Howard Greenfield

Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his series of successful songwriting collaborations, including one with Neil Sedaka from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, and a near-simultaneous (and equally successful) songwriting partnership with Jack Keller throughout most of the 1960s.

Greenfield co-wrote four songs that reached #1 on the US Billboard charts: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", as recorded by Neil Sedaka; "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart", both as recorded by Connie Francis, and "Love Will Keep Us Together", as recorded by The Captain & Tennille. He also co-wrote numerous other top 10 hits for Neil Sedaka (including "Oh! Carol", "Stairway to Heaven", "Calendar Girl", "Little Devil", "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", and "Next Door to an Angel"); Connie Francis (including the "Theme to Where The Boys Are" and "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own"); The Everly Brothers ("Crying In The Rain"); Jimmy Clanton ("Venus In Blue Jeans") and The Shirelles ("Foolish Little Girl"). As well, Greenfield co-wrote the theme songs to numerous 1960s TV series, including Bewitched, The Flying Nun and Hazel.

In 2005, "Is This The Way To Amarillo", a song Greenfield had written with Sedaka in the early 1970s, reached #1 on the UK charts in the original 1971 version by Tony Christie. (Note that the video featured an all-star celebrity line-up lip-synching the track, and the proceeds went to charity.) The record stayed at #1 for 7 weeks, and became the UK's best-selling record of the millennium to that time.