Singer and songwriter Neil Sedaka dies at 86

American musician Neil Sedaka, who had a string of chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s with songs like ‘Laughter in the Rain’, has died at age 86, his family said Friday.

Over a career spanning six decades, Sedaka scored three number-one hits in the United States and also wrote chart-topping songs for other artists.

“Our family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather,” Sedaka’s family posted on his Facebook page, describing the late artist as a “true rock and roll legend.”

Born in New York, Sedaka’s musical career began in the late 1950s. One of his first successes was writing ‘Stupid Cupid’ for one of the era’s most popular US female vocalists, Connie Francis.

Sedaka, an accomplished pianist, became a star in his own right in the early 1960s, with pop hits including ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’.

His popularity faded in the second half of the 1960s as bands like The Beatles came into fashion, but it revived in the 1970s with easy-listening favourites like ‘Laughter in the Rain’ and ‘Bad Blood’.

Sedaka’s ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ became a number one hit for the husband-and-wife recording duo Captain & Tennille in 1975.

Sedaka had dropped out of the charts by the 1980s. He remained a showbiz fixture and kept performing even as commercial successes waned.

No cause of death was given.