Neil sedaka biography n family vacation

By Jeanne Sager
MONTICELLO — February 14, 2006 – He sings like the guy next door.
For Sullivan residents, he really is.
The man who brought the world “Laughter in the Rain,” admitted “Breakin’ Up Is Hard to Do,” still owns property in Merriewold between Monticello and Forestburgh.
And Neil Sedaka credits Sullivan County with starting him on the path to a six-decade career in show business.
“Going to the mountains was a big thing,” he recalled.

“We stopped at the Red Apple Rest, of course, and I had my hot dog.”
A Legendary History
The Sedaka family was vacationing in Livingston Manor at the Kenmore Hotel when a lady named Ella Greenfield heard Neil practicing on the resort piano.
A student at the Juilliard school of music in New York City, 13-year-old Sedaka thought he was on the