The Four Seasons

This article covers the Four Seasons band. For the hotel chain of the same name, see Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts .

The Four Seasons
Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons at the Royal Albert Hall , London, June 2012
General information
origin	Newark , New Jersey
Genre (s)	Rock , Pop , Pop / Rock , Rock 'n' Roll , Doo Wop
founding	1953 as the Variety Trio
Founding members
singing	Frankie Valli
Vocals, guitar	Tommy DeVito
guitar	Hank Majewski
bass	Nickie DeVito
Drums	Billy Thompson
Current occupation
singing	Frankie Valli
Vocals, keyboard	Bob Gaudio
Vocals, bass	Don Ciccone
Drums	Gerry Polci
?	Larry Lingle
?	Jerry Corbetta
former members
guitar	Bob Grimm
guitar	John Paiva
Vocals, bass	Nick Massi
Vocals, bass	Joe Long
Vocals, bass	Charlie Calello
Drums	Gary Wolfe
Keyboard	Lee Shapiro
Vocals, guitar	Tommy DeVito

The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop group from Newark , New Jersey .

history

The Four Seasons emerged in 1960 from the Variety Trio . Frankie Valli , Nickie DeVito, Tommy DeVito, Hank Majewski and Billy Thompson later appeared as Varietones and recorded the single You're the Apple of My Eye as Four Lovers in 1956 . They later released the single Come si bella as Frankie Valle & the Romans . 1960 Majewski left the band and was replaced by Nick Massi. As Village Voices they took Redlips and as Billy Dixon & the topics was I Am All Alone .

Nick DeVito soon left the band. First came Charlie Calello as a replacement for a short time, then Bob Gaudio . From 1962 the band was called Four Seasons . They worked as choristers for Danny & the Juniors and Freddie Cannon . Gaudio was a first-class composer who created a hit wave for the Four Seasons in 1962. Vee Jay Records followed shortly after each other with Sherry , Big Girls Don't Cry , Walk Like a Man , Ain't That a Shame by Fats Domino , Candy Girl and Marlena as well as the albums Sherry & 11 Others , Big Girls Don't Cry and Golden Hits , a sampler .

The band moved to Philips Records in 1964 . That year the albums Dawn and Rag Doll and the hit singles Dawn , Stay , Ronnie , Alone , Rag Doll , Save It for Me and Big Man in Town were released . Throughout the 1960s, the Four Seasons continued to thrive with many singles including Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye) , Girl Come Running , Let's Hang On! , Don't Think Twice (It's Allright) , Working My Way Back to You , Opus 17 , I've Got You Under My Skin , Tell It to the Rain , Beggin ' , Can't Take My Eyes Off You , C' mon Marianne , Watch the Flowers Grow and Will You Love Me Tomorrow .

Then in 1969 they created the concept album The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette , in which they incorporated psychedelic elements, which the critics did not like at all. The single Patch of Blue also flopped. In 1970 the album Half & Half came out, on which only half consisted of Four Seasons songs, the other half were "solo" productions by Frankie Valli.

DeVito retired from the band in 1970 and was replaced by Bob Grimm, and drummer Gary Wolfe was added. The double album Edizione d'oro was released .

Motown's white branch , Mowest, signed the band in early 1972. However, the band only became active again in 1975. Gaudio and Valli hired Don Ciccone (formerly The Critters ), Gerry Polci, John Paiva and Lee Shapiro. In 1975 they got another hit with Who Loves You . In 1976, December '63 (Oh What a Night) and Silver Star followed, as well as the albums Who Loves You , The Four Seasons Story and Greatest Hits .

When the Beatles cover We Can Work It Out (late 1976) and the album Helicon (1977) were only moderately successful in the charts, Valli said goodbye to the band.

In May 1980, the Four Seasons began a reunion tour with Polci, Ciccone, Larry Lingle and Jerry Corbetta. The record Reunited (1981) flopped and in 1985, again with Valli, the LP Streetfighter was not a great success. In 1990 the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In Europe they came back to the top 10 of the album charts with the sampler The Very Best Of 1992. In 1988 and 1994, remixes of December '63 by Ben Liebrand also hit the charts again. After that no more songs appeared, even if the band has not officially split up.

Cover versions

The Walker Brothers reached the English Top Twenty in 1966 with The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore and remained the front runner for three weeks. The Tremeloes covered Silence Is Golden in 1967 . In 1975 The Bay City Rollers topped the UK charts for six weeks with Bye, Bye, Baby . In the same year, The Osmonds recorded The Proud One and reached number 22 on the American charts.

musical

Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe thatpremieredon Broadway in2005. It tells the band history of the Four Seasons and became a worldwide success. There have been productions in London's West End , Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Melbourne and other Australian cities, Singapore, South Africa and the Netherlands. Jersey Boys won four Tony Awards in 2006 - also in the "Best Musical" category - and the Laurence Olivier Award in 2009 for"Best New Musical". Many of the band's hits are used in the musical, including Big Girls Don't Cry , Sherry , December 1963 (Oh, What a Night) , My Eyes Adored You , Stay and Can't Take My Eyes Off You .

filming

In 2013 the musical was filmed under the title of the same name . Directed by Clint Eastwood , who was also a co-producer . In the lead roles - as in the musical - the Grammy winner for the best show album John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli and Erich Bergen as Bob Gaudio can be seen. The biographical drama premiered on June 5, 2014 at the Sydney Film Festival . The film started in German-speaking cinemas on July 31, 2014.

Discography

→ Main article : The Four Seasons / Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1962	Sherry & 11 Others	UK20 (1 week) UK	US6 (27 weeks) US	Chart entry in UK only in July 1963 Producer: Bob Crewe
1963	Big Girls Don't Cry and Twelve Others	-	US8 (19 weeks) US	Producer: Bob Crewe
	Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others	-	US47 (12 weeks) US	Recording: Stea-Phillips Sound Studios, New York Producer: Bob Crewe; last studio album on Vee Jay Records
1964	Born to Wander	-	US84 (9 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli, producer: Bob Crewe; first Philips album contains several folk and folk pop covers
	Dawn (Go Away) And 11 Other Great Hits	-	US6 (25 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli, producer: Bob Crewe contains several doo-wop covers
	Rag Doll	-	US7 (26 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli first album almost exclusively with songs by Bob Gaudio
1965	The 4 Seasons Entertain You	-	US77 (13 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli, producer: Bob Crewe
1966	Big hits by Burt Bacharach … Hal David… Bob Dylan	-	US7 (26 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli, producer: Bob Crewe contains six Bacharach / David- written and six Bob Dylan songs
	Working My Way Back to You	UK- gold UK	US50 (15 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli, producer: Bob Crewe
1967	New gold hits	-	US37 (25 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli, producer: Bob Crewe contains seven new and three previously released songs
1969	The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette	-	US85 (11 weeks) US	Concept album written with Frankie Valli, Producer: Bob Gaudio by Bob Gaudio with Jake Holmes
1970	Half & Half	-	US190 (2 weeks) US	with Frankie Valli; Producers: Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio; last Philips album contains half of the solo recordings by Frankie Valli
1976	Who Loves You	UK12 gold (17 weeks)UK	US38 (31 weeks) US	Singing: Bob Gaudio, Don Ciccone, Frankie Valli, Gerry Polci, John Paiva all songs written by Bob Gaudio and his wife Judy Parker Producer: Bob Gaudio; first Warner album; Recording: The Sound Factory, Hollywood
1977	Helicon	-	US168 (5 weeks) US	all songs are again from Gaudio and Parker; Producer: Bob Gaudio

literature

• Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 236f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .
• Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups. A History 1940–1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 384-388.
• Miller, Jim (Ed.): The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll . New York, NY: Rolling Stone Press / Random House, 1976, pp. 85-87.

Web links

Commons : The Four Seasons  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (English)
• The Four Seasons at Allmusic (English)
• The Four Seasons at Discogs (English)
• The Four Seasons in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Discography at 45cat.com

swell

1. ↑ On the group The Four Lovers and other predecessor groups of the Four Seasons see Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940–1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 209f
2. ↑ For the title Sherry see: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992; P. 117
3. ↑ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Four Seasons in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
4. ^ The official British Records Charts 1955–1987
5. ↑ The Billboard Book of US Top 40 Hits
6. ↑ Box office / business for Jersey Boys - Filming Dates. In: IMDb . Retrieved July 31, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Chart sources: Singles UK
8. ↑ US albums: Joel Whitburn: Joel Whitburn presents the Billboard Albums. 6 edition. Billboard Books, New York 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .