Jerry A. Corbetta (September 23, 1947 – September 16, 2016)Jerry A. Corbetta Obituary
/ref> was an American singer-songwriter, keyboardist and organist, record producer— best known as a frontman for the Colorado rock band

Sugarloaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a ri ...

, best known for their classic rock hit “Green-Eyed Lady.” Corbetta also toured for nearly five years with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons as the “fifth season” nicknamed “Guido” by Frankie Valli.

Biography

Corbetta was born on September 23, 1947 in Denver, Colorado. He began his career locally playing drums. As a teenager, he started playing keyboards and joined a few Denver-based bands. The Moonrakers was one of them, and in '67-'68 Jerry led a locally popular five piece band "The Half Doesn't" that drew crowds in Denver's "3.2" beer bars like the "La Pichet" that served up 3.2% / low-alcohol beer and live music to Colorado's 18-year-olds. In 1968, Corbetta and guitarist Bob Webber formed the band Chocolate Hair, along with drummer Myron Pollock and bassist Bob Raymond. The band, upon signing to Liberty Records, changed the name to Sugarloaf. The singles " Green-Eyed Lady" and "

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" is a hit song by the American rock band Sugarloaf. Co-written by lead vocalist Jerry Corbetta, the song was featured as the title track of the band's fourth and final album. It was their fourth single and was recor ...

" hit the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 3 in 1970, and No. 9 in 1975 respectively, while their eponymous debut ''

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' (1970) reached No. 24 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts. Both "Green-Eyed Lady" and "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" were co-written by Corbetta. He fronted Sugarloaf through 1978. In early 1980s, he joined

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop band formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The band evolved out of a previous band called The Four Lovers, with ...

as their singer and musical director, and remained with them through 1984. At one time, he was also a keyboardist of a gathering of 1960s and 1970s artists, the Classic Rock All-Stars. During his career, he played organs with

Velvet Chain Velvet Chain is a bi-coastal alternative rock band whose sound features a mixture of trip hop, rock, and pop, with a jazz/funk flavor. (The band has sometimes been known to refer to their work as "space-jazz" or "moody groove music" - which is al ...

(their ''

Asteroid Belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

'' album). He co-wrote "You're Lookin' Like Love to Me", along with

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Season ...

, included on the 1983 '' Born to Love'' studio album of duets between

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

and

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...

. Corbetta also co-wrote "Come Back to My Love", along with

Bob Gaudio Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote and produced the vast majori ...

, recorded by

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

, and included on his 1984 eponymous ''

''. Most notable is the

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart hit, " On Your Knees" by

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

(No. 28 in 1979), written by

D.C. LaRue D.C. LaRue (born David Charles L'Heureux; April 26, 1948 in Meriden, Connecticut) is an American singer, songwriter and producer. His music was successful in clubs and on dance music charts worldwide during the 1970s and early 1980s. History La ...

and Corbetta. In 1993 Jerry contributed a song and performance to the Christian VHS series 'You Can't Fool Me'. He was featured lip syncing and playing along with a keytar to the song. Although 'You Can't Fool Me' was intended to be a series, only the first volume was released.You Can't Fool Me - Christian Spiritual Immunization
/ref> In 2012 Sugarloaf was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Corbetta had been diagnosed with

Pick's disease Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), or frontotemporal degeneration disease, or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of frontal and temporal lobes. FTDs broadly present as ...

in 2010. Treatment forced him to retire. He died from the disease in a hospice in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

on September 16, 2016, at the age of 68.Jerry Corbetta, Lead Singer for Sugarloaf, Dies
/ref>

Solo discography

*''Jerry Corbetta'' (1978)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbetta, Jerry 1947 births 2016 deaths American male singer-songwriters American keyboardists Deaths from Pick's disease Deaths from dementia in Colorado The Four Seasons (band) members Musicians from Denver Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Singer-songwriters from Colorado