Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What was the first band Neil Sedaka was in?
Rock with Neil Sedaka or just Neil Sedaka is the first major solo album of Neil Sedaka released in 1959 after two 1958 albums under the titles "Neil Sedaka and The Tokens" and "Neil Sedaka and The Tokens and Coins". The album was released by RCA Victor and was produced by Al Nevins.
The album contains 12 songs, all of them co-written by Sedaka and his friend Howard Greenfield. Two of the songs became successful singles for Sedaka from the album, namely "The Diary", his debut single that was a hit, reaching No. 14 on the US Billboard charts, and "I Go Ape", a single that was relatively successful in the United States reaching No. 42, but did far better in the UK Singles Chart, making it up to No. 9 and his debut single in the United Kingdom.
The group was formed in 1955 at Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School, and was known first as The Linc-Tones. Originally featuring members Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin, Rabkin was replaced by Jay Siegel in 1956, and the band recorded its first single, "While I Dream" that same year. In 1957 Sedaka and Zolotin left the band, leaving only Siegel and Medress, who would recruit two additional band members and record the single "Picture in My Wallet" as Darrell & the Oxfords. Finally establishing its most famous name and crew, the band became known as the Tokens in 1960 after they recruited the 13-year-old multi-instrumentalist and first tenor Mitch Margo and his baritone brother Phil Margo.
This song's writers, Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, had originally written this song for Little Anthony & The Imperials. (It had a very similar sound to that group's first hit, "Tears on My Pillow".) The pair took the song to George Goldner, The Imperials' producer, over at End Records, who, although having the group record and release the song as an End Records single, felt that it wasn't quite done the way they felt it should have been done. The Imperials' version didn't chart, so Sedaka took it and decided that he should record the song himself. "The Diary" was issued on Sedaka's 1959 first solo album "Rock with Sedaka" on RCA. It was reissued on his 1961 record "Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits", and again in 1963 on the album "Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits".
Wilson, his brothers Carl and Dennis, Mike Love and Al Jardine first appeared as a music group in the summer of 1961, initially under the name the Pendletones. After being prodded by Dennis to write a song about the local water-sports craze, Wilson and Mike Love together created what became the first single for the band, "Surfin'". Over Labor Day weekend 1961, Wilson took advantage of the fact that his parents were in Mexico City for several days, and the boys used the emergency money his parents had left to rent an amplifier, a microphone, and a stand-up bass for Jardine to play. After the boys rehearsed for two days in the Wilsons' music room, his parents returned home from their trip. Eventually impressed, Murry Wilson proclaimed himself the group's manager and the band embarked on serious rehearsals for a proper studio session.
The band was started in the summer of 1969 in the town of Dumfries, Scotland by founder member Alex Wilson who recruited Jimmy Ronnie (guitar) and Ian McDougall (drums). They were joined by singer Mike Waller in early 1970. Wilson, the group's bass guitarist, decided to form a band after seeing a Led Zeppelin concert in 1969 and the band's name was eventually chosen by Wilson from a lyric from King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". Wilson and McDougall's attendance at Black Sabbath's performance at Dumfries (which Wilson recorded, representing Sabbath's earliest live recording), convinced them to not only cover their entire first album and single live, but to consciously construct their sound around them. The band had originally performed covers by blues rock artists such as Free, Johnny Winter, Ten Years After, and Taste but soon began writing and performing original compositions.
Although not officially, this is the first album with Jeff Singer (his official full-time membership in the band was on "The Enemy" single from the "In Requiem" album), who came after when the band was ready to release this album on an earlier date but postponed when they had no drummer. The band had songs such as "Sedative God", which was written for this album but did not end up on any of the releases of this album (such as singles) but instead ended up on the aforementioned album, while other songs such as "Through The Silence" and "Sanctimonious You", although not released on any of the reissues of this album, ended up being on the "Forever After" single CD and the "B-Sides & Rarities" album. The aforementioned single also has a Music Video which features Jeff Singer in the lineup.
In late 1976, Strickland and Wilson returned to Athens in search of further employment. The two joined the B-52's when they, Wilson's sister Cindy, and Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider of local protest band The Sun-Donuts, formed the group in an impromptu musical practice session after sharing a tropical flaming volcano drink at a Chinese restaurant. They played their first concert in 1977 at a Valentine's Day party for friends. The band's quirky take on the new wave sound of their era was a combination of dance and surf music set apart by the unusual guitar tunings used by Wilson.
In 1983, Madonna met John "Jellybean" Benitez, who worked as a DJ at the Funhouse club in lower Manhattan. Soon after, they started dating each other and worked on Madonna's self-titled debut album, released in 1983. When Benitez started work on his debut EP, "Wotupski!?!", he asked Madonna to write a song for him. Within two days Madonna wrote "Sidewalk Talk", whose idea she had initially thought of using on her debut album. According to Benitez, "Wotupski!?!" was a concept album, "It's a street slang in the Bronx. It means 'what's up, what's new'?" The artist credit of the song was simply Jellybean, with lead vocals credited to Catherine Buchanan. Madonna provided background vocals for the track with Audrey Wheeler and Cindy Mizelle. Benitez produced the track as well as arranged and mixed it. Michael Hutchinson assisted on engineering, recording and mixing the track. Producer Stephen Bray also arranged "Sidewalk Talk" with Benitez. Instrumentation featured in the track included bass guitar by Marcus Miller, synthesizer by Boyd Jarvis, Fred Zarr and Bray, electric guitar by Ira Siegel, percussion by Bashiri Johnson and Trevor Gale, and lastly drum programming by Benitez and Bray.
Ely was enrolled at Washington High School in Portland, Oregon. He did not play in the school band, but had a passion for singing. In 1959, Lynn Easton's mother invited him to play at a Portland hotel gig, with Ely singing and playing guitar with the backup band and Easton on the drum kit. The two teenagers grew up together, as their parents were close friends. Easton and Ely performed at yacht club parties, and soon added Mike Mitchell on guitar and Bob Nordby on bass to round out a band. They called themselves The Kingsmen, taking the name from a recently disbanded group. The Kingsmen began their collective career playing at fashion shows, Red Cross events, and supermarket promotions, generally avoiding rock songs on their setlist. Ely played with the Kingsmen as he attended Portland State University.
In 1962, while playing a gig at the Pypo Club in Seaside, Oregon, the band noticed Rockin' Robin Roberts's version of "Louie Louie" being played on the jukebox for hours on end. The entire club would get up and dance. Ely convinced the Kingsmen to learn the song, which they played at dances to a great crowd response. Unknown to him, he changed the beat from 1-2-3-4, 1–2, 1-2-3-4, 1–2 to 1-2-3, 1–2, 1-2-3, 1–2 because he based it on the intro only. Ken Chase, host of radio station KISN, formed his own club to capitalize on these dance crazes. Dubbed "The Chase", the Kingsmen became the club's house band and Ken Chase became the band's manager. Ely was begging Chase to let the band record their own version of "Louie Louie", and on April 5, 1963, Chase booked the band an hour-long session at the local Northwestern Inc. studio for the following day. The band had just played a 90-minute "Louie Louie" marathon.
The beginning of 1998 Fetah returned to Australia and the band began recording tracks for their debut album, which eventually became the eight-track EP, "8 Miles High". They band had already released the single Two-Faced (Check Your Head Up) in 1998 and followed it up with a second 4 track single "Karma" in early 1999/ The group went on to perform on the Vans Warped Tour, and then supported Fear Factory on their tour of Australia's east coast. In June 1999 Superheist toured nationally backing Sepultura, Late that year after a heavy touring schedule Bassist Si Durrant went berserk in a hotel room in Brisbane causing hundreds of dollars worth of damage. The band was chased out of town by the Queensland Police and subsequently Durrant mutually left the band and returned to Adelaide where he joined a short-lived project, Screwface:13. He was replaced in August by Melbourne session bass player Drew Dedman (ex Iconklast), who had met DW (by this time a well known studio producer) while recording bass tracks for Toecutter's "Lost Culture" at Back Beach Recording studio. A brief East Coast and South Australian tour followed with varying degrees of success. With the band's sound changing quiet dramatically, some fans struggled to connect with the new direction. Returning to Melbourne, the band filmed their first music video for the third single Have Your Way. Although never officlally released, the Have Your Way single was distributed by Shock as promotion for the later release of 8 Miles High and has become highly sought after by collectors.
In October 1999, Superheist recorded a cover of Walls by the Flowers at the ABC studios in South Melbourne. This track was featured by national radio station Triple J as part of Aus music month in November. A regional Victorian support with the Screaming Jets, a return to Canberra for Metal for the Brain on the 28th and a handful of local and East coast shows. The band finally got its first taste of a big summer festival stage by getting an early spot on Falls Festival, New Year's Eve. This performance allowed the band to showcase their new sound to a much larger audience and won the hearts of many with blistering live show. At Shock Records, Shagpile label was discontinued and Superheist had neither the budget nor time to record new tracks with Dedman for a full studio album, so 8 Miles High was cut down to 8 tracks and released as an EP on 24 January. Although featured on the artwork and credited as bass player, all the bass tracks on 8 Miles High were played by either Si Durrant or DW Norton. The EP's opening track "Pulse" received airplay on national radio network, Triple J. It was later included on a various artists' compilation album, Full Metal Racket. In January 2000, Dedman finally joined as a full-time member. With Dedman's highly skilled bass playing, the band's rhythm section had never sounded better and the stage was set for Superheist to take things to the next level. 
8 Miles High had made a significant impact on the Australian alternative charts, Pulse, Two-Faced, Karma and Have You Way were receiving significant airplay. This led to a main support slot with Grinspoon on their Australian tour in February. This tour effective broke the band on a national level. As a result of the success of the tour and 8 Miles High, the band was approached by Gregg Donovan of Step2 artist management (Grinspoon, Airbourne) who offered them a management contract. "Pulse" was shelved in favour of a remixed, rereleased version of 2 faced. The band shot a film clip for the new version of the tune which was filmed in Melbourne and the song was re-released to radio as a promo single by Shock records. The CD sleeve featured a new band logo more in the style of US nu-metal band Limp Bizkit. This was done without the band's permission and was promptly removed from circulation after complaints from the band. Superheist's relationship with Shock Records was often tested with the label making numerous ill-fated decisions without consulting the band.
The name was soon altered to Superheist, Berger supplied the "Super" while Norton provided the "Heist". McLeod and Norton had met at Overport primary school in Frankston Victoria in 1980 and later attended Frankston High School together. Sean Pentecost was a mutual friend who worked at a local music store, Frankston Guitar Village, and had previously played with Norton, Mcleod and Sudborough in the alt rock band Big Pop Monsters. Superheist's first live performance was at the 21st Century Dance Club, Frankston supporting the Cosmic Psychos. In 1994 they issued a five-track extended play cassette, Apocalypse, which was recorded at Backbeach Studios in Rye, Victoria and later distributed by Warhead records, The band's style at this early stage was grindcore, in the Napalm Death mould and incorporated synth tones, samples and clean vocals mixed amongst the brutal blast beats and death growls. 
The band's focus was to push the boundaries of extreme metal whilst introducing pop and nu-wave inspired melodies and hook lines. The demo was met with rave reviews across the country and as the band began touring nationally they quickly gained a loyal and fanatic following. Later that year bassist Sudborough was replaced with Adam "Donut" Donath and the next year was spent touring the country with bands such as In:Extremis, Damaged and Beanflipper. Superheist were now a regular feature of the Melbourne grind scene and played at such venues as The GB and The Hell Club, the band were learning their craft and honing what would eventually become the foundation for a world class live show. In early December 1995 they appeared at the annual Metal for the Brain festival in Canberra, which raised funds for the National Brain Injury Foundation. This pivotal performance helped the band set themselves up for the next few years to come. They returned for the 1996 festival but by that time Seanheist had left the group due to his waining interest in playing extreme metal. Aaren "Suds" Suttil (1974–2006) of Dreadnaught replaced him on drums.
Donald Newton "Donnie" Van Zant (born June 11, 1952, in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American rock vocalist/guitarist. He is best known for being a member of the band 38 Special, from its formation in 1974 until 2013. He is the middle of three sons of a truck driver. Older brother Ronnie was the original lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd; who died in a plane crash in Mississippi. Younger brother Johnny has been the lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd since 1987; the two also perform together from time to time as the group Van Zant.
Superheist were formed in Frankston, Victoria in 1993. The original line-up was Rod "Berger" McLeod on vocals, DW Norton on guitar, Sean "Seanheist" Pentecost on drums, Fetah Sabawi on keyboards and samples, and Adrian Sudborough on bass. The band was originally to be named Orgheist, which was inspired by the European grind core bands that they were influenced by at the time.
During the first decade of the 20th century, some songs under the name of samba were recorded, but these recordings did not achieve great popularity. However, in 1917, ""Pelo Telefone"" ("By Telephone") was recorded, and it is considered the first true samba. The song was claimed to be authored by Ernesto dos Santos, best known as , with co-composition attributed to Mauro de Almeida, a well-known Carnival columnist. Actually, "Pelo Telefone" was created by a collective of musicians who participated in celebrations at the house of Tia Ciata (Aunt Ciata). It was eventually registered by Donga and the Almeida National Library.
In Jacksonville, Florida during the summer of 1964, Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, and Gary Rossington became acquainted while playing on rival baseball teams and decided to jam together one afternoon after Burns was injured by a ball hit by Van Zant. The trio set up their equipment in the carport of Burns' parents' house and played The Rolling Stones' then-current hit "Time Is on My Side". Liking what they heard, they immediately decided to form a band. They soon approached guitarist Allen Collins, though Collins initially fled on his bicycle and hid in a tree at the sight of Van Zant pulling into his driveway. Collins was soon convinced that Van Zant meant him no harm and he agreed to join the fledgling band. Bassist Larry Junstrom soon rounded out the lineup and the band settled on the name My Backyard, later changed to The Noble Five before becoming The One Percent by 1968.
Early on in his time in Ambridge, Neil suffered from Leptospirosis, a disease contracted through rats. Hewlett recalls Neil was in hospital and "very close to losing his life". "Like all good dramas, we carried it through to the point –is he going to live, is he going to die? I lived – thank you (laughs), so that was quite interesting to play."
The band are known for their interest in traditional Indian music, culture, and mysticism, with a number of their most famous songs, including "Tattva" and "Govinda", featuring lyrics written in Sanskrit. The name Kula Shaker was itself inspired by King Kulasekhara, an Indian emperor from the 8th century. In addition, many of the band's songs feature traditional Indian instruments, such as the sitar, tamboura, and tabla, juxtaposed with guitar-heavy, Western rock instrumentation. Despite achieving commercial success, Kula Shaker were unpopular with many critics, with "The Observer"'s Simon Price describing them in 2014 as a "joke band".
Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their song "Sweet Home Alabama" in response to "Southern Man" and "Alabama" from Young's 1972 album "Harvest". Young has said that he is a fan of both "Sweet Home Alabama" and Ronnie Van Zant, the lead vocalist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. "They play like they mean it," Young said in 1976. "I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs." Young has also been known to play "Sweet Home Alabama" in concert occasionally. To demonstrate this camaraderie, Van Zant frequently wore a Neil Young "Tonight's the Night" T-shirt while performing "Sweet Home Alabama". Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot can often be seen reciprocating by wearing a Jack Daniel's-styled Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt (including at the "Live Rust" concert).
Jimmy Saied Wehba (September 29, 1934 – August 19, 2010) was an American professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring name Skandor Akbar, which translates as "Alexander the Great". Akbar led the villainous stable Devastation, Inc. in Bill Watts's Universal Wrestling Federation during the promotion's heyday in the 1980s, as well as other regional territories, including World Class Championship Wrestling and the Global Wrestling Federation.
But when he applied for a Social Security card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as “Aboden” (most likely Aberdeen, Mississippi) and signed his name as Albert Nelson, listing his father as Will Nelson. Musicians also knew him as Albert Nelson in the 1940s and '50s. But when he made his first record in 1953—after B.B. had become a national blues star—Albert Nelson became Albert King, and by 1959 he was billed in newspaper ads as “B.B. King's brother.” He also sometimes used the same nickname as B.B—“Blues Boy”—and named his guitar Lucy (B.B.'s instrument was named Lucille). B.B., however, stated that Albert was a friend but not a relative, and he once remarked, “My name was King before I was famous.”
"It's The Things You Do" was released in late 1998 in the U.S., only to receive a lukewarm reception. The group embarked upon a U.S. tour with the American boy band NSYNC, but soon after pulled out due to exhaustion, flying back to England to rest and start work on a new album. Still from the first album, "Got the Feelin'", "Everybody Get Up", and "Until the Time Is Through" were all released as singles in the UK throughout 1998. Five reached the top 5 in several countries around the world, and the latter two singles each rose to the number two spot in the UK. A significant element in Five's popularity was their resemblance to American boy bands such as New Kids on the Block, the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC in their uptempo musical style and 'street' image, in contrast to Take That, Boyzone, and 98 Degrees, who at the time were primarily known for their ballads. Five also wrote or co-wrote almost all of their own songs, something boy bands had never done much of until then. According to Cowell, Five almost broke the US. Unfortunately they made some bad decisions. When Cowell heard "...Baby One More Time", he wanted Five to have it, but writer Max Martin had given it to Britney Spears thus broke up with Martin. Five were later offered "Bye Bye Bye", but upon hearing the song, they turned it down and dissed it. "Then they went out to Sweden a few weeks later to record a song which they famously turned down, called "Bye Bye Bye." And it really was bye bye bye after that. That would have been the record that broke them. I would have broken that band," Cowell said.
While Francis was writing in her diary, Sedaka asked her if he could read what she had written. As mentioned earlier, Francis said no. This inspired Sedaka 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. This hit the Top 5 on the "Billboard" pop singles chart and Francis had several No. 1 singles. "Where the Boys Are" eventually became her signature song.
Neil Sedaka: Now is a studio album by American songwriter and pop star Neil Sedaka. It was released in 1981 on the Elektra label, and it was the last Sedaka album to be released on that label. As with other Neil Sedaka albums of that period, it was released in Europe on the Polydor label.
Elektra issued two 45 rpm singles featuring material from this album. The first one featured "My World Keeps Slipping Away" (b/w "Love Is Spreading Over The World"), which reached No. 36 on the US Adult Contemporary Chart. The second single featured "Losing You" (b/w "On The Road Again"), but did not chart. (This single also saw a European release on the Polydor label.)
Appearing on 1972 album releases by both Tony Christie and Petula Clark, "Solitaire" had its first evident single release in February 1973 as recorded by the Searchers; however it was an autumn 1973 single by Andy Williams which would reach number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and afford Williams a number 1 hit in South Africa. The title cut from an album produced by Richard Perry, Williams' "Solitaire" also became a US Easy Listening hit at number 23. In 1974, Neil Sedaka's 1972 recording of "Solitaire" was included on his comeback album "Sedaka's Back". Later in 1975, a live-in-concert version recorded by Sedaka at the Royal Festival Hall was issued as the B-side of "The Queen of 1964". This is the version of "Solitaire" that was released as part of Razor & Tie's 2007 "Definitive Collection" album.
After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School, Sedaka and some of his classmates formed a band called the Linc-Tones. 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 his solo career and left the group in 1957. The Linc-Tones, later renamed the Tokens after Sedaka's departure, would go on to have four top-40 hits of their own without Sedaka. 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.