There’s a line from an old movie that says no man is a failure who has friends, and by that reasoning, meet the most successful man in town: Marc Shaiman, the legendary composer, Tony-, Grammy- and Emmy-winner, and a guy with friends like Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Steve Martin who’d brave a New York snowstorm to see him. 

The event, held a few weeks ago at the legendary New York City restaurant Sardi’s, was a book party for Shaiman’s new memoir, “Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner” (Regalo Press) And with close to 50 years in the business, he has had a few things to be happy about.

For starters, Shaiman has scored some of the best-loved films of a generation (“Sleepless in Seattle,” “Sister Act,” “City Slickers”), and scored seven Oscar nominations along the way, one of them for the music from the movie “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.” He also played the young news theme writer in the 1987 film “Broadcast News.”

Shaiman wrote the music for the hit Broadway musical “Hairspray,” and won a Tony along with his writing partner (and former life partner) Scott Wittman.

And back at Sardi’s, it seemed everyone in the room had a favorite Marc Shaiman musical moment. 

“I loved Marc before I ever knew him,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, “because I was the species of theater kid that memorized Billy Crystal’s musical montages on the Oscars. And many years later, I learned that Marc wrote those with Billy: It’s a wonderful night for Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, who will winnnnn?”

As the creator of some of the most memorable music on stage and screen, it’s no surprise that Shaiman is most at home behind a piano. “I love a piano,” he said. “I love that we have a piano here. It’s truly part of my body, and heart, and soul. It really is. Always has been.”

I asked, “Do you feel differently sitting at the piano than you do in other parts of your life?”

“I feel at home here, yeah,” Shaiman said. “And onstage. I’m a ham. I feel more at home onstage than really anywhere.”

Born 66 years ago in New Jersey, Shaiman was a piano prodigy who left home at 16, bound for the big city. “My mother said that people were telling her, ‘What do you mean, you’re letting him move to New York?’ But she said, ‘What am I gonna do, chain him to the piano?'”

After a few years playing in New York clubs, he became the music director for one of his idols, the legendary Bette Midler, before getting a job at “Saturday Night Live.”  “I got to co-create the Sweeney Sisters, which were two lounge-singing girls who did long medleys,” he said. “Talk about cheesy show business!”

He also met people there who would become lifelong friends, like Martin Short and Billy Crystal.  “That was what ‘Saturday Night Live’ gave me, those friendships. And then Billy Crystal is the one who introduced me to Rob Reiner.

“Working with Rob was just the greatest. Billy asked him on ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ ‘What are you thinking about for the music?’ And Rob said, ‘I need a guy who, like, knows every song in the American Songbook.’ And Billy mentioned, ‘Have I got a guy for you!'”

The finished film was a hit, in part because of Shaiman’s musical arrangements, and Reiner asked him to score his next project, the 1990 thriller “Misery,” even though that was uncharted territory for Shaiman. “Even my own agent said, ‘Rob, what makes you think Marc can do this?’ And Rob said, ‘Richard, talent is talent.’ I had to live up to his faith in me.”

Shaiman went on to score more than a dozen of Reiner’s films, a golden Hollywood winning streak that might’ve continued, until the unthinkable happened in December, when Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle, were murdered in their home.

“It was Billy Crystal who texted me, ‘Call me,'” Shaiman recalled. “And I could just sense from the two words, something’s not right. And I called him, and he told me what had happened. And I was in shock. And I’m really still in shock.”

One of the scores Shaiman is most proud of was for the 1995 film “The American President.” Reiner made a film that was poignant and inspiring, and Shaiman’s music captures not only the spirit of the film, but of the dear friend who made it.

Shaiman says it’s been a rough couple of months, but he’s working through it.  

He calls himself a cynic. But he has an equally clear sense of just how lucky he’s been. And despite the title of his book – “Never Mind the Happy” – he says he has a lot to be happy about. “The way people kept saying, ‘Marc, don’t give up.’ And it’s true! I just had this endless amount of dreams coming true. I am proof that if you just keep showing up, keep saying yes, that everything you could’ve ever dreamt of can happen.”     

READ AN EXCERPT: “Never Mind the Happy” by Marc Shaiman

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Marc Shaiman (Video)

     
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler. 

Neil Sedaka was one of America’s most popular singer-songwriters, twice!

As a boy growing up in Brooklyn, his talent was hard to miss. “I was a child prodigy,” he told “Sunday Morning” in 2020. “I started at nine years old. Got a scholarship to the prep school of Julliard.”

When he was 13, he met a kid in his apartment building named Howard Greenfield. He’d found his lyricist, and they quickly hit it big.

When we met six years ago, Sedaka told me about the song that made him a star, “Oh, Carol,” inspired by his relationship with high school classmate Carole King: “I did date Carole King for about two minutes,” he laughed. “Yes. I had a crush on Carole King.”

In the next few years, Sedaka composed-and performed one hit teen anthem after another, including “Calendar Girl” and “Stupid Cupid,”

Asked if there is a throughline as to what makes songs popular, Sedaka replied, “It always goes back to, ‘Oh, that song could be my life. That’s my story.'”

He landed his first #1 single in 1962, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.”

Neil Sedaka had become a superstar. Between 1958 and 1963, he sold 40 million records “I pushed three buttons on my car radio, and I heard ‘Oh Carol’ on three stations at the same time,” he said. 

And then, suddenly it was over. In 1963, a new group arrived: The Beatles. Sedaka’s brand of bouncy pop quickly fell out of favor. He’d become a has-been at age 24. For 13 years, he was mostly forgotten. “I had 13 years of being off the charts – no plays, nothing,” he said.

And then, one night, at a party in England, he met a fellow musician named Elton John. “He said, ‘You know, I could make you a star again.'”

In 1974, John’s record company released a new album called “Sedaka’s Back.” That record included his first #1 hit in 12 years: “Laughter in the Rain.”

But even that song wasn’t as big a hit as the one recorded by the Captain and Tenille: “Love Will Keep Us Together.”

“I went from making $50,000 a year in 1974, to $6 million a year in 1975, with one record, one LP, and one song,” he said.

The second act of Sedaka’s career had begun. If you had any doubt, you just had to listen closely. In 1976, a new, slower version of “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” hit the charts again. “I think I’m the only person who did the same song twice, in a different tempo, number one both times,” he said.

On Friday, after a 70-year career, Neil Sedaka died at age 86. To him, making a song was a joyful, even mystical act.

“I think you’re chosen spiritually at that particular moment,” he said, “and you’d better sit very quietly, because you can actually feel the song being written by itself. And the song passes through your throat and through your fingers. It’s an extraordinary feeling!”
     

Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Jennifer Falk. 

Mumford & Sons served as the musical guest in the latest episode of Saturday Night Live on February 28, and they brought out a surprise guest along.

The folk-rock band based on Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane, took the stage to perform songs from their latest album, Prizefighter, and sang Rubber Band Man featuring Hozier.

Their performance also featured a cameo from The National’s Aaron Dessner which doubled the excitement for fans.

Videos of the performance taken from Studio 8H went viral all over social media, as fans expressed their delight at Mumford & Sons’ comeback, and the surprise guests.

The song Rubber Band Man is a collaboration between the Someone New hitmaker, and the band.

Prizefighter, which marked the second album since the band’s return after seven years, features many collaborations as the band described their project a collaborative effort between friends.

They co-produced and co-wrote the album with Dessner, and worked with Gracie Abrams and Chris Stapleton on tracks from the project. 

The special SNL episode where Mumford & Sons performed, was hosted by Heated Rivalry star Connor Storie.