.

A general theory that explains laughter is called the relief theory. Sigmund Freud summarized it in his theory that laughter releases tension and "psychic energy". This theory is one of the justifications of the beliefs that laughter is beneficial for one's health. This theory explains why laughter can be used as a coping mechanism when one is upset, angry or sad.

Philosopher John Morreall theorizes that human laughter may have its biological origins as a kind of shared expression of relief at the passing of danger. Friedrich Nietzsche, by contrast, suggested laughter to be a reaction to the sense of existential loneliness and mortality that only humans feel.

For example: a joke creates an inconsistency and the audience automatically try to understand what the inconsistency means; if they are successful in solving this 'cognitive riddle' and they realize that the surprise was not dangerous, they laugh with relief. Otherwise, if the inconsistency is not resolved, there is no laugh, as Mack Sennett pointed out: "when the audience is confused, it doesn't laugh". This is one of the basic laws of a comedian, referred to "exactness". It is important to note that sometimes the inconsistency may be resolved and there may still be no laugh. Because laughter is a social mechanism, an audience may not feel as if they are in danger, and the laugh may not occur. In addition, the extent of the inconsistency (and aspects of it timing and rhythm) has to do with the amount of danger the audience feels, and how hard or long they laugh. This explanation is confirmed by modern neurophysiology in the study of laughter and the brain.

Laughter can also be brought on by tickling. Although it's found unpleasant by most people, being tickled often causes heavy laughter which is thought to be a reflex of the body, and is often uncontrollable.

Human Laugh Structure and Anatomy

A normal laugh has the structure of “ha-ha-ha” or “ho-ho-ho.” It is unnatural, and one is physically unable to have a laugh structure of “ha-ho-ha-ho.” The usual variations of a laugh most often occur in the first or final note in a sequence- therefore, “ho-ha-ha” or “ha-ha-ho” laughs are possible. Normal note durations with unusually long or short “inter-note intervals” do not happen due to the result of the limitations of our vocal cords. This basic structure allows one to recognize a laugh despite individual variants.

It has also been determined that eyes moisten during laughter as a reflex from the tear glands.

Negative aspects

Laughter is not always a pleasant experience and is associated with several negative phenomena. Excessive laughter can lead to cataplexy, and unpleasant laughter “spells”, excessive elation, and fits of laughter can all be considered negative aspects of laughter. Unpleasant laughter spells, or “sham mirth,” usually occur in people who have a neurological condition; including patients with pseudobulbar palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. These patients appear to be laughing out of amusement but report that they are feeling undesirable sensations “at the time of the punch line". Excessive elation is a common symptom associated with manic-depressive psychoses and mania/hypomania. Those who suffer from schizophrenic psychoses seem to suffer the opposite- they do not understand humor or get any joy out of it. A fit describes an abnormal time when one cannot control the laughter or one’s body- sometimes leading to seizures or a brief period of unconsciousness. Some believe that fits of laughter represent a form of epilepsy.

See also

Death from laughter

Evil laughter

Gelotology

Laughter in animals

Laughter in literature

Laughter Yoga

Nervous laughter

Paradoxical laughter

Pathological laughing and crying

References

Further reading

Bachorowski, J.-A., Smoski, M.J., & Owren, M.J. ''The acoustic features of human laughter.'' Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110 (1581) 2001

Chapman, Antony J.; Foot, Hugh C.; Derks, Peter (editors), ''Humor and Laughter: Theory, Research, and Applications'', Transaction Publishers, 1996. ISBN 1-56000-837-7. Books.google.com

Cousins, Norman, ''Anatomy of an Illness As Perceived by the Patient'', 1979.

Davila-Ross, M., Allcock, B., Thomas, C., and Bard K.A. (2011) ''Aping expressions? Chimpanzees produce distinct laugh types when responding to laughter of others.'' Emotion doi: 10.1037/a0022594

Fried, I., Wilson, C.L., MacDonald, K.A., and Behnke EJ. ''Electric current stimulates laughter.'' Nature, 391:650, 1998 (see patient AK)

Goel, V. & Dolan, R. J. ''The functional anatomy of humor: segregating cognitive and affective components.'' Nature Neuroscience 3, 237 - 238 (2001).

Greig, John Young Thomson, ''The Psychology of Comedy and Laughter'', New York, Dodd, Mead and company, 1923.

Marteinson, Peter, ''On the Problem of the Comic: A Philosophical Study on the Origins of Laughter'', Legas Press, Ottawa, 2006. utoronto.ca

Miller M, Mangano C, Park Y, Goel R, Plotnick GD, Vogel RA.Impact of cinematic viewing on endothelial function.Heart. 2006 Feb;92(2):261-2.

Provine, R. R., ''Laughter.'' American Scientist, V84, 38:45, 1996. ucla.edu

included in book:

Raskin, Victor, ''Semantic Mechanisms of Humor'' (1985).

MacDonald, C., ''"A Chuckle a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Therapeutic Humor & Laughter" '' Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services(2004) V42, 3:18-25. psychnurse.org

Kawakami, K., et al., ''Origins of smile and laughter: A preliminary study'' Early Human Development (2006) 82, 61-66. kyoto-u.ac.jp

Johnson, S., ''Emotions and the Brain'' Discover (2003) V24, N4. discover.com

Panksepp, J., Burgdorf, J.,''“Laughing” rats and the evolutionary antecedents of human joy?'' Physiology & Behavior (2003) 79:533-547. psych.umn.edu

Milius, S., ''Don't look now, but is that dog laughing?'' Science News (2001) V160 4:55. sciencenews.org

Simonet, P., et al., ''Dog Laughter: Recorded playback reduces stress related behavior in shelter dogs'' 7th International Conference on Environmental Enrichment (2005). petalk.org

Discover Health (2004) ''Humor & Laughter: Health Benefits and Online Sources'', helpguide.org

Klein, A. ''The Courage to Laugh: Humor, Hope and Healing in the Face of Death and Dying.'' Los Angeles, CA: Tarcher/Putman, 1998.

Ron Jenkins ''Subversive laughter'' (New York, Free Press, 1994), 13ff

Bogard, M. ''Laughter and its Effects on Groups''. New York, New York: Bullish Press, 2008.

Humor Theory. The formulae of laughter by Igor Krichtafovitch, Outskitspress, 2006, ISBN 978-1-59800-222-5

Hans-Georg Moeller und Günter Wohlfart (Hrsg.): ''Laughter in Eastern and Western Philosophies''. Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / München 2010. ISBN 978-3-495-48385-5

External links

The Origins of Laughter, chass.utoronto.ca

Human laughter up to 16 million years old, cosmosmagazine.com

More information about Gelotology from the University of Washington, faculty.Washington.edu

WNYC's Radio Lab radio show: Is Laughter just a Human Thing?, wnyc.org

Transcriptions of laughter, writtensound.com

Abhinavagupta's Conception of Humor, cross-cultural approach to semiotics of laughter

Recordings of people laughing, 99 audio examples of human laughter

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Coordinates	5°25′00″N100°19′00″N
name	John Cleese
birth name	John Marwood Cleese
birth date	October 27, 1939
birth place	Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK
nationality	British
medium	Film, Television, Radio, Stand-up
genre	Surreal comedy, Dark comedy, Physical comedy
active	1961–present
influences	Stephen Leacock, Spike Milligan, The Goons, William Shakespeare
spouse	(divorced) (divorced) (divorced)
domesticpartner	Barbie Orr (2008–2009)Jennifer Wade (2010–present)
website	TheJohnCleese.com }}

John Marwood Cleese (; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on ''The Frost Report''. In the late 1960s he became a member of Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' and the four Monty Python films: ''And Now for Something Completely Different'', ''The Holy Grail'', ''Life of Brian'', and ''The Meaning of Life''.

In the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in ''A Fish Called Wanda'' and ''Fierce Creatures''. He also starred in ''Clockwise'', and has appeared in many other films, including two ''James Bond'' films as Q, two ''Harry Potter'' films, and three ''Shrek'' films.

With ''Yes Minister'' writer Antony Jay he co-founded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films.

Early life

Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the only child of Muriel Evelyn (née Cross) (b.1899), and Reginald Francis Cleese (b. 1893), who worked in insurance sales. His family's surname was previously "Cheese", but his father changed it to "Cleese" in 1915 upon joining the Army.

Cleese was educated at St Peter's Preparatory School, where he was a star pupil, receiving a prize for English studies and doing well at sports, including cricket and boxing. At 13 he received an exhibition to Clifton College, an English public school in Bristol. He was tall as a child and was well over 6 ft when he arrived there. While at the school he is said to have defaced the school grounds for a prank by painting footprints to suggest that the school's statue of Field Marshal Earl Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet. Cleese played cricket for the first team, and after initial indifference he did well academically, passing 8 O-Levels and 3 A-Levels in mathematics, physics and chemistry.

After leaving school, he went back to his prep school to teach science, English, geography, history, and Latin (he drew on his Latin teaching experience later for a scene in Life of Brian in which he corrects Brian's badly written Latin graffiti) before taking up a place he had won at Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied Law and joined the Cambridge Footlights. There he met his future writing partner Graham Chapman. Cleese wrote extra material for the 1961 Footlights Revue ''I Thought I Saw It Move'', and was Registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962, as well as being one of the cast members for the 1962 Footlights Revue ''Double Take!'' He graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with a 2:1 classification in his degree. Despite his successes on ''The Frost Report'', his father would send him cuttings from the ''Daily Telegraph'' offering management jobs in places like Marks and Spencer.

Career

Pre-Python

Cleese was one of the script writers, as well as being a member of the cast, for the 1963 Footlights Revue ''A Clump of Plinths'', which was so successful during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed ''Cambridge Circus'' and taken to the West End in London and then on a tour of New Zealand and Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some of the revue's sketches on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in September 1964.

After ''Cambridge Circus'', Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on and Off-Broadway. While performing in the musical ''Half a Sixpence'', Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968.

He was soon offered work as a writer with BBC Radio, where he worked on several programmes, most notably as a sketch writer for ''The Dick Emery Show''. The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'', that were so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title that ran from 1965 to 1974. Cleese returned to England and joined the cast. In many episodes, he is credited as "John Otto Cleese".

Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on ''The Frost Report''. The writing staff chosen for ''The Frost Report'' consisted of a number of writers and performers who would go on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included co-performers from ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'' and future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and also Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. It was while working on ''The Frost Report'', in fact, that the future Pythons developed the writing styles that would make their collaboration significant. Cleese and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures, some of which were performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that open with idyllic countryside panoramas. Idle was one of those charged with writing David Frost's monologue. It was during this period that Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook.

It was as an actual performer on the Frost Report that Cleese achieved his breakthrough on British television as a comedy actor, appearing as the tall, patrician figure on the classic class sketch, contrasting comically in a line-up with the shorter, middle-class Ronnie Barker and the even-shorter, working-class Ronnie Corbett. Such was the popularity of the series that in 1966 Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on ''At Last the 1948 Show'', during which time the ''Four Yorkshiremen sketch'' was written by all four writers/performers (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is now better known as a Monty Python sketch). Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for the first series of ''Doctor in the House'' (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of ''Doctor at Large'' on his own in 1971). These series were successful, and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, owing to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was therefore unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Palin on ''The Frost Report'' an enjoyable experience and invited him to join the series. Palin had previously been working on ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' with Idle and Jones, with Terry Gilliam creating the animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'', been offered a series for Thames Television, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones, and Idle.

Monty Python

''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' ran for four seasons from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC Television, though with only limited participation of Cleese in the last six shows. Cleese's two primary characterisations were as a sophisticate and a stressed-out loony. He portrayed the former as a series of announcers, TV show hosts, and government officials (for example, "The Ministry of Silly Walks"). The latter is perhaps best represented in the "Cheese Shop" and by Cleese's Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian Blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals all named "Eric". He was also known for his working-class "Sergeant Major" character, who worked as a Police Sergeant, Roman Centurion, etc. He is also seen as the opening announcer with the now famous line "And now for something completely different", although in its premiere in the sketch "Man with Three Buttocks", the phrase was spoken by Eric Idle.

Partnership with Graham Chapman

Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with Graham Chapman provided Python with its darkest and angriest moments, and many of his characters display the seething suppressed rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty.

Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman actually wrote together—in the same room; Cleese claims that their writing partnership involved his sitting with pen and paper, doing most of the work, while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods, then suddenly coming out with an idea that often elevated the sketch to a different level. A classic example of this is the "Dead Parrot" sketch, envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and broadcast on the pre-Python special ''How To Irritate People''). It was Chapman's suggestion to change the faulty item into a dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot be specifically a ''Norwegian Blue'', giving the sketch a surreal air which made it far more memorable.

Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious reason. Like Chapman, Cleese's poker face, clipped middle-class accent, and imposing height allowed him to appear convincingly as a variety of authority figures, such as policemen, detectives, Nazi officers, or government officials—which he would then proceed to undermine. Most famously, in the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch (actually written by Palin and Jones), Cleese exploits his stature as the crane-legged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office.

Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches where two characters would conduct highly articulate arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such as in the "cheese shop", the "dead parrot" sketch and "The Argument Sketch", where Cleese plays a stone-faced bureaucrat employed to sit behind a desk and engage people in pointless, trivial bickering. All of these roles were opposite Palin (who Cleese often claims is his favourite Python to work with)—the comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed aggression and the shorter Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series. Occasionally, the typical Cleese-Palin dynamic is reversed, as in "Fish Licence", wherein Palin plays the bureaucrat with whom Cleese is trying to work.

Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese was growing tired of dealing with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before the fourth season. Despite this, he remained friendly with the group, and all six began writing ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''; Cleese received a credit on episodes of the fourth series which used material from these sessions, and even makes a brief appearance in one episode as the voice of a cartoon in the "Hamlet" episode, though he was officially unconnected with the fourth series. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in the Monty Python films ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'', ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' and ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', and participated in various live performances over the years.

Post-Python

From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University of St Andrews. His election proved a milestone for the University, revolutionising and modernising the post. For instance, the Rector was traditionally entitled to appoint an "Assessor", a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his absence. Cleese changed this into a position for a student, elected across campus by the student body, resulting in direct access and representation for the student body.

Around this time, Cleese worked with comedian Les Dawson on his sketch/stand-up show ''Sez Les''. The differences between the two physically (the tall,lean Cleese and the short, stout Dawson) and socially (the public school, and then Cambridge-educated Cleese and the working class, self-educated Mancunian Dawson) were marked, but both worked well together from series 8 onwards until the series ended in 1976.

Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in ''Fawlty Towers'', which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards when produced and in 2000, it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("...he's from Barcelona"), and Booth as waitress Polly, the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I could run this hotel just fine, if it weren't for the guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town.

The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. ''Fawlty Towers'' consisted of only twelve episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series.

Muppet Show

In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on ''The Muppet Show''. Cleese was a fan of the show, and co-wrote much of the episode. He appears in a "Pigs in Space" segment as a pirate trying to hijack the spaceship Swinetrek, and also helps Gonzo restore his arms to "normal" size after Gonzo's cannonball catching act goes wrong. During the show's closing number, Cleese refuses to sing the famous show tune from ''Man of La Mancha'', "The Impossible Dream". Kermit The Frog apologises and the curtain re-opens with Cleese now costumed as a Viking trying some Wagnerian opera as part of a duet with Sweetums. Once again, Cleese protests to Kermit, and gives the frog one more chance. This time, he is costumed as a Mexican maraca soloist. He has finally had enough and protests that he is leaving the show, saying "You were supposed to be my host. How can you do this to me? Kermit – I am your guest!". The cast joins in with their parody of "The Impossible Dream", singing "This is your guest, to follow that star...". During the crowd's applause that follows the song, he pretends to strangle Kermit until he realises the crowd loves him and accepts the accolades. During the show's finale, as Kermit thanks him, he shows up with a fictional album, his own new vocal record ''John Cleese: A Man & His Music'', and encourages everyone to buy a copy.

This would not be Cleese's final appearance with The Muppets. In their 1981 movie ''The Great Muppet Caper'', Cleese does a cameo appearance as Neville, a local homeowner. As part of the appearance, Miss Piggy borrows his house as a way to impress Kermit The Frog.

Awards

Cleese won the ''TV Times'' award for Funniest Man On TV – 1978 / 1979.

1980s and 1990s

During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special ''Peter Cook and Co.'' in 1980. In the same year Cleese played Petruchio, in Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he starred with Sean Connery and Michael Palin in the Terry Gilliam-directed ''Time Bandits'' as Robin Hood. He also participated in ''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982), and starred in ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a small dramatic role as a sheriff in ''Silverado'', which had an all-star cast that included Kevin Kline, with whom he would star with in ''A Fish Called Wanda'' three years later. In 1986, he starred in ''Clockwise'' as an uptight school headmaster obsessed with punctuality and constantly getting in to trouble during a journey to a headmaster's conference.

Timed with the 1987 UK elections, he appeared in a video promoting proportional representation.

In 1988, he wrote and starred in ''A Fish Called Wanda'', as the lead, Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. ''Wanda'' was a commercial and critical success, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his script. Cynthia Cleese starred as Leach's daughter.

Graham Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1989; Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook and Chapman's partner David Sherlock, witnessed Chapman's death. Chapman's death occurred a day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of ''Flying Circus'', with Jones commenting, "the worst case of party-pooping in all history." Cleese's eulogy at Chapman's memorial service—in which he "became the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fuck'"—has since become legendary.

Cleese would later play a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro. He also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including ''Meetings, Bloody Meetings'' and ''More Bloody Meetings''. These were produced by his company Video Arts.

With Robin Skynner, the group analyst and family therapist, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: ''Families and How to Survive Them'', and ''Life and How to Survive It''. The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese.

In 1996, Cleese declined the British honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). The follow-up to ''A Fish Called Wanda'', ''Fierce Creatures''—which again starred Cleese alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Palin—was also released that year, but was greeted with mixed reception by critics and audiences. Cleese has since often stated that making the second movie had been a mistake. When asked by his friend, director and restaurant critic Michael Winner, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, Cleese responded, "I wouldn’t have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger and I wouldn’t have made ''Fierce Creatures''."

In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond movie, ''The World Is Not Enough'' as Q's assistant, referred to by Bond as "R". In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in ''Die Another Day'', the character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. In 2004, Cleese was featured as Q in the video game ''James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing'', featuring his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the subsequent Bond films, ''Casino Royale'' and ''Quantum of Solace''.

2000 to present

Cleese is Provost's Visiting Professor at Cornell University, after having been Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large from 1999–2006. He makes occasional, well-received appearances on the Cornell campus. He sold his home in the town of Montecito, California in 2008 and planned on moving to Bath in the UK where he has a home on the Royal Crescent. In 2011 Cleese was quoted as saying that for tax purposes he might have to live in Switzerland or Monaco.

In 2001, Cleese was cast in the comedy ''Rat Race'' as the eccentric hotel owner Donald P. Sinclair, the name of the Torquay hotel owner on who he had based the character of Basil Fawlty. In 2002, Cleese made a cameo appearance in the movie ''The Adventures of Pluto Nash'' in which he played "James", a computerised chauffeur of a hover car stolen by the title character (played by Eddie Murphy). The vehicle is subsequently destroyed in a chase, leaving the chauffeur stranded in a remote place on the moon. In 2003, Cleese appeared as Lyle Finster on the US sitcom ''Will & Grace''. His character's daughter, Lorraine, was played by Minnie Driver. In the series, Lyle Finster briefly marries Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). In 2004, Cleese was credited as co-writer of a DC Comics graphic novel titled ''Superman: True Brit''. Part of DC's "Elseworlds" line of imaginary stories, ''True Brit'', mostly written by Kim Howard Johnson, suggests what might have happened had Superman's rocket ship landed in Britain, not America.

From 10 November to 9 December 2005, Cleese toured New Zealand with his stage show, ''John Cleese—His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems''. Cleese described it as "a one-man show with several people in it, which pushes the envelope of acceptable behaviour in new and disgusting ways." The show was developed in New York with William Goldman and includes Cleese's daughter Camilla as a writer and actor (the shows were directed by Australian Bille Brown). His assistant of many years, Garry Scott-Irvine, also appeared, and was listed as a co-producer. It then played in universities in California and Arizona from 10 January to 25 March 2006 under the title "Seven Ways to Skin an Ocelot". His voice can be downloaded for directional guidance purposes as a downloadable option on some personal GPS-navigation device models by company TomTom.

In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders, ''The Comedian's Comedian'', Cleese was voted second only to Peter Cook. Also in 2005, a long-standing piece of Internet humour, "The Revocation of Independence of the United States", was wrongly attributed to Cleese. In 2006, Cleese hosted a television special of football’s greatest kicks, goals, saves, bloopers, plays and penalties, as well as football’s influence on culture (including the famous Monty Python sketch “Philosophy Football”), featuring interviews with pop culture icons Dave Stewart, Dennis Hopper and Henry Kissinger, as well as football greats including Pelé, Mia Hamm and Thierry Henry. ''The Art of Soccer with John Cleese'' was released in North America on DVD in January 2009 by BFS Entertainment & Multimedia.

Cleese lent his voice to the BioWare video game ''Jade Empire''. His role was that of an "outlander" named Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, stranded in the Imperial City of the Jade Empire. His character is essentially a British colonialist stereotype who refers to the people of the Jade Empire as "savages in need of enlightenment". His armour has the design of a fork stuck in a piece of cheese. He also had a cameo appearance in the computer game ''Starship Titanic'' as "The Bomb" (credited as "Kim Bread"), designed by Douglas Adams.

In June 2006, while promoting a football song in which he was featured, titled ''Don't Mention the World Cup'', Cleese appears to have claimed that he decided to retire from performing in sitcoms, instead opting to writing a book on the history of comedy and to tutor young comedians. This was an erroneous story, the result of an interview with ''The Times'' of London (the piece was not fact checked before printing).

In 2007, Cleese appeared in ads for Titleist as a golf course designer named "Ian MacCallister", who represents "Golf Designers Against Distance". Also in 2007, he started filming the sequel to ''The Pink Panther'', titled ''The Pink Panther 2'', with Steve Martin and Aishwarya Rai. On 27 September 2007, The Podcast Network announced it had signed a deal with Cleese to produce a series of video podcasts called HEADCAST to be published on TPN's website. Cleese released the first episode of this series in April 2008 on his own website, headcast.co.uk

Cleese collaborated with Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member William Kanengiser in 2008, on the text to the performance piece "The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha". Cleese, as narrator, and the LAGQ premiered the work in Santa Barbara. 2008 also saw reports of Cleese working on a musical version of ''A Fish Called Wanda'' with his daughter Camilla. He also said that he is working on a new film screenplay for the first time since 1996's ''Fierce Creatures''. Cleese collaborates on it with writer Lisa Hogan, under the current working title "A Taxing Time". According to him, it is "about the lengths to which people will go to avoid tax. [...] It's based on what happened to me when I cashed in my UK pension and moved to Santa Barbara."

At the end of March 2009, Cleese published his first article as 'Contributing Editor' to ''The Spectator'': "The real reason I had to join ''The Spectator''". On 6 May 2009, he appeared on ''The Paul O'Grady Show''. Cleese has also hosted comedy galas at the Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival in 2006, and again in 2009. He had to cancel the 2009 appearance due to prostatitis, but hosted it a few days later. Towards the end of 2009 and into 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of television adverts for the Norwegian electric goods shop chain, Elkjøp. In March 2010 it was announced that Cleese would be playing Jasper in the video game "Fable III".

In 2009 and 2010, Cleese toured Scandinavia and the US with his Alimony Tour Year One and Year Two. In May 2010, it was announced that this tour would extend to the UK (his first tour in UK), set for May 2011 – The show is dubbed the "Alimony Tour" in reference to the financial implications of Cleese's divorce. The UK tour started in Cambridge on 3 May, visiting Birmingham, Salford, Liverpool, Oxford, Leeds, Edinburgh and finishing in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

In October 2010, Cleese was featured in the launch of an advertising campaign by The Automobile Association for a new home emergency response product. He appeared as a man who believed the AA could not help him during a series of disasters, including water pouring through his ceiling, with the line "The AA? For faulty showers?" During 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of radio advertisements for the Canadian insurance company Pacific Blue Cross, in which he plays a character called "Dr. Nigel Bilkington, Chief of Medicine for General American Hospital".

Black humor

In his ''Alimony tour'' Cleese explained the origin of his fondness for black humor, the only thing that he inherited from his mother. Examples of it are the Dead Parrot sketch, his clip for the 1992 BBC2 mockumentary "A Question of Taste", the Undertakers sketch, the Vomit episode in ''The Meaning of Life'' and his eulogy at Graham Chapman's memorial service.

Personal life

1960s to 1980s

Cleese met Connie Booth in the US during the late 1960s and the couple married in 1968. In 1971, Booth gave birth to Cynthia Cleese, their only child. With Booth, Cleese wrote the scripts for and co-starred in both series of the TV series ''Fawlty Towers'', even though the two were actually divorced before the second series was finished and aired. Cleese and Booth are said to have remained close friends since.

Cleese married American actress Barbara Trentham in 1981. Their daughter Camilla, Cleese's second child, was born in 1984. He and Trentham divorced in 1990. During this time, Cleese moved from the United Kingdom to California.

1990s on

On 28 December 1992 he married American psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger. In January 2008 the couple announced they had split. The divorce was settled in December 2008. The divorce settlement left Eichelberger with £12 million in finance and assets, including £600,000 a year for seven years. Cleese stated that "What I find so unfair is that if we both died today, her children would get much more than mine".

In April 2010, Cleese revealed on ''The Graham Norton Show'' on BBC One that he had started a new relationship with a woman 31 years his junior, Jennifer Wade.

During the disruption caused by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 Cleese became stranded in Oslo and decided to take a taxi to Brussels. The 1500 km journey cost £3,300 and was completed with the help of three drivers who took shifts in driving Cleese to his destination where he planned to take a Eurostar passenger train to the UK.

Cleese has a passion for lemurs. Following the 1997 comedy film ''Fierce Creatures'', in which the ring-tailed lemur played a key role, he hosted the 1998 BBC documentary ''In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese'', which tracked the progress of a reintroduction of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs back into the Betampona Reserve in Madagascar. The project had been partly funded by Cleese's donation of the proceeds from the London premier of ''Fierce Creatures''. Cleese is quoted as saying, "I adore lemurs. They're extremely gentle, well-mannered, pretty and yet great fun... I should have married one."

In November 2011, in an interview on ''The Chris Moyles Show'', Cleese claimed he "isn't a vegetarian and never was."

Political views

Currently a member of the Liberal Democrats after previously being a Labour party voter, Cleese switched to the SDP after their formation in 1981, and during the 1987 general election, Cleese recorded a nine minute party political broadcast for the SDP-Liberal Alliance, which spoke about the similarities and failures of the other two parties in a more humorous tone than standard political broadcasts. Cleese has since appeared in broadcasts for the Liberal Democrats, in the 1997 general election and narrating a radio election broadcast for the party during the 2001 general election. In April 2010, Cleese tweeted his support for the Lib Dems after Nick Clegg performed strongly in the first leaders' debate on ITV1, stating: "Well, well, well. First leaders debate, and LibDems do so well. Good luck to them."

In 2011, Cleese declared his support for Britain's coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, saying: "I think what’s happening at the moment is rather interesting. The Coalition has made everything a little more courteous and a little more flexible. I think it was quite good that the Liberal Democrats had to compromise a bit with the Tories." He also criticised the previous Labour government, commenting: "Although my inclinations are slightly left-of-centre, I was terribly disappointed with the last Labour government. Gordon Brown lacked emotional intelligence and was never a leader." Cleese also declared his support for proportional representation.

In April 2011, Cleese revealed that he had declined a life peerage for political services in 1999. Outgoing leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown, had put forward the suggestion shortly before he stepped down, with the idea that Cleese would take the party whip and sit as a working peer, but the actor quipped that he "realised this involved being in England in the winter and I thought that was too much of a price to pay."

Cleese expressed support for Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, donating US$2,300 to his campaign and offering his services as a speech writer. He also criticised Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin—saying that "Michael Palin is no longer the funniest Palin"— and wrote a satirical poem about Fox News commentator Sean Hannity for ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann''.

Radio credits

''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again''

''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' (1972–73)

Television credits

Major roles

''The Frost Report'' (1966)

''Frost on Sunday''

''At Last the 1948 Show''

''How to Irritate People'' (1968) with Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Connie Booth and Tim Brooke-Taylor

''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1969–1974)

''Sez Les'' (1971, 1974)

''Fawlty Towers'' (1975, 1979)

''Cheers (episode "Simon Says")'' (1987), he won an Emmy Award for best actor in a guest starring role

''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1980) as Petruchio

''True Stories: Peace in our Time?'' as Neville Chamberlain

As host

''The Human Face''

''Wine for the Confused''

''We Are Most Amused'': Master of Ceremonies for a stand-up comedy show celebrating Prince Charles's 60th Birthday.

Guest appearances

''The Avengers'' (1968), guest appearance as Marcus Rugman (egg clown-face collector) in the episode ''Look (Stop Me if You've Heard this One)...''

''The Goodies'' (1973), guest cameo appearance as a Genie in the episode ''The Goodies and the Beanstalk''

''Ripping Yarns'' (1979), guest cameo appearance as "Passer-by" in the episode ''Golden Gordon''

''Doctor Who'' (1979), guest cameo appearance as an Art Lover in the episode ''City of Death'' as a favour to writer/script editor Douglas Adams

''The Muppet Show'' (1977)

''Cheers'' (Season 5, Episode 21, ''Simon Says'') as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, an acquaintance of Kelsey Grammer's character Frasier Crane and fellow psychiatrist, who offers pre-marriage advice to Sam and Diane, much to his later chagrin.

''Last of the Summer Wine'' (1993), guest cameo appearance in the episode ''Welcome to Earth''.

''25 Years of Last of the Summer Wine'' (1997)

''3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1998–2001) as recurring character Dr. Liam Neesam.

''Casper & Mandrilaftalen'' (1999) both as the repairman of the purple Gunrack, and as the Danish soccer coach Bosse ''Bo Johansson''.

''Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central)'' (2002) as Red

''Will & Grace'' (2003–2004) as recurring character Lyle Finster.

Numerous commercials, including for supermarket chain Sainsbury's, snack firm Planters and a British government ''Stop Smoking'' campaign

Party political broadcasts for the Liberal Democrats and predecessor, the SDP-Liberal Alliance

In November 2009 commercials, in which he appears for Swedish electrical appliance chain "Elgiganten", began broadcasting in Sweden, as well as broadcasting in Denmark in late 2010.

Song "Don't Mention The World Cup" animated video played on ITV, BBC and Channel 4 News June 2006

Batteries Not Included—gadget show on UKTV channel Dave (2008)

Entourage as himself, season 7 finale (2010)

''Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain'' as Himself

Filmography

+ Films
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1968		TV Publicist
1969	''''	Mr. Dougdale (director in Sotheby's)
1969	''''	Jones	Uncredited
1970	''''	Pummer	Writer
1971	''And Now for Something Completely Different''	Various Roles	Writer
1971		Harry
1973	''Elementary, My Dear Watson''	Sherlock Holmes
1974	''Romance with a Double Bass''	Musician Smychkov	Writer
1975	''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''	Various Roles	Writer
1976	''Meetings, Bloody Meetings''	Tim	Writer/Executive ProducerDocumentary Short
1977	''''	Sherlock Holmes
1979	''Monty Python's Life of Brian''	Various Roles	Writer
1980	''''	Himself-Various Roles
1981	''''	Neville
1981	''Time Bandits''	Gormless Robin Hood
1982	''Privates on Parade''	Major Giles Flack
1983	''Yellowbeard''	Blind Pew
1983	''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life''	Various Roles	Writer
1985		Langston
1986		Mr. Stimpson
1988	''''	lawyer Archie Leach	Writer/Executive ProducerBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Academy Award For Best Original ScreenplayNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original ScreenplayNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1989	''Erik the Viking''	Halfdan the Black and Svend Berserk
1989		Bartender
1990	''Bullseye!''	Man on the Beach inBarbados Who Looks Like John Cleese
1991	''An American Tail: Fievel Goes West''	Cat R. Waul	Voice Only
1992	''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?''		Narrator
1993	''Splitting Heirs''	Raoul P. Shadgrind
1994	''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein''	Professor Waldman
1994	''''	Dr. Julius Plumford
1994	''''	Jean-Bob
1996	''	Mr. Toad's Lawyer
1996	''Fierce Creatures''	Rollo Lee	Writer/Producer
1997		An Ape Named 'Ape'	Voice Only
1998	''In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese''	Host	Narrator
1999	''''	Mr. Mersault
1999	''''	R
2000	''Isn't She Great''	Henry Marcus
2000	''''	Albert, The Magic Pudding	Voice Only
2001	''Quantum Project''	Alexander Pentcho
2001	''Here's Looking at You: The Evolution of the Human Face''		Narrator
2001		Donald P. Sinclair
2001		"Nearly Headless Nick"
2002		"Nearly Headless Nick"	Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting
2002		The Talking Crickett	Voice Only: English Version
2002	''Die Another Day''	Q	Second appearance in a James Bond film,replaces Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the series
2002	''''	James
2003	''Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle''	Mr. Munday
2003		Charles Merchant
2003	''George of the Jungle 2''	An Ape Named 'Ape'	Voice Only
2004	''Shrek 2''	King Harold	Voice Only
2004		Grizzled Sergeant
2005		Mercury	Voice Only
2006		Samuel the Sheep	Voice Only
2006		Dr. Primkin
2007	''Shrek the Third''	King Harold	Voice Only
2008		Dr. Glickenstein	Voice Only
2008	''''	Dr. Barnhardt
2009	''''	Inspector Charles Dreyfus
2009	''Planet 51''	Professor Kipple	Voice Only
2010		The Guv	Awaiting international release
2010	''Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole''	Ghost	Voice Only
2010	''Shrek Forever After''	King Harold	Voice Only
2011	''Happy Feet 2''	Himself	Voice Onlypost-production
2011		Narrator	Voice Only

Video game credits

''Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time'' (1994) 7th Level

''Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail'' (1996) 7th Level

''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1997) Panasonic

''Starship Titanic'' (1998) Simon & Schuster Interactive (voice of the Bomb) — (Credited as Kim Bread)

''007 Racing'' (2000) Electronic Arts

''The World Is Not Enough'' (2000) Electronic Arts

''James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing'' (2004) Electronic Arts

''Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged'' (2004) Atari

''Jade Empire'' (2005) BioWare (as Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard)

''Shrek the Third'' (2007) King Harold, Narrator

''Fable III'' (2010) Jasper

Awards

Academy Awards

* (1988) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay / ''A Fish Called Wanda'' (shared with Charles Crichton)

Golden Globe Awards

* (1988) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy / ''A Fish Called Wanda''

BAFTA Awards

* (1970) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''

* (1971) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''

* (1976) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / ''Fawlty Towers''

* (1980) Won—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / ''Fawlty Towers''

* (1989) Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay / ''A Fish Called Wanda''

* (also 1989) Won—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role''

Primetime Emmy Awards

* (1987) Won—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series / ''Cheers'' (as ''Dr. Simon Finch-Royce'')

* (1998) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series / ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' (as ''Dr. Liam Neesam'')

* (2002) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Nonfiction Special" / ''The Human Face''

* (2004) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series / ''Will & Grace'' (as ''Lyle Finster'')

Writers Guild of America

* (1989) Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay / ''A Fish Called Wanda'' (shared with Charles Crichton)

Other credits

In 2003, John Cleese took part in Mike Oldfield's re-recording of the 1973 hit ''Tubular Bells'', ''Tubular Bells 2003''. He took over the "Master of Ceremonies" duties in the ‘Finale’ part, in which he announced the various instruments eccentrically, from the late Vivian Stanshall.

Cleese recorded the voice of God for ''Spamalot'', the musical based on ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail.''

Cleese narrated the audio version of C. S. Lewis's ''The Screwtape Letters''.

In the mid 1980s, Cleese starred in British advertisements for Compaq computers and Schweppes beverages.

In the late-1990s, Cleese appeared in a set of poorly-received commercials for the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's. Around the same time, his ''Fawlty Towers'' co-star, Prunella Scales, appeared in more well-received commercials for rival chain Tesco.

He has enunciated a set of directions for the TomTom in-car navigation system. This allows itself humorous notes at non-critical moments, for instance when asking for a U-turn and when signing off: "I'm not going to carry your baggage—from now on, you're on your own" and "Bear right..Beaver left."

He plays the voice of Samuel the Sheep in the 2006 adaptation of ''Charlotte's Web''. Samuel repeatedly tells the other sheep to be individuals, not sheep. This is a reference to ''Monty Python's Life of Brian''.

He has a speaking part at the end of the Alan Parsons song "Chomolungma" from the album ''A Valid Path''.

In 2008, John Cleese appeared in a humorous TV commercial in Poland advertising a bank loan.

From 2006 to 2008 John Cleese has appeared in humorous TV commercials in Iceland advertising Kaupþing.

Honours and tributes

A species of lemur, the Bemaraha woolly lemur (''Avahi cleesei''), has been named in his honour. John Cleese has mentioned this in television interviews. Also there is mention of this honour in "''New Scientist''"—and John Cleese's response to the honour.

An asteroid, 9618 Johncleese, is named in his honour.

Cleese declined a CBE (Commander of The British Empire) in 1996.

There is a municipal rubbish heap of in altitude that has been named Mt Cleese at the Awapuni landfill just outside Palmerston North after he dubbed the city "suicide capital of New Zealand".

"The Universal Language" skit from ''All in the Timing'', a collection of short plays by David Ives, centres around a fictional language (Unamunda) in which the word for the English language is "johncleese".

The post-hardcore rock band I Set My Friends On Fire has a song on their ''You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter'' album titled "Reese's Pieces, I Don't Know Who John Cleese Is?".

Bibliography

''The Rectorial Address of John Cleese'', Epam, 1971, 8 pages

Foreword for ''Time and the Soul'', Jacob Needleman, 2003  ISBN 1-57675-251-8 (paperback)

''The Human Face'' (with Brian Bates) (DK Publishing Inc., 2001, ISBN 978-0-7894-7836-8)

''Cleese Encounters: The Unauthorized Biography of Monty Python Veteran John Cleese'', Jonathan Margolis, St. Martin's Press, 1992, ISBN 0-312-08162-6

Scripts

''The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation As We Know It'', w/Jack Hobbs & Joseph McGrath, 1977  ISBN 0-352-30109-0

''Fawlty Towers'', w/Connie Booth, 1977 (The Builders, The Hotel Inspectors, Gourmet Night)   ISBN 0-86007-598-2

''Fawlty Towers: Book 2'', w/Connie Booth, 1979 (The Wedding Party, A Touch of Class, The Germans)

''The Golden Skits of Wing Commander Muriel Volestrangler FRHS & Bar'', 1984  ISBN 0-413-41560-0

''The Complete Fawlty Towers'', w/Connie Booth, 1988  ISBN 0-413-18390-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-679-72127-4 (paperback)

''A Fish Called Wanda: The Screenplay'', w/Charles Crichton, 1988  ISBN 1-55783-033-9

''Fawlty's Hotel: Sämtliche Stücke'', w/Connie Booth, (''The Complete Fawlty Towers'' in German), Haffmans Verlag AG Zürich, 1995

Dialogues

''Families and How to Survive Them'', w/A.Robin Skynner, 1983  ISBN 0-413-52640-2 (hardc.), ISBN 0-19-520466-2 (p/back)

''Life and How to Survive It'', w/A.Robin Skynner 1993  ISBN 0-413-66030-3 (hardcover), ISBN 0-393-31472-3 (paperback)

See also

Declining a British honour

References

External links

Official Podcast

John Cleese at the Museum of Broadcast Communications

John Cleese at the BBC Guide to Comedy

Podcast to celebrate The Life of Brian (March 2008)

Daily Llama: John Cleese Visits Lemurs at San Francisco Zoo

On-line video interview for Czech TV (24. 7. 2011)

Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:British male comedians Category:Cornell University faculty Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:English film actors Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English radio actors Category:English radio writers Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English television personalities Category:English television writers Category:English voice actors Category:Monty Python members Category:Old Cliftonians Category:People from Weston-super-Mare Category:Rectors of the University of St Andrews Category:1939 births Category:Living people

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russian

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman Emperor

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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Coordinates	5°25′00″N100°19′00″N
Name	Neil Sedaka
Background	solo_singer
Birth date	March 13, 1939
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Instrument	Vocals, Multiple instruments
Genre	Pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer
Years active	1955–present
Label	RCA Victor Records, MGM Records, Polydor Records, Rocket Records, Elektra Records, Neil Sedaka Music, Razor & Tie Records
Website	www.neilsedaka.com }}

Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939) is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody.

Early life: Juilliard and The Brill Building

Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Mac Sedaka (aka Sedacca), a taxi driver, was of Sephardic Turkish-Jewish descent. ("Sedaka" and "Sedacca" are variants of tzedaka, which translates in both Hebrew and Arabic as the word ''charity''). Neil's mother, Eleanor (née Appel), was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent (or generally referred to as Ashkenazi-Jewish descent). He grew up in the then-heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach, which lies on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Sedaka is a cousin of singer Eydie Gormé.

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 & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright. 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. His mother wanted him to become a renowned classical pianist such as the contemporary of the day, Van Cliburn, but Sedaka was discovering pop music. When Sedaka was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. They became two of the legendary Brill Building's composers. There were technically ''two'' "Brill Buildings" — the original located at 1619 Broadway at 49th Street in Manhattan, and a second building that also took on the moniker of a "Brill Building", unofficially known as "Allegro Studios", located at 1650 Broadway at 51st Street.

Sedaka and Greenfield wrote songs together throughout much of their young lives, with Sedaka going on to being a major teen pop star and the pair also writing hits for a litany of other artists as well as for Sedaka's own career. However, when The Beatles and the British Invasion took American music in a different direction, Sedaka was left without a recording career and decided a major change in his life was necessary, moving his family to Britain in the early 1970s. Sedaka and Greenfield mutually agreed that their partnership reached an end with "Our Last Song Together". Sedaka began a new composing partnership with British lyricist Phil Cody. After Sedaka returned to the US, however, the Sedaka-Greenfield team eventually reunited and continued until Greenfield's death in 1986.

Early career

Rise to fame with RCA Victor: The Late 1950s

After graduating from Lincoln High School, Sedaka and some of his classmates formed a band called The Tokens. The band had minor regional hits with songs like "While I Dream", "I Love My Baby", "Come Back, Joe", and "Don't Go", before Sedaka launched out on his own in 1957. However, after a few personnel changes, in 1961, The Tokens would hit #1 on the ''Billboard'' pop charts with the international smash "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Meanwhile, the very young Sedaka's first three solo singles, "Laura Lee", "Ring-a-Rockin'", and "Oh, Delilah!" failed to become hits (although "Ring-a-Rockin'" earned him the first of many appearances on Dick Clark's ''American Bandstand''), but they demonstrated his ability to perform as a solo singer, so RCA Victor signed him to a recording contract.

His first single for RCA, "The Diary", was inspired by Connie Francis, one of Sedaka and Greenfield's most important clients, while the three were taking a temporary break during their idea-making for a new song. Francis was writing in her diary, Sedaka asked if he could read it, and Connie promptly replied no. After the song was passed on by Little Anthony and the Imperials, Neil recorded it himself, and his debut single hit the Top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #14 for Sedaka in 1958. His followup, a novelty tune titled "I Go Ape", just missed the Top 40, peaking at #42. The third single, "Crying My Heart Out for You", did even worse, missing the Hot 100 entirely, peaking at #111 (although it went to #6 on the pop charts in Italy). Desperate for another hit, he bought several hit singles and listened to them repeatedly, studying the song structure, chord progressions, lyrics and harmonies — and he discovered that the hit songs of the day all shared the same basic musical anatomy. Armed with his newfound arsenal of musical knowledge, he set out to craft his next big hit song, and he promptly did exactly that: "Oh! Carol" delivered Sedaka his first domestic Top 10 hit, reaching #9 on the Hot 100 in 1959 and going to #1 on the Italian pop charts in 1960, giving Sedaka his first #1 ranking. The song was dedicated to his then-girlfriend, Carole King, a fellow Brill Building composer and rising pop star of her own. King would respond with her own novelty song, "Oh! Neil" later that year.

Big hits in the early '60s

After establishing himself in 1958, Sedaka kept churning out new hits from 1960 to 1962. His flow of Top 30 hits during this period included: "Stairway to Heaven" (#9, 1960); "You Mean Everything to Me" (#17, 1960); "Run, Samson, Run" (#27, 1960); "Calendar Girl" (#4, 1961); "Little Devil" (#11, 1961); "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" (#6, 1961); his signature song, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" (#1, 1962); and "Next Door to an Angel" (#5, 1962). Singles not making the Top 30 during this time period included "Sweet Little You" (#59, 1961) and "King of Clowns" (#45, 1962). RCA issued four LPs in the U.S. and Britain of his works during this period, and also produced ''Scopitone'' and ''Cinebox'' videos of "Calendar Girl" in 1961, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" in 1962, and "The Dreamer" in 1963. He made regular appearances on such TV programs as ''American Bandstand'' and ''Shindig!'' during this period.

Writing for other performers

Connie Francis

When Sedaka was not recording his own songs, he and Howard Greenfield were writing for other performers, most notably in their earliest days Connie Francis. Francis began searching for a new hit after her 1958 single "Who's Sorry Now?". She was introduced to Sedaka and Greenfield, who played every ballad they had written for her. Francis began writing in her diary while the two played the last of their songs. After they finished, Francis told them they wrote beautiful ballads but that they were too intellectual for the young generation. Sedaka suggested to Greenfield a song they had written that morning for a girl group. Greenfield protested because the song had been promised to the girl group, but Sedaka insisted on playing "Stupid Cupid". Francis told them they had just played her new hit. Francis' song reached #14 on the Billboard charts.

While Francis was writing in her diary, Sedaka asked her if he could read what she had written. After she refused, Sedaka was inspired to write "The Diary", his own first hit single. Sedaka and Greenfield wrote many of Connie Francis' hits, such as "Fallin'" and the "Theme from ''Where the Boys Are''", the film in which she starred. Although the latter hit the Top 5 on the ''Billboard'' pop singles chart and Francis had several #1 singles, "''Where the Boys Are''" eventually became her signature song.

Jimmy Clanton

Sedaka and Greenfield also wrote some of Jimmy Clanton's hits, such as "Another Sleepless Night", "What Am I Gonna Do?", and "All the Words in the World". Sedaka himself recorded each of these three songs: "Another Sleepless Night" appears on his ''Rock With Sedaka'' debut album; "What Am I Gonna Do?" was the B-side of "Going Home to Mary Lou" and appeared on his 1961 album ''Neil Sedaka Sings "Little Devil" and His Other Hits''; and "All the Words in the World" was recorded but was kept in the RCA vaults until 1977, at the height of Sedaka's return to popularity, when it was released on the album ''Neil Sedaka: The '50s and '60s''.

Foreign-language recordings

Neil Sedaka was very popular in Italy. Many of his English-language records were released there and proved quite successful, especially "Crying My Heart Out For You" (Italian #6, 1959) and "Oh! Carol" (Italian #1, 1960).

In 1961, Sedaka began to record some of his hits in Italian, starting with "Esagerata" and "Un Giorno Inutile", local versions of "Little Devil" and "I Must Be Dreaming". Other recordings were to follow, such as "Tu Non Lo Sai" ("Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"), "Il Re Dei Pagliacci" ("King of Clowns"), "I Tuoi Capricci" ("Look Inside Your Heart"), and "La Terza Luna" ("Waiting For Never"). "La Terza Luna" reached #1 on the Italian pop charts in April 1963. ''Cinebox'' videos exist for "La Terza Luna" and "I Tuoi Capricci". From a language standpoint, his recordings in Italian had very little American accent. RCA Victor's Italiana office distributed his records in Italy and released three compilation LPs of Sedaka's Italian recordings.

Sedaka also recorded in Spanish, German, Hebrew, and Japanese. He enjoyed popularity in Latin America for his Spanish-language recordings. Many of these were pressed onto 78 rpm discs.

Mid-1960s decline

The year 1962 provided Sedaka with one of his career's most important years, as "Next Door to an Angel" made the Top 5 and "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" hit #1. But after 1962, Sedaka's popularity began to wane. While 1963 singles "Alice In Wonderland" (#17), "Let's Go Steady Again" (#26), and "Bad Girl" (#33) all managed to hit the Top 40, "The Dreamer" (#47) did not, and it would be more than another decade before Sedaka would see one of his singles hit the Top 10 again. After the release of "Bad Girl", Sedaka's career went into a sharp decline, hastened by The Beatles' arrival on the radio and especially their much-hyped February 1964 appearance on CBS' ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and the rest of the British Invasion. When describing The Beatles' effect on his career in the mid-'60s, he puts it brusquely: "The Beatles — not good!" This negative effect is seen in the fact that from 1964–66, only three of his singles even made it onto the Hot 100 at all: "Sunny" (#86, 1964), "The World Through a Tear" (#76, 1965), and "The Answer to My Prayer" (#89, 1965).

To make matters worse, Sedaka's employers at RCA Victor refused to release Sedaka's new recording, "It Hurts To Be In Love", because he had not recorded it in their studios, as stipulated by his contract. Sedaka attempted another recording of this song in RCA's studios, but the results were unsatisfactory. Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, the song's co-writers, offered it to Gene Pitney instead, and he took the existing musical track, replaced Sedaka's vocal tracks with his own, and scored a #7 hit for himself and his record label, Musicor, in 1964.

For the remainder of his tenure with RCA Victor, Sedaka never fully recovered from the emergence of the Beatles or the loss of "It Hurts To Be In Love" to Pitney; and RCA chose not to renew his contract when it expired in 1966, leaving him without a record label.

Although Sedaka's stature as a recording artist was at a low ebb in the late 1960s, he was able to maintain his career through songwriting. Thanks to the fact that his publisher, Aldon Music, was acquired by Screen Gems, two of his songs were recorded by The Monkees, and other hits in this period written by Sedaka included The Cyrkle's version of "We Had a Good Thing Goin'" and "Workin' on a Groovy Thing", a Top 40 R&B; hit for Patti Drew in 1968, and a Top 20 pop hit for The 5th Dimension in 1969. Also, "Make the Music Play" was included on Frankie Valli's charting album ''Timeless''.

On an episode of the quiz show ''I've Got a Secret'' in 1965, Sedaka's secret was that he was to represent the United States in classical piano at the 1966 Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, and he impressed the panelists with his performance of Frederic Chopin's "Fantaisie Impromptu" on the show. Prior to his piano performance, panelist Henry Morgan challenged Sedaka with the fact that the Soviet bureaucracy despises — and, in fact, outlaws — rock 'n' roll music and that any Western music that young Russians have was by underground smuggling. This exchange continued before the panel learned that Sedaka was to represent the USA at the Tchaikovsky classical piano competition, which Van Cliburn had won in 1958. Unfortunately, Morgan's warning turned out to be true. Despite Sedaka's classical roots, because of Sedaka's "other" life as a pop star, he was disqualified by the USSR as the US entrant for the competition.

Sedaka also made an appearance in the 1968 movie ''Playgirl Killer'', with a scene of him performing a song called "The Waterbug".

The late 1960s to early '70s

Time in Australia

Sedaka worked to revive his solo career in the early 1970s. Despite his waning chart appeal in the USA in the late 1960s, he remained very popular as a concert attraction, notably in the UK and Australia. Years later he thanked Bob Rogers and Australia for standing by him. "... You know, Bob, in my lean years — I called them ''The Hungry Years'' — it was Bob Rogers and Australia who welcomed me." He made several trips to Australia to play cabaret dates, and his commercial comeback began when the single "Star-Crossed Lovers" became a major hit there. The song went to #5 nationally in April 1969 — giving Sedaka his first charting single anywhere in four years. It also came in at #5 in ''Go-Set'' magazine's list of the Top 40 Australian singles of 1969.

Later that year, with the support of Festival Records, he recorded a new LP of original material entitled ''Workin' on a Groovy Thing'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Sounds of Sedaka'') at Festival Studios in Sydney. It was co-produced by Festival staff producer Pat Aulton, with arrangements by John Farrar (who later achieved international fame for his work with Olivia Newton-John) and backing by Australian session musicians including guitarist Jimmy Doyle (Ayers Rock) and noted jazz musician-composer John Sangster.

The title track from the album, "Wheeling, West Virginia," reached #20 in Australia in early 1970. The LP is also notable because it was Sedaka's first album to include collaborations with writers other than longtime lyricist Howard Greenfield; the title track featured lyrics by Roger Atkins and four other songs were co-written with Carole Bayer Sager, who subsequently embarked on an enormously successful collaboration songwriting with Aussie expat singer-songwriter Peter Allen, who would become known as "The Boy from Oz" in addition to being married to Liza Minnelli and having the incomparable Judy Garland for a mother-in-law.

''Emergence'' and ''Solitaire''

In 1971, Sedaka released the ''Emergence'' album. Singles from that album included "I'm A Song (Sing Me)," "Silent Movies," "Superbird," and "Rosemary Blue." ''Emergence'' and the next year's ''Solitaire'' album were both released on the RCA Victor label, marking a short-lived reunion between Sedaka and RCA. Good friend and New York music impresario Don Kirshner attempted to make the U.S. release of ''Emergence'' a comeback for Sedaka, but the album and single releases had no appreciable success. After the failure of ''Emergence'' in the U.S., Sedaka left his hometown of New York and moved his family to the UK.

In 1972, Sedaka embarked on a successful English tour and in June recorded the ''Solitaire'' album at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, working with the four future members of 10cc (best known to American audiophiles for "I'm Not in Love" and "The Things We Do for Love"). As well as the title track, which was successfully covered by Andy Williams (UK Top 5 singles chart) and The Carpenters (US Top 20), it included two UK Top 40 singles, including "Beautiful You," which also charted briefly in America, Sedaka's first US chart appearance in ten years; but its minor performance did little to generate interest in restarting Sedaka's career.

The mid- to late 1970s

Newfound success

A year later he reconvened with the Strawberry team, who had by then charted with their own debut ''10cc'' album, to record ''The Tra-La Days Are Over'' for MGM Records, which started the second phase of his career and included his original version of the hit song "Love Will Keep Us Together" (also a US #1 hit two years later for The Captain & Tennille). This album also marked the effective end of his writing partnership with Greenfield, commemorated by the track "Our Last Song Together." They would reunite, however, and begin composing together again before Greenfield's death in 1986. From 1974 onward, Sedaka's records were issued in Europe and around the world on the Polydor label. His first album of new material with Polydor was ''Laughter in the Rain''.

Career With Rocket Records

''Sedaka's Back''

In the US, Sedaka's records were issued first on the Rocket label from 1974–77 and on the Elektra label from 1977-81. It was Sedaka's association with Rocket Records that helped resurrect his career in the States, for Elton John signed Sedaka to Rocket Records upon discovering that Sedaka had no formal U.S. recording contract. "We couldn't believe our luck," John remembered in Elizabeth Rosenthal's "His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John." Sedaka returned to the U.S. album charts with the release of ''Sedaka's Back'', a compilation of songs from three British albums he had already recorded in Britain, namely "Solitaire," "The Tra-La Days Are Over," and "Laughter In The Rain." It was only the second Sedaka album ever to chart in the U.S. Sedaka was known principally as a singles artist to that point, his only other American charting album being "Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits," a compilation of his early singles, according to Rosenthal's research.

Although the single was released in the autumn of 1974 and was slow in building, eventually Sedaka found himself once again topping the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles charts with "Laughter in the Rain" in early 1975. This song re-established the popularity of Neil Sedaka in America.

One of Sedaka's most well-received compositions during this period was the second single, "The Immigrant" (US pop #22, US AC #1). Critics hailed its beautiful orchestration and evocative lyrics: wistful, nostalgic, and no doubt enhanced and embellished by both pride and disillusion with the state of affairs in the contemporary life in the nation in which Sedaka was raised. It was at one time welcoming of strangers from afar, willing to allow emigrants from faraway lands to enter our shores as immigrants, being allowed to try to find a place in that new home of their dreams – possibly not necessarily as perfect as initially hoped – but still the great land called America. But it was also was a protest ode dedicated to his friend (ironically, a former Beatle who had shooed him across the Atlantic in the opposite direction), John Lennon. The U.S. Government was repeatedly denying him permanent resident status. Eventually, he did receive that request, only to be assassinated by a deranged fan's bullet in Sedaka's own hometown of New York City, slightly more than five years after this song was on the charts and the radio.

The third consecutive Billboard Top 25 hit from ''Sedaka's Back'' was the uptempo rocker "That's When the Music Takes Me" (US pop #25, US AC #7). This song was a rarity at the time as it was one of the few songs Sedaka wrote by himself, without a collaborator. It remains today his standard curtain-call concert closer.

Writing For Artists of the '70s

Sedaka and Greenfield co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together," a No. 1 hit for The Captain & Tennille and the biggest hit for the entire year of 1975. Toni Tennille paid tribute to Sedaka's welcome return to music-business success with her ad lib of "Sedaka is back" in the outro while she was laying down her own background vocals for the track. "Captain" Daryl Dragon and Toni also recorded a Spanish-language version of the song the same year that cracked the top half of ''Billboard'''s Hot 100 chart ("Por Amor Viviremos," US pop #49).

In 1975, Sedaka was the opening act for The Carpenters on their world tour. According to ''The Carpenters: The Untold Story'' by Ray Coleman, manager Sherwin Bash fired Sedaka at the request of Richard Carpenter, allegedly because Sedaka was becoming more popular than the Carpenters. The firing resulted in a media backlash against The Carpenters after Sedaka publicly announced he was off the tour. This, however, was before Karen and Richard recorded Sedaka's "Solitaire" which became a Top 20 hit for the duo. Richard Carpenter denied that he fired Sedaka for "stealing their show", stating they were proud of Sedaka's success. However, Bash was fired as The Carpenters' manager a short time after.

''The Hungry Years''

In late 1975, Sedaka earned more chart success with the release of his second Rocket album, ''The Hungry Years''. This album was an American edition of Sedaka's British Polydor album "Overnight Success". Near the close of 1975 and lasting into early 1976, Sedaka would have another big single with "Bad Blood". The song stayed at #1 for three weeks and was certified Gold^® by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the most individual commercially successful single of his career. Elton John provided uncredited backing vocals for "Bad Blood" and has been credited by Sedaka as being responsible for his breakthrough back into the US pop music scene.

Another highlight from "The Hungry Years" was Sedaka's new version of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." His 1962 original, a #1 hit single, was an upbeat pop song, while the remake was a ballad, based on a similar arrangement used by Lenny Welch when he recorded a version of it in 1970. Sedaka's ballad version hit #8 on the Hot 100 in early 1976, making him the only artist to ever record entirely reworked and rearranged versions of the same song to reach the Top 10 by the same artist. Sedaka's second version of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in 1976. The same year, Elvis Presley recorded the Sedaka song "Solitaire". This was followed by Sedaka's Top 20 hit "Love in the Shadows", also from 1976.

Transition From Rocket To Elektra

Later in 1976, Sedaka released a second (and final) collaboration with Elton John, with Elton once again on uncredited backing vocals on the title song to Sedaka's third and final Rocket album "Steppin' Out". While it would crack the Hot 100's Top 40, it would also signal the beginning of a slowdown in Sedaka's music sales and radio play not unlike what he experienced in 1964 when The Beatles and the "British Invasion" arrived. In this version of another fading of his music sales, it was the arrival of the disco era. In 1977, Sedaka, now with Elektra Records, released his next album "A Song" which had moderate success. While Sedaka attempted to release disco-themed music himself in the late 1970s, his album sales were weak and singles could not get a foothold on the radio. In 1980, Sedaka had his final Top 20 hit with "Should've Never Let You Go", which he recorded as a duet with his then 17-year-old daughter, Dara.

Re-issue of RCA-era recordings

Throughout the 1970s, Sedaka's old record company, RCA, would re-issue his 1960s-era songs on several compilation LPs on the RCA Victor and RCA Camden labels, a practice which continues to this day. The idea was to capitalize on Sedaka's newfound popularity by making his RCA-era recordings available to younger generations of fans.

Sedaka also released one final album of new material with RCA, consisting of a live concert he gave in Sydney, Australia. The album was released on the RCA International label in Australia and Europe as ''Neil Sedaka on Stage'' in 1974. It saw a US release on the RCA Victor label in 1976 as ''Sedaka Live In Australia''. The songs on the album were mostly cover versions of rock and pop songs from the previous twenty-five years, such as "Proud Mary", "Everything Is Beautiful", and "The Father Of Girls."

RCA and Sedaka have been at odds for decades over ownership rights over Sedaka's original master tapes from his late 1950s/early 1960s hits. RCA has released assorted repackaging of his old hits, forcing Sedaka to re-record his old hits and make them sound as close and authentic to the originals as possible.

The '80s and '90s: The struggles return

A change in record companies in the early 1980s also required him to, for the first time in his career, record cover versions of other artists' "oldies". Only two singles on two albums, spaced three years apart, managed to land on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart; none charted on the Hot 100 at all. Another duet with Dara, a remake of the Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell 1967 Top 5 smash "Your Precious Love", placed high enough on the AC chart (making the Top 15) for one final album to be released. But the second album's only release did not fare well on the AC chart, barely cracking its Top 40, and by 1985, Sedaka was once again without a recording contract. Concertgoers filled theatre seats while Sedaka created his own music label. That would assure that his catalog of hits would find the marketplace, and he released occasional CDs of self-produced new, original material.

Other successes

Ben Folds, an American singer-musician-songwriter and judge on NBC's hit ''a cappella'' vocal-group competition series ''The Sing-Off'', credited Sedaka on his "iTunes Originals" album as an inspiration for song publishing. Hearing Sedaka had a song published by the age of 13 gave Folds the goal of also getting a song published by his 13th birthday, despite the fact that Sedaka did not actually publish his first song until he was 16.

In 1985, songs composed by Sedaka were adapted for the Japanese anime TV series ''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam''. These included the two opening themes "Zeta - Toki wo Koete" (originally in English as "Better Days Are Coming") and "Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete" (originally in English as "For Us to Decide", but the English version was never recorded), as well as the end theme "Hoshizora no Believe" (written as "Bad and Beautiful"). Due to copyright, the songs were replaced for the North American DVD.

In 1994, Sedaka provided the voice for Neil Moussaka, a parody of himself in Food Rocks, an attraction at Epcot from 1994-2006.

A musical comedy based around the songs of Sedaka, titled ''Breaking Up Is Hard to Do'', was written in 2005 by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters; it is now under license to Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

A biographical musical, ''Laughter in the Rain'', produced by Bill Kenwright and Laurie Mansfield, starring Wayne Smith as Sedaka, had its world premiere at the Churchill Theatre, in the London borough of Bromley, on 4 March 2010. Sedaka attended the opening and joined the cast onstage for an impromptu curtain call of the title song.

The 21st century: Popularity yet again, a golden honor and ''The Music of'' His ''Life''

Sedaka maintains a rigorous concert schedule in the second decade of the 21st century, in the U.S. and around the world, despite having passed the age of 70. He was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1983, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was an October 2006 inductee of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. His ardent fans have appealed for his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, due to his longevity, contributions to contemporary music, and hit songwriting for himself and dozens of other artists.

''American Idol''

In May 2003, near the end of the second season of the Fox TV series ''American Idol'', Sedaka appeared as a guest judge and mentor to the five remaining finalists. (The "guest judge" aspect of the series has long since been discontinued.) Several of the contestants' performances from Sedaka's songbook sparked particular praise from the guest judge. One of those performances came from eventual third-place finalist Kimberley Locke, who sang the "Theme from ''Where the Boys Are''." The Sedaka/Greenfield composition was originally recorded by Connie Francis and has gone on to become her signature song. Sedaka termed Locke's performance "ear-licious."

Eventual Season 2 runnerup Clay Aiken chose Sedaka's 1972 song "Solitaire" for his performance. As Aiken explained to the studio and TV audiences, host Ryan Seacrest, and the four total judges, "Solitaire" had long been one of his mother's all-time favorite songs. When she learned that Sedaka was going to be a guest judge and that the finalists would be singing Sedaka's songs, she begged him to sing "Solitaire." The performance was uniformly given extraordinarily high praise by the judges (including perennial skeptic Simon Cowell). Sedaka dissolved into tears, telling Aiken that he officially passed ownership of the performance of "Solitaire" to Clay, offering to record and produce a single of the song or an entire CD with him.

Although it did not appear on his debut CD itself, Aiken recorded and added "Solitaire" as the B-side to the single "The Way," whose sales were faltering. "Solitaire" was quickly moved to the A-side, and radio airplay and single and download sales responded immediately. "Solitaire" hit #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Singles Sales chart and was, in fact, the top-selling single for all of 2004. It also hit the Top 5 on ''Billboard'''s Hot 100. Sedaka was invited back to ''American Idol'' to celebrate the success of "Solitaire" several times, as it continued to reach new milestones. Since then, Aiken has mined the Sedaka songbook again, recording a cover of probably Sedaka's best-known song, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," on the "deluxe version" of his 2010 CD release, ''Tried and True''.

Sedaka continues to be seen in the ''American Idol'' studio audience on at least an annual basis — most recently on May 19, 2011, when Seacrest had Sedaka stand and greet the audience on-camera during Season 10's "Top 3" results show.

Guinness World Record

When Sedaka moved his family to the UK, British singer Tony Christie recorded and released the Sedaka/Greenfield composition "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?" in 1971. The song did relatively well on the UK singles chart, peaking in the Top 20. The song would lie dormant for more than three decades, when UK comic Peter Kay lip-synched the song for a 2002 video in his TV series ''Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights''. For the 2005 annual Comic Relief charity drive, he solicited a number of celebrity friends of his and updated the video, and it became an enormous hit. The original 1971 Tony Christie single was re-released to radio and CD/download sales, and hit #1 for seven weeks and was the biggest hit in Britain for all of 2005.

When interviewed for an "extras" feature for a DVD set of a concert filmed in London on 7 April 2006 (see below), Neil jokingly had heard that Christie had retired and was "golfing in Spain." The sudden revival of "Amarillo" summoned Christie back to the UK for an unexpected return to fame. Sedaka also released the song in the U.S. in 1977 as the shortened "Amarillo," but it was only a mid-chart entry, peaking just shy of the Top 40. In early 2006, the song received new life yet again when it received a dance beat and revised lyrics to become a novelty hit for the UK team's FIFA World Cup finals with "Is This the Way to the (England) World Cup?" It was used yet again later that summer by the Central Band of the Royal British Legion prior to the Men's Finals of the 2006 Wimbledon tennis tournament.

On 7 April 2006, Sedaka was appearing at the Royal Albert Hall and filming for the above-referenced CD/DVD package, when he was interrupted mid-concert by a gentleman who walked onstage from the wings. The planned scenario was that Sedaka was to begin performing "Amarillo", and after one verse, the audience was to be surprised by the appearance of Christie for an eventual duet. But at the interruption, a seemingly annoyed Sedaka asked, "What is this?" The interloper was a representative from Guinness Records, and he was there to present Sedaka with an award from ''Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums'' for composing "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?", the most successful UK single of the 21st century (up to that date, of course). After the presentation, Sedaka proceeded into "Amarillo", Christie entered onstage to an eruption of cheers from the audience, and after the successful duet performance, the two men walked offstage together as the first half of Sedaka's concert came to a close – with the entertainer the latest recipient of a new Guinness World Record.

New recording contract, new chart success

Since Sedaka had lost his recording contract in the mid-1980s, he had used his own business, 'Neil Sedaka Music,' to finance the recording, production, and distribution of new CDs and repackaging of his existing catalog of music. Because of ongoing disputes with RCA Victor Records over the ownership of Sedaka's original late 1950s/early 1960s hits, in 1991, Sedaka re-recorded those early recordings, note-for-note. Sedaka had taken meticulous care of his voice over the years and still sang in the original keys recorded in his youth (and still does today). This allowed him to repackage his catalog to include both his early recordings along with his mid-to-late '70s hits and later recordings.

In early 2007, Sedaka signed his first recording contract in more than two decades with Razor and Tie Records, a small-but-growing, New York-based independent label with a talent roster that also includes Joan Baez, Vanessa Carlton, Foreigner, Joe Jackson, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The first release was ''The Definitive Collection'', a life-spanning compilation of his hits, along with outtakes and songs previously released but unavailable in CD and/or download format. It debuted in the Top 25 on ''Billboard'''s Top 200 Albums chart in May 2007, one of the highest-charting albums of his entire career. Best known as a "singles artist," this album chart activity was considered a significant comeback for the veteran entertainer. The last time Sedaka had an album on the Top 200 albums chart was in 1980, with his '79 album ''In the Pocket'' – when "Should've Never Let You Go," the 1980 duet with Sedaka and daughter Dara, was Sedaka's last Top 20 hit on the Hot 100 singles chart.

''Waking Up Is Hard to Do'' was Sedaka's next release with Razor and Tie, hitting the albums chart in May 2009. The CD was a children's album that used the melodies of many of Sedaka's best-known songs but changed the lyrics to fit, and hopefully have fun with, the everyday lives of babies and toddlers, along with their parents, grandparents, babysitters, and other caregivers. The CD title is an example. Lastly, ''The Music of My Life'' entered the albums chart in February 2010 and comprised almost all new material. The first track, "Do You Remember?," is Sedaka's first foray into spicy salsa and was produced by music producer, composer, and pianist David Foster. "Right or Wrong," co-written with original music partner Howard Greenfield, was done in traditional street-corner, layered doo-wop vocal harmonies with Sedaka overlaying his own voice to achieve the effect for which he was well known in his "early" heyday of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The final track, "You", has been previously released, but was remastered for this project and is often one of several titles dedicated to his wife and career guide of nearly 50 years, Leba. Neil Sedaka Music continues to be listed as co-producer along with Razor and Tie.

A concert performance on 26 October 2007 at the Lincoln Center in New York City paid homage to the 50th anniversary of Sedaka's debut in show business. Music impresario (and producer for ''The Music of My Life'' track "Do You Remember?") David Foster served as emcee. Other guests included The Captain and Tennille; Natalie Cole; Connie Francis; recording legend and decades-long Sedaka friend and former manager Don Kirshner; and new ''Solitaire'' "owner" Clay Aiken, amongst many others.

During his 2008 Australian tour, Sedaka premiered a new classical orchestral composition entitled "Joie de Vivre (Joy of Life)." Sedaka also toured The Philippines for his May 17, 2008 concert at the Araneta Coliseum.

In early 2010, his original uptempo version of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (performed by a group of uncredited singers) was being heard as the impetus for a series of insurance TV commercials, featuring actor Dennis Haysbert assuring that TV viewers not insured by Allstate ''can'' break up with their current insurer without much ado at all.

On September 11, 2010, Sedaka performed to a public and TV audience at the Hyde Park, London, venue of the "Proms in the Park" for the BBC. The UK continues to be probably Sedaka's most welcoming nation, and has been since first moving his family there (temporarily) four decades ago. The irony of the place whose music scuttled his "first" career, namely The Beatles and the British Invasion, and yet has constantly welcomed him with open arms for more than 40 years, is not lost on him, he has stated in many interviews. Indeed, it was his work with the musicians who would, in a few years, become the hit-making group 10cc that brought him back to the U.S. as a major star with #1 hits and a number of other major Top 40 singles. The UK always takes up a major portion of Sedaka's touring year in the 21st century.

In early 2011, Sedaka recorded two duets ("Brighton" and "The Immigrant") with singer Jim Van Slyke for his Neil Sedaka tribute album, ''The Sedaka Sessions''. LML Records released this album in August 2011.

Personal life

Sedaka attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, graduating in 1956. He has been married to his wife, Leba (Strassberg), since 1962. They have two children: a daughter, Dara, a recording artist and vocalist for television and radio commercials (who sang the female part on the Sedaka duet "Should've Never Let You Go"), and a son, Marc, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles with his wife Samantha and three children.

Discography

All-time No. 1 Hits

"Oh! Carol - #1 on Italian charts, 1960

"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (1962 version) - #1 on US Billboard Hot 100, 1962

"La Terza Luna - #1 on Italian charts, 1963

"Laughter in the Rain - #1 on US Easy Listening, 1974; #1 on US Billboard Hot 100, 1975

"The Immigrant - #1 on US Adult Contemporary, 1975

"Bad Blood" - #1 on US Billboard Hot 100, 1975

"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (1975 version) - #1 on US Adult Contemporary, 1976

Filmography

1968 - ''Playgirl Killer''

Autobiography

''Laughter in the Rain: My Own Story''. New York: Putnam 1982. ISBN 0-399-12744-5

References

Sources

Bloom, Ken. ''American song. The Complete musical Theater Companion. 1877–1995'', vol. 2, 2nd edition, Schirmer Books, 1996.

Clarke, Donald. ''The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Viking, 1989.

Ewen, David. ''American Songwriters. An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary'', H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

diMartino, Dave. ''Singer-Songwriters, Pop Music's Performer-Composers, from A to Zevon'', Billboard Books, 1984.

Friedrich, Gary; Brown, Len. ''Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'', Tower Publications, 1970.

Lablanc, Michael. ''Contemporary Musicians'', vol. 4, Gale Research, 1991.

Larkin, Colin. ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Macmillan, 1992.

Lyman, Darryl. ''Great Jews in Music'', J. D. Publishers, 1986.

Sadie, Stanley; Hitchcock, H. Wiley (Ed.). ''The New Grove Dictionary of American Music''. Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1986.

Stambler, Irwin. ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul'', St. Martin's Press, 1974.

Sumrall, Harry. ''Pioneers of Rock and Roll. 100 Artists Who Changed the Face of Rock'', Billboard Books, 1994.

White, Mark. ''You Must Remember This ... Popular Songwriters 1900-1980'', Frederick Warner, 1983.

External links

Neil Sedaka's official site

Neil Sedaka For Fans

Petition: Send Neil Sedaka to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

The Neil Sedaka videos

Neil Sedaka's Biography by Michael Turner

The Neil Sedaka Appreciation Society

Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York) alumni Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American pop pianists Category:People from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn Category:American male singers Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Turkish descent Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:People from New York City Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Turkish Jews Category:Rocket Records artists

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Coordinates	5°25′00″N100°19′00″N
name	Twin Atlantic
background	group_or_band
origin	Glasgow, Scotland
genre	Alternative rock, Pop punk, Progressive rock, Power pop
years active	2007–present
label	Red Bull Records
website	Official
current members	Sam McTrustyBarry McKennaRoss McNaeCraig Kneale }}

Twin Atlantic are an alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band is composed of Sam McTrusty (lead vocals, guitar), Barry McKenna (guitar, cello, vocals), Ross McNae (bass, piano, vocals) and Craig Kneale (drums, vocals).

History

Formation, ''A Guidance From Colour'' (2007–2008)

Twin Atlantic formed in February 2007. All members previously played in other small, local bands. During 2007 they built up a strong reputation both locally and nationally. They supported Circa Survive and mewithoutyou before recording their debut EP ''A Guidance From Colour'' at Long Wave Studio in Cardiff with producer Romesh Dodangoda (Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses, The Blackout). This culminated in the release of their debut EP on 14 January 2008 and their first single, "Audience & Audio", on 24 December 2007.

Building on support from ''Kerrang!'', the band's profile was boosted enough for them to land support slots with Biffy Clyro and they were personally chosen by Jimmy Chamberlin to support Smashing Pumpkins at Glasgow's SECC in early February. Over the following months, they also supported American acts The Matches, Blink-182, Finch and Say Anything on their respective UK tours.

In mid-2008, Twin Atlantic played many festivals in Scotland, including T in the Park, Belladrum Festival, RockNess, Live at Loch Lomond and Connect Music Festival.

The band signed a single deal with King Tuts Recordings, and "What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?" was released on 29 September 2008. They also completed a joint headline tour of Scotland with The Xcerts and their first set of solo headline dates across the UK.

The Glasgow four piece were chosen as the main support for The Subways on their European tour throughout October and November 2008.

The band finished a UK headline tour which concluded with a sold out gig at the Classic Grand in Glasgow on 6 December 2008.

''Vivarium'' (2009–2010)

In March 2009, Twin Atlantic met producer Gil Norton who worked for Red Bull Records and with whom they released their debut mini-album ''Vivarium''. They released the lead single "Lightspeed" as a free download from their website on 29 July 2009, with a bonus acoustic version of the track also available. The follow-up single "You're Turning Into John Wayne" was released on 7 September 2009, with the mini-album released a week later.

On 7 March 2009, they played a sold out gig at Queen Margaret Union (QMU).

The band toured extensively in 2009 and 2010, having played Download Festival, Guilfest, T in the Park, Sonisphere and Belladrum over the summer of 2009, including supporting Taking Back Sunday on a tour of UK and Ireland in July 2009. This continued into a full tour of the UK in September and then the United States with The Fall of Troy and Envy On The Coast in March and April 2010. In June 2010, Twin Atlantic supported The Gaslight Anthem on their British mini-tour and on 7 August 2010 they played at the Hevy Music Festival.

Twin Atlantic played at the sold-out Belsonic festival in Belfast on 28 August 2010 supporting Biffy Clyro.

On 21 October 2010, the band announced, via their Facebook page, that they would be supporting My Chemical Romance for three upcoming dates.

''Free'' (2011–present)

Twin Atlantic finished recording their new album, ''Free'', and it was released on April 29, 2011 in the Republic of Ireland and May 2, 2011 in the United Kingdom. The albums first single was "Edit Me", released on February 14.

In January they supported Angels & Airwaves in Continental Europe.

Second single "Free" was first played on BBC Radio 1 on the Zane Lowe show between 7 pm & 9 pm on March 10 and released on The third single released was "Time For You To Stand Up" on the 11th of July, with "Cherry Slut" and "Babylonian Throwdown" as B-sides. On the 26th of September, a fourth single was released from the album; "Make A Beast Of Myself", including the B-side "Your Amazing Lying, Lion, Lie In".

Band members

Sam McTrusty – lead vocals, rhythm guitar

Barry McKenna – lead guitar, cello, keyboards, backing vocals

Ross McNae – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Craig Kneale – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions			!rowspan="2"
		!style="width:5em;font-size:85%"	!style="width:5em;font-size:85%"	!style="width:5em;font-size:85%"
2009	style="text-align:left;"	*Released: September 14, 2009	*Label: Red Bull Records	*Formats:	*Released: May 2, 2011	*Label: [[Red Bull Records">Compact Disc	148	—	—
2011	style="text-align:left;"	*Released: May 2, 2011	*Label: [[Red Bull Records	*Formats:
! Name	! Format	! Release date
''[[A Guidance From Colour">Compact Disc	37	5	—

EPs

! Name	! Format	! Release date
''[[A Guidance From Colour''	CD / digital download	14 January 2008

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		!style="width:5em;font-size:85%"	!style="width:5em;font-size:85%"
		—	—
		—	—
		—	—	rowspan="4"
	—	—
	—	—
		—	—
		—	—	rowspan="5"
	—	—
	—	—
	—	—
	99	—

References

External links

Official Website

Category:Scottish rock music groups Category:Musical groups established in 2007 Category:Musical groups from Glasgow

es:Twin Atlantic nl:Twin Atlantic