by Robert Wilkinson
Our musical birthday weekend kicks off with the first of our superstar May 3 birthdays, the remarkable Frankie Valli, front man for the Four Seasons. He’s another one who qualifies as one of the hardest working men in show business, given he's been at it going strong since the late 50s. It’s time to go Jersey!!
The amazing Frankie Valli (born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, May 3, 1934) is a performer for the ages, and been among the best of the best for over 50 years. He has one of the most distinctive voices in pop music, and defined part of the sound of the 60s with his 3 1/2 octave voice belting out hits like "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry, "Dawn (Go Away)," "Rag Doll," “Workin’ My Way Back to You Babe,” and "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," (to name a few of their dozens of hits).
Along with fellow “Jersey Boy” Bob Gaudio, musical genius who performed at a Carnegie Hall recital at 7 years old and originally made his mark as founder, songwriter, and star of the Royal Teens ("Short Shorts"), Frankie and Bob were introduced by Joe Pesci (yes, THAT Joe Pesci of My Cousin Vinnie fame), and the rest is history. They started their run in 1962 with their #1 hits “Sherry” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and by the time they were done they’d sold literally 100 million records and cranked out 40 top 40 hits, 19 in the top 10, with Frankie racking up a total of seven #1 chart toppers with the 4 Seasons and two #1s as a solo artist. Frankie’s last #1? “Grease is the word is the word....”
The music of the Four Seasons affected literally tens of millions of people for about a decade. Bob Gaudio’s collaborator in the remarkable string of multi-million selling singles and albums throughout the 60s was fellow Scorpio Bob Crewe, who co-wrote most of the hits and co-produced and arranged the "sound" of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
These two Scorpios, with Taurus Frankie Valli taking them to the top with his amazing voice, created songs that rivaled the best ever written. The 4 Seasons’ music topped the charts every few months in an era when most of the top spots were owned by the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Supremes, Kinks, Animals, Four Tops, Temptations, Ray Charles, Mamas and the Papas, Stevie Wonder, Simon and Garfunkel, Young Rascals, Lovin' Spoonful, all the way to the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi, Janis, the Who, and other major competition. Remember - this was an awesome era in music.
So for your enjoyment, here are a few video clips of the band at their best. And yes, Frankie really IS hitting those unbelievable high notes!
Here's Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons on the Popendipity tv program in 1967 performing a medley of their hits ”Sherry,” “Big Girls Don't Cry,” “I've Got You Under My Skin,” and “Bye Bye Baby.”
A 1965 Four Seasons medley on Hullabaloo of ”Dawn,” “Rag Doll,” “Toy Soldier,” and “Bye Bye Baby Goodbye” The medley may have had other instruments hidden from the cameras and whatever primitive tricks and backing tracks they used in teevee music shows back then, but his phrasing clearly shows he wasn't lip synching!
Re-setting the soundtrack to the first videos I can find, this one has real harmonies! It’s Frankie and the 4 Seasons in a live videotaped performance from 1964 at their peak! “Big Girls Don’t Cry”
Here’s another video of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons performing ”Big Girls Don't Cry” live, even though the sound's a bit distorted. Still, Frankie’s vocals are not lip-synched, even if they are performing to a backing track! You can listen to the original studio version of "Big Girls Don't Cry" at the link.
A strange staged video of the 4 Seasons lip synching their 1963 #1 hit, "Walk Like A Man."
Here’s a great medley on On Broadway Tonight in 1964 of them performing ”Sherry,” "Walk Like A Man," Big Girls Don’t Cry,” Dawn,” and “Rag Doll.”
By 1964, they were at the top, matching the Beatles and Beach Boys hit for hit! Here's a quintet of studio versions of their biggest, three of them with a theme around boys and girls of different social classes falling in love! First, their huge 1964 #3 smash hit, “Dawn (Go Away)” followed by their 1964 #6 hit "Ronnie." We move into the backstretch with their 1964 #1 hit “Rag Doll,” follow it with the late 1964 #10 hit “Save It For Me,” and we’ll close with a song that made it to #20 on the charts that year, “Big Man In Town.” This is a truly remarkable run of hits by any standard, since they wound up with 6 tunes in the Top 20 that year!
In an interesting short clip from the movie Beach Ball in 1964, here Frankie and the boys are lipsynching to “Dawn (Go Away)”
From their 1965 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, a television clip of Frankie and the 4 Seasons with a backing track in a short version of their #3 hit from that year, “Let’s Hang On”
From 1966, the studio version of the 4 Seasons’ 1966 hit that went to #9 on the charts, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
A 1966 medley by the Four Seasons, including ”You're Going to Hurt Yourself” and their #9 hit, “Working My Way Back to You”
Frankie's first big solo hit that went to #2 on the charts in 1967! From the Popendipity television show, here's a live performance of ”Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You” in 1967. Here’s another live performance by Frankie of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" here, and a solo performance by Frankie at this link.
From the television show Where the Action Is, here's the band “performing” – lip synching – their 1966 #13 hit “Opus 17 (Don't You Worry About Me)" Here’s Frankie live belting out “Opus 17 (Don't You Worry About Me)"
From 1967, the studio version of their #9 hit, "C'mon Marianne"
”Dawn (Go Away)” - from the early 80s.
An interesting video remix of their 1967 hit that went to #16 on the charts, ”Beggin”
From 1971, live on Top of the Pops, Frankie and Bob in the new Four Seasons perform “Let’s Hang On” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” And this year I found it again! Here’s their medley of ”Sherry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Bye Bye Baby.”
The Four Seasons doing their #1 hit from 1975, the infinitely danceable ”December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” Written by Gaudio, performed with a different lineup than the original Four Seasons, and the first time anyone but Frankie sang at least part of the lead.
From what looks to be the same “live in the studio” session in 1975, here they are doing their other smash hit from that album, the title song “Who Loves You”
That same year they went on The Mike Douglas Show and gave a great live performance of “Who Loves You”
Last year I had their Jan 1, 1977 performance on Dick Clark’s Rocking New Year’s Eve” of the first tune, but it’s gone, So instead, also courtesy of Dick Clark at some unknown time, the Four Seasons live doing ”December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” and “Swear To God.”
Here’s a recent live performance set to ice dancing! It’s Frankie and the (new) 4 Seasons performing a great medley of “Rag Doll,” “Who Loves You,” and “Oh What A Night (December 1963)” From that same "Tribute on Ice," Frankie offering us "My Eyes Adored You."
From 2012, Frankie’s sounding in top form cranking up his #1 hit from the movie of the same name, “Grease” (It's legend that Robert Stigwood, producer of the movie, wanted Barry Gibb to write a hit title song, but that he could imagine on one voice that would be "authentic" enough to sing it, and called Frankie Valli!)
The great 2013 live performance of this tune in Beverly Hills is gone, but I found this undated clip which looks to be in the 90s of Frankie looking good and sounding awesome performing “Who Loves You”
This year this Royal Albert Hall performance from 2013 has surfaced. Even though it’s a distant shot, this gives you a sense of what they sound like live in a hall with good acoustics. For your enjoyment, “Who Loves You” and “Oh What A Night”
And for our encore, here’s A Capitol Fourth, a 2014 PBS live performance special on the White House lawn. Enjoy a medley of “Grease,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “Let’s Hang On”
A great mini-documentary from VOA news, Singer Frankie Valli Going Strong at 74
These pieces from the Bob Gaudio birthday celebration seem like good things to post here, since he and Frankie were joined at the hip as hitmakers!
Did Bob Gaudio really write “Sherry” in 15 minutes?
From Undercover, a three part interview with Bob Gaudio about “Jersey Boys,” the story of the Four Seasons.
(On a final note, lest you think Bob Gaudio was a mere 30 hit wonder, he also went on to work with Peabo Bryson, Roberta Flack, Eric Carmen, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, and of course, with Frankie Valli wrote the Tony and Grammy award winning Broadway musical, Jersey Boys, based on their life story with the Four Seasons.)
Thanks for all the tunes and memories these past 63 years, Frankie. I am sure glad I saw you twice in 2015, and man are you strong! I hope I’m as good on stage as you were when I saw you at 81! Wow!!
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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