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Frankie Vallie
Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. Valli scored 29 top 40 hits with the Four Seasons, one top 40 hit under the Four Seasons alias the Wonder Who?, and nine top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of the Four Seasons, Valli's number-one hits include "Sherry" (1962), "Big Girls Don't Cry" (1962), " Walk Like a Man" (1963), " Rag Doll" (1964) and "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" (1975). Valli's recording of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" reached number two in 1967. As a solo artist, Valli scored number-one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" (1974) and " Grease" (1978). Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi and Bob Gaudio the original members of the Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New Jersey County Map New Jersey Department of State. Accessed July 10, 2017. The city had a population of 311,549 as of the , and was calculated at 307,220 by the Population Estimates Program for 2021, making it [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Greater Downtown Miami, Downtown Miami.Contact Us " ''Miami Herald''. Retrieved January 24, 2014. "The Miami Herald 3511 NW 91 Ave. Miami, FL 33172" - While the address says "Miami, FL", the location is actually in Doral. Se this map of Miami-Dade County municipalities an [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy DeVito (musician)
Gaetano "Tommy" DeVito (June 19, 1928 – September 21, 2020) was an American musician and singer, best known as a founding member, vocalist, and lead guitarist of rock band the Four Seasons. Early years DeVito was born in Belleville, New Jersey, United States, the youngest of nine children in an Italian-American family. At eight years old, he taught himself to play his brother's guitar by listening to country music on the radio. By the time he was 12, he was playing for tips in neighborhood taverns. He quit school after the eighth grade. (Belleville High made him an honorary graduate in 2007.) By 16, he had his own R&B band and was making $20 or $25 a night. Career DeVito's musical career began in the early 1950s when he formed "the Variety Trio" with his brother Nick DeVito and Hank Majewski. This core group performed under various names and changing lineups. The band expanded to a quartet and changed its name to "the Variatones" including the addition in 1954 of singer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grease (song)
"Grease" is a song written by Barry Gibb and performed by Frankie Valli as the title song for the 1978 musical motion picture '' Grease'', which was based on the 1971 stage play ''Grease''. Valli released the song, which celebrates the greaser lifestyle, as a single in May 1978; it sold over seven million copies worldwide and appeared twice on the film's soundtrack, first as the opening track and again as the closing track. "Grease" was one of four songs written specifically for the film that had not been in the stage production. Background Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey had written a different title track for '' Grease'' for its original Chicago production, but the song was discarded when the show was picked up on Broadway. Barry Gibb was commissioned to compose a new title song for Robert Stigwood's film of the stage musical. Production The song was recorded separately from, and later than, the rest of those in the film. Shortly after the filming of the 1978 musical ''Sgt. P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Eyes Adored You
"My Eyes Adored You" is a 1974 song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the Motown label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to lead singer Frankie Valli for $4000. After rejections by Capitol and Atlantic Records, Valli succeeded in getting the recording released on Private Stock Records, but the owner/founder of the label, Larry Uttal, wanted only Valli's name on the label. The single was released in the US in November 1974 and topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in March 1975. "My Eyes Adored You" also went to number 2 on the Easy Listening chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1975. The single was Valli's first number 1 hit as a solo artist on Billboard's Hot 100, and remained there for one week, being knocked out of the top spot by another Crewe/Nolan-penned song, "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle. Although it was released as a Valli solo effort, the song is sometimes include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Can't Take My Eyes Off You
"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is a 1967 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded as a single by Frankie Valli. The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for a week. Gaudio was a bandmate of Valli's in the Four Seasons. It was Valli's biggest solo hit until he hit No. 1 in 1975 with "My Eyes Adored You". Gaudio, an original member of the Four Seasons, refers to "Eyes" as "the one that almost got away" until Windsor, Ontario, radio station CKLW (a station also serving the Detroit metro on the American side of the border) intervened. In 1967, the record's producers urged Paul Drew, program director at the legendary station, to consider the tune for rotation. For much of the 1960s and 1970s, CKLW was credited with launching hit records via its powerful signal, blanketing the Great Lakes region. Drew didn't warm to the song at first, but accepted an invitation to hear it live at the Roostertail, where V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)
"December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" is a song originally performed by the Four Seasons, written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group's album, ''Who Loves You'' (1975). The song features drummer Gerry Polci on lead vocals, with Frankie Valli, the group's usual lead vocalist, singing the bridge sections and backing vocals and bass player Don Ciccone singing the falsetto part. Song origins According to the co-writer and longtime group member Bob Gaudio, the song's lyrics were originally set in 1933 with the title "December 5th, 1933," and celebrated the repeal of Prohibition, but the lyrics were changed at the urgings of Frankie Valli and lyricist Parker to reposition the song as a nostalgic remembrance of a young man's first affair with a woman, and, more specifically, Gaudio's courtship with his wife, Judy Parker. Reception The single was released in December 1975 and hit number one on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rag Doll (The Four Seasons Song)
"Rag Doll" is a popular song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded by the Four Seasons and released as a single in 1964. Background According to songwriter Bob Gaudio, the recording was inspired by an occasion involving the homeless children who, at stop lights in the city, would run into the street and clean windshields for spare change. In the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan neighborhood, a young girl with a dirty face and wearing ragged clothes approached Gaudio's automobile. When he reached into his wallet to pay her, he found that none of the notes were smaller than $10. He gave the girl a $10 bill. (Some accounts indicate that it was a $5 bill.) "The image of her stuck in my head until I wrote 'Rag Doll'", Gaudio recalled in a 2009 interview. ''Billboard'' described the song as a "sentimental slow dance ballad." ''Cash Box'' described it as "a touching, cha cha beat opus...that the group serves up in their fabulous style" and that features the "hit sounds" of Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walk Like A Man (The Four Seasons Song)
"Walk Like a Man" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by rock band the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons's version The song features the counterpoint of Nick Massi's bass voice and the falsetto of lead singer Frankie Valli. It was their third number one hit, initially reaching the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on March 2, 1963, remaining there for three weeks. "Walk Like a Man" also went to number three on the R&B singles chart. ''Cash Box'' described it as "a feelingful, cha cha beat stomper ... that again sports the falsetto gimmick" and has an "ultra-commercial arrangement by Charles Calello". During the sessions that produced the hit recording, the fire department received an emergency call from the Abbey Victoria Hotel (the building that housed the Stea-Phillips Recording Studios). As producer Bob Crewe was insisting upon recording the perfect take, smoke and water started to seep into the studio; the room directly above the studio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Girls Don't Cry (The Four Seasons Song)
"Big Girls Don't Cry" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by the Four Seasons. It hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on November 17, 1962, and, like its predecessor "Sherry", spent five weeks in the top position but never ranked in the ''Billboard'' year-end charts of 1962 or 1963. The song also made it to number one, for three weeks, on '' Billboard'''s Rhythm and Blues survey. It was also the quartet's second single to make it to number one on the US R&B charts. Background According to Gaudio, he was dozing off while watching the John Payne/Rhonda Fleming/ Ronald Reagan movie ''Tennessee's Partner'' when he heard Payne's character slap Fleming in the face. After the slap, Fleming's character replied, "Big girls don't cry." Gaudio wrote the line on a scrap of paper, fell asleep, and wrote the song the next morning. However, the line does not appear in that film. According to Bob Crewe, he was dozing off in his Manhattan home with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherry (song)
"Sherry" is a song written by Bob Gaudio and recorded by The Four Seasons. Song information According to Gaudio, the song took about 15 minutes to write and was originally titled "Jackie Baby" (in honor of then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy). In a 1968 interview, Gaudio said that the song was inspired by the 1961 Bruce Channel hit "Hey! Baby". At the studio, the name was changed to "Terri Baby", and eventually to "Sherry", the name of the daughter of Gaudio's best friend, New York DJ Jack Spector. One of the names that Gaudio pondered for the song was "Peri Baby", which was the name of the record label for which Bob Crewe worked, named after the label owner's daughter. The single's B-side was "I've Cried Before". Both tracks were included in the group's subsequent album release, ''Golden Hits of the 4 Seasons'' (1963). Charts Certifications Reception "Sherry" was the band's first nationally released single and their first number one hit, reaching the top of the U.S. ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wonder Who?
The Wonder Who? was a ''nom de disque'' of The Four Seasons for four single records released from 1965 to 1967. It was one of a handful of "names" used by the group at that time, including Frankie Valli (as a "solo" artist even though the Four Seasons were present on the record) and The Valli Boys. Wonder Who? recordings generally feature the falsetto singing by Valli, but with a softer falsetto than on "typical" Four Seasons recordings. Background The Four Lovers The Four Seasons evolved from The Four Lovers, which recorded under a variety of names between 1956 and 1960. Lead singer Valli had himself recorded under several pseudonyms as well, including Frankie Tyler and Frankie Valley. Songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist Bob Gaudio did the same (as Turner Disentri and as Alex Alda) after he joined the Four Lovers in 1959. Aside from the first Four Lovers single, " You're the Apple of My Eye" in 1956, the group's (and Valli's) records failed to chart. In 1958, The Four Lovers obta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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