Auditorium Theatre 2018-19 Issue 1 Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

2 | FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS | NOVEMBER 3, 2018 ABOUT FRANKIE VALLI About Frankie Valli Oh, what a story! Frankie Valli, who came to fame in 1962 as the lead singer of The Four Seasons, is hotter than ever in the 21 st century. Thanks to the volcanic success of the Tony-winning musical Jersey Boys, which chronicles the life and times of Valli and his legendary group, classic songs like “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Rag Doll,” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” are all the rage all over again. But please don’t say that Frankie is back — the truth is, he never went away. Sure, the majority of the 71 chart hits of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (including 40 Top 40 hits) came during the 1960s, but the music didn’t just disappear. Valli has toured almost continuously since 1962, and his songs have been featured in movies such as The Deer Hunter, Dirty Dancing, Mrs. Doubtfire, Conspiracy Theory , and The Wanderers . As many as 200 artists have done cover versions of Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” from Nancy Wilson’s jazz treatment to Lauryn Hill’s hip-hop makeover. Between 1962 and 1978, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons sold more than 100 million records, with hits like “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” and “Sherry,” even before the invention of the CD inspired Seasons collectors to buy the hits all over again. In 1990, Valli and the original members of The Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just five years after the Hall opened for business. Valli & The Four Seasons have influenced many other great recording artists, such as Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees. “Frankie Valli to me has become one of the hallmark voices of our generation,” Gibb said. “From the deepest emotions of his real voice to the power of his falsetto, he created a style that we all strive to emulate.” Billy Joel noted, “I wrote ‘Uptown Girl’ as the flip side to the story of [Valli’s] ‘Rag Doll.’ I always loved that record.” Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys said, “In the early 60s, The Four Seasons were my favorite group. I thought they were fantastic … It inspired me, because they made good music.” There’s something about Valli’s music that makes young people of every generation want to get up and dance. Amid the disco era, the Seasons hit it big with “Who Loves You,” which reached No. 3 on the charts in 1975, and “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night),” a No. 1 record in 1976. On the other side of the Atlantic, “You’re Ready Now” and “The Night” — two songs which never made waves in the United States — emerged from dance clubs in north England and became huge hits in Europe. Two decades later, a dance club remix of “December 1963” climbed to No. 14 in the US. In 2000, a French-language rap version of “December 1963” reached No. 1 in Paris, and in July of 2007, a remix of The Four Seasons’ 1967 hit “Beggin’” became the No. 1 dance record in Britain. That was eight months before the March 2008 opening of Jersey Boy s in London, where the play went on to win the Olivier Award for Best New Musical on the West End. Case closed: Frankie Valli never went away. As his character says at the end of Jersey Boys : “Like that bunny on TV with the battery, I just keep going and going and going.” For as long as he wants to sing, people will want to listen.