Neil Sedaka — singer with roots in the Russian Empire
Neil Sedaka is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Brooklyn who had major hits in the late 1950s-60s (Calendar Girl, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do) and then made a remarkable comeback in the 1970s with Laughter in the Rain and Bad Blood. He also wrote hits for other artists including Love Will Keep Us Together.
Tracing the roots — Russia / Poland
His mother Eleanor Appel's family had Russian and Polish Jewish ancestry — part of the Eastern European Jewish diaspora in America. Growing up in the immigrant Jewish world of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Sedaka's classical piano training and his pop songwriting gift reflect the musical education that immigrant families invested in their children.
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Russia / Poland. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.