Watching the PBS video of Neil Sedaka's 2006 live concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, I couldn't help but notice how his voice sounded so youthful.

The early pop/rock 'n' roll great, who will turn 69 on March 13, takes care of his voice.

"I don't have iced drinks, I don't talk in loud environments and I've never smoked," he says.

Sedaka offers concertgoers an opportunity to extend the spirit of Valentine's Day tonight at Governors State University's Center for Performing Arts.

Accompanying himself at the piano, he will trigger romantic memories for many people with such early rock 'n' roll favorites as "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," "Calendar Girl," "Stairway to Heaven," "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" and more. He will create new memories with a few of his new songs.

"I challenge myself and stay fresh," he says.

His program also features a romantic instrumental by Chopin and video segments, in which he sings live with Sinatra, Elvis, Dinah Washington and others who have recorded his songs.

"I was taught to write hummable, singable, memorable melodies," he says.

A classically trained pianist who completed three years at Julliard School of Music, Sedaka liked to listen on the radio to pop songs of early '50s stars, like Les Paul and Mary Ford and Patti Page.

His songwriting career began at 13, when a 16-year-old neighbor named Howard Greenfield heard him practicing piano. "He rang the door bell and asked me if I would write music for one of his poems," Sedaka says. Thus began one of the longest running and most successful pop music partnerships that sold 25 million records from 1959 to 1963.

Sedaka scored his first hit in 1958 when Connie Francis recorded his song "Stupid Cupid." Two years later she recorded the Sedaka/Greenfield collaboration "Where the Boys Are."

His songs have a happy sound, even when the lyrics are on the bittersweet side.

"I've always been a very up, very positive person," Sedaka says.

His voice adds to the brightness. Recording engineers once told him he sounded like he was smiling.

His piano playing supplies infectious rhythmic energy but never obscures the words.

In recent years, Sedaka has celebrated a number of landmark achievements. In April 2007, he released "The Definitive Collection," commemorating his 50th Anniversary in show business, which debuted at Number 22 on the Billboard Chart. The following October, he was honored with a tribute at New York's Lincoln Center.

Pursuing new ventures, he has just completed a children's CD, adapting the lyrics of his early rock hits for a younger audience. "Where the Boys Are," for example, becomes "Where the Toys Are." "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" becomes "Waking Up is Hard to Do." His 5-year old granddaughters chime in with vocals.

Sedaka, who enjoys performing his songs with symphony orchestras across the country, recently had his first orchestral work, the four-movement "Joie de Vivre," premiered by the Kansas City Symphony.

His 2006 "Classically Sedaka," which attained gold-level sales in England, brings original lyrics to famous classical melodies.