Dec 14

Frankie Valli

Greatly Appreciated

FRANKIE VALLI
 
 
Frankie Valli  (born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio; May 3, 1934) is an American popular singer, known as the frontman of The Four Seasons beginning in 1960.  He is known for his unusually powerful 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.  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 from Wikipedia)
 
 
Several of the performers that had appeared at the original  Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969 were in attendance at the Vietnam Veterans Benefit Concert near Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1987:  Richie Havens, Country Joe, John Sebastian, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (at least individually, with Stephen Stills and Neil Young appearing in a reformed Buffalo Springfield).  By the way, hardly anyone knows that Creedence Clearwater Revival was also a headliner at Woodstock; however, their subpar performance didn’t start until 3:00 a.m. (after the Grateful Dead) and was omitted from the film and concert albums (though they did make the 1994 box set).  Other musicians at the Vietnam Veterans Benefit Concert included James Brown, Stevie Wonder, the Byrds, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Linda Ronstadt, Frankie Valli, and the Four Tops; and there were also speeches by John Ritter, Louis Gossett, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Oliver Stone, and Ed Asner. 
 
(January 2013)
 
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Masquerading as the Wonder Who? – at the same time that the Who and the Guess Who were current – the Four Seasons released a version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” with Frankie Valli singing an exaggerated falsetto.  And there is the excellent cover by the Jimi Hendrix Experience of “All Along the Watchtower”, which seems to be on everyone’s short list of the greatest Bob Dylan covers of all time. 

 

(March 2015)

 

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Particularly in the 1970’s, Motown Records began signing a more wide-ranging group of musical acts.  Many were established artists from years past, such as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Bobby Darin, “twang” guitarist Duane Eddy, and the Easybeats (an Australian band who had had a worldwide hit in 1966 with “Friday on My Mind”). 

 

(April 2015/1)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021