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Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka, who marks his 50th anniversary in the music business this year, helped create what's known as the Brill Building sound in the late '50s and early '60s. He's been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, but he got his start as a classical pianist. He joins Terry Gross to talk about his life as a performer — and about The Definitive Collection, a career-spanning greatest-hits compendium.

A debut at the Metropolitan Opera is an opera singer's dream. It's about to become a reality for tenor Lawrence Brownlee.

In his new album, 12 Segundos de Oscuridad — Twelve Seconds of Darkness"-- Oscar-winning musician Jorge Drexler explores the path that darkness can illuminate.

Ralph Covert says the key to writing songs for children is to forget that you're writing for children. The indie rocker turned musician for the smaller set discusses his latest CD, Welcome Ralph's World.

Conor Oberst, lead singer of Bright Eyes, captured public attention as a protest singer with artistic ambitions. At 27, he seems to have mellowed. "Make a Plan to Love Me" is a gentle throwback to the '60s.

Singer, musician and folklorist Mick Moloney's album, McNally's Row of Flats, centers on theater songs by an Irish songwriting team from the late 1800s. The team consisted of actor and writer Ed Harrigan and musician David Braham, both acclaimed performers of the early Great White Way.

A new CD features a unique musical combination from Ghana: drums, singing, bells and squeeze-bulb horns. The band members are taxi and truck drivers, and their music, por por, is named after the sound their horns make.

Brazilian singer Ceu loves soul, jazz, hip-hop and afro-pop. And those influences are apparent on her new self-titled CD. But the foundation underlying it all is the Brazilian samba. "It's what sticks to the soles of my feet, " she says.

It's a truism that the drum is the heart and soul of African music. But not so fast: Over the past century, guitarists have redefined the sound of the continent. Two new releases, by Zimbabwean guitarist Louis Mhlanga and a Toronto-based group called the African Guitar Summit, prove that.

For some musicians good song writing is elementary. For others it's elementary school. A CD called Kid Pan Alley collects tunes created in classrooms around the country and recorded by top Nashville artists, including Amy Grant.