After one of his many South Shore Room performances, Neil Sedaka received an unusual offer from the casino owner, Bill Harrah.

“In lieu of pay he asked me if I’d like to get paid or would I like a Rolls Royce Corniche convertible, and I took the convertible Rolls,” said Sedaka, who on Tuesday will give the final performance of the 50-year anniversary of the historic venue.

Harrah spent more than $3.5 million in 1959 to build the state-of-the-art nightclub and dinner theater. The casino owner hoped to attract visitors from the 1960 Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley.

The greatest entertainers of their time performed dinner and cocktail shows in the South Shore Room. Many of the legendary artists returned in 2009 to the famous stage, including the Smothers Brothers, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Dave Mason, Don Rickles, Dr. John, Smokey Robinson, Taj Mahal, Tony Orlando, Glen Campbell, Joan Rivers and Bob Newhart.

“Bill was always courteous with the artists, offering either the suite at the hotel or the house on the lake, and the cooks and the whole schmear,” Sedaka said. “It was terrific. ... I played that stage many, many times. It was the big comeback for me with “Laughter in the Rain” and the Elton John record company in the mid-’70s. And, of course, I loved to ski so I went to Heavenly and Kirkwood and Squaw.”

Harrah died in 1978 at age of 66.

“He used to come backstage at every opening and he was very unassuming, very quiet,” Sedaka said. “He would stop in the hallways if he saw a crack in the wall and make a report. He was very observant.”

All of the members of the Rat Pack performed in the South Shore Room. In fact, Sammy Davis Jr.’s final show was at Harrah’s.

“I remember Sammy Davis was following me on tour and I stayed over for his opening,” Sedaka said. “We watched Michael Jackson on television from his dressing room. It was a great memory.”

Known as the “World’s Greatest Entertainer,” Davis gave Sedaka important advice.

“Sammy was always supportive of me,” Sedaka said. “He said something that remained with me all these years. He said, ‘Never sweat. Let the audience come to you. Don’t show them that you are pushing.’ And it was very good advice because an audience can tell when you are trying too hard.”

Sedaka, who has a voice that sounds like brandy on Christmas morning, has made it look easy for 50 years. He said he has written between 800 to 900 songs.

“There are three kinds of songwriting: intellectual, spiritual and emotional writing,” he said. “The intellectual is when you have a tune in your head. Something that you’ve heard and you rewrite it. The emotional is when you go through some kind of an emotional crisis and you get it out on paper and get it off your chest like a catharsis. The spiritual is when it writes itself. It comes from a higher power.”

Sedaka continues to write. His first studio album in 10 years has 12 new original songs. “The Music of My Life” will be released in January.

The first track is produced by David Foster — it’s a salsa,” Sedaka said. “I wrote half of it in English and half in Spanish. And there’s even a doo-wop song, and I just got a wonderful review on AARP, who wrote ‘For a 70-year-old he sounded like a 25-year-old.’ I’m very proud of the album.”

Sedaka, 70, said his productivity is what keeps him healthy.

“I always strive to top the last collections and that has kept me going as a creative artist,” he said. “This one is going to be hard to top. It might be my last collection.”

Sedaka was one of the rock ‘n’ roll pioneers in the late 1950s. But the music went from a doo-wop bent to the 12-bar blues during the British Invasion. It nearly ruined Sedaka’s career.

“I’m proud to be one of the original rock and rollers,” he said. “I was first to do multiple voices of myself in rock and roll. I learned it from listening to Les Paul, Mary Ford and Patty Paige in the early ’50s, but I was out of work for 12 years when The Beatles and the English came in.”

Sedaka said he “returned the favor” by moving to England, where he became friends with Elton John and signed with his company Rocket Records.
“The mid-’70s was the time of the singer-songwriter — Carole King and Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Cat Stevens,” Sedaka said. “I had to write more mature songs and I had to show that I could reinvent myself, which I have done several times.”
Sedaka spoke with Lake Tahoe Action just before taking his family to Hawaii for Christmas. His grandchildren, who will stay with him when he comes to Tahoe, are expected to join Sedaka onstage for one of the songs from his children’s album, “Waking up is Hard to Do.”

Sedaka, who had back surgery earlier this year, said he won’t do any skiing during this Tahoe trip. He said his ailment could have been the result of being crouched over a piano writing songs for eight to nine hours a day.

He began his career as a classical pianist, something he is doing again.

“It’s like full circle for me,” he said. “Pop writing is wonderful but you are kind of limited with the harmonies and chord progressions. You have so much more freedom with classical music. That will always be my greatest love.”