Frankie Valli

Frankie Valli (born May 3, 1937^[1] in the First Ward of Newark, New Jersey as Francis Stephen Castelluccio) is best known as the lead singer of The Four Seasons, a music act of the 1960s, which continued from then to the 1970s disco scene to the present day.

Valli scored over 25 Top-40 hits with The Four Seasons, a handful of Top-40 hits dubbed as a solo act in the late 1960s, one dubbed as "The Wonder Who?" in 1965 and again in the mid to late 1970s. Together they made the hit single December, 1963 (Oh What a Night) that can still be heard on the radio today. His best known "solo" single is Can't Take My Eyes Off You which reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967' 'Are you ready now' became a surprise hit in the UK as part of the Northern Soul scene and hit no11 on the UK pop charts in 1971. Valli scored big again in 1975 when 'My Eyes Adored you' hit no 1 on Billboards Hot 100. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with The Four Seasons in 1990.

Valli started his singing career in 1952. He cut his first single in 1953 as "Frankie Valley," a name he adopted from Jean Valley, his favorite female singer. In the mid-1950s he split up with the Travellers and joined The Variety Trio, which consisted of Tommy DeVito, twin brother Nick, and Hank Majewski. They redubbed themselves the Variatones, and later, "The Four Lovers" and had a top 40 hit with "Apple of My Eye" in 1956. After a few more name changes, the group was renamed "The Four Seasons" in 1960. About the same time, Valli "re-Italianized" his name to its current form. Nick DeVito and Majewski left the group in 1960 or 1961 and were replaced by Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi. Nick Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charlie Calello, the group's arranger, and then shortly after Charlie was replaced by Joe Long. As the lead singer of the Four Seasons, he had a string of hits beginning with #1 hit "Sherry" in 1962. Valli has been the lead singer from then until the present time, occasionally releasing singles under his own name, notably the theme song from the film version of Grease, (written by Barry Gibb), which was a #1 hit. In 1976, Valli covered the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

Valli is best remembered for his falsetto vocals, once prompting comedian Jackie Mason, referring to the hit Walk Like A Man to exclaim, "Sing like a man, Frankie!"

He has made several appearances on the hit series The Sopranos as New York mob captain Rusty Millio. Valli himself was referenced earlier in the series. In the Season Four episode, "Christopher," the owner of a Native American casino offers Tony Soprano his help in getting a local Indian organization to drop its planned anti-Columbus Day demonstration. In exchange, Tony is asked to get Frankie Valli to agree to perform at the casino. He was also a guest star (as himself) in an episode of Full House.

John Lloyd Young won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Valli in the musical Jersey Boys. After the great success of the musical on Broadway, it has been reported that Valli is excited at the prospect for bringing the show to Las Vegas.

2007- Frankie Valli will be releasing an album featuring hits from the '60's. It will be released on October 2nd. This was confirmed by Frankie Valli at a recent concert held at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Personal

Father of twins, Emilio and Brando. He is also the father of three daughters, Antonia, Francine, and Celia.

U.S. Discography

Singles

Albums

Albums recorded before 1975 were recorded with the assistance of The Four Seasons and were produced by Bob Crewe. For albums credited to The Four Seasons, click here.

1967: Frankie Valli Solo -Philips Records (a.k.a. "The Four Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo")
1968: Timeless - Philips
1970: Half and Half - Philips (half Four Seasons, half Valli "solo")
1975: Close Up - Private Stock
1975: Valli Gold - Private Stock
1976: Valli - Private Stock
1977: Lady Put the Light Out - Private Stock
1978: Frankie Valli Hits - Private Stock
1978: Frankie Valli... Is the Word - Warner Bros. Records
1979: Heaven Above Me - MCA
1980: Very Best of Frankie Valli - MCA

Notes

^ There is a controversy surrounding his birth date. Most sources say he was born on May 3, 1937, which is derived from information included in early-1960s publicity releases for The Four Seasons. However, other sources claim that his date of birth was changed by the record company when the hit single, "Sherry" was released and that he is actually three years older, making his birth date May 3, 1934. This is the official fan club's position; this is the birthdate that appears on his "police mug shot", available through http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/fvallimug1.html, although he has never made a public statement regarding his age.

External links

[1] There is a controversy surrounding his birth date. Most sources say he was born on May 3, 1937, which is derived from information included in early-1960s publicity releases for The Four Seasons. However, other sources claim that his date of birth was changed by the record company when the hit single, "Sherry" was released and that he is actually three years older, making his birth date May 3, 1934. This is the official fan club's position; this is the birthdate that appears on his "police mug shot", available through http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/fvallimug1.html, although he has never made a public statement regarding his age.

[1]