He was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1934, and his name was Francesco Stephen Castelluccio. Definitely an Italian boy who hung out with wanna-be gangsters and singers. Some of his friends ended up in jail but he kept slipping through the system with friendly judges and mostly misdemeanors. It helped that his father, who was a barber, was well liked in the community and Francesco worked part-time at his dad's barber shop so he wasn't a complete juvenile delinquent.
He had some friends who had a singing group and they mostly played at a popular bar in their neighborhood. Francesco loved to hear them sing and one night they brought him on stage and the bar patrons immediately loved his sound. It was unique and the other band members ability to harmonize with him made it a great night for all of them so they ended up asking him to join their group. He initially played base and sang but it didn't take long for him to become their lead singer.
Having him join the group was a great move and although there was a little shuffling around in band members, they decided to go with a new name for their group. He also changed his stage name because it was difficult to pronounce and since he was a fan of a singer by the name of "Texas" Jean Valli, he decided to go with Frankie Valli; of course the name of his famous group was "The Four Seasons." The group had 29 songs in the Top 40 and when he became a solo artist, he had nine more. Songs like: "Sherry," "Walk Like a Man," "Oh, What a Night," and many others, rocketed up the charts.
Although his music career was legendary, his personal life wasn't. He's been married three times. He had five children (one stepdaughter), and two of them died. His stepdaughter fell to her death off of a fire escape and one of his biological daughters died of a drug overdose. He also had three sons.
I'm not a huge fan of watching plays, but the story of Frankie Valli and his rise to fame in "Jersey Boys," was one of the best I've ever seen. The crowd was going wild because there were so many hit songs and his life story is so amazing. If you ever get a chance to see it, I promise that you'll be happy that you did. Frankie is still bringing it at the young age of 84.
He had some friends who had a singing group and they mostly played at a popular bar in their neighborhood. Francesco loved to hear them sing and one night they brought him on stage and the bar patrons immediately loved his sound. It was unique and the other band members ability to harmonize with him made it a great night for all of them so they ended up asking him to join their group. He initially played base and sang but it didn't take long for him to become their lead singer.
Having him join the group was a great move and although there was a little shuffling around in band members, they decided to go with a new name for their group. He also changed his stage name because it was difficult to pronounce and since he was a fan of a singer by the name of "Texas" Jean Valli, he decided to go with Frankie Valli; of course the name of his famous group was "The Four Seasons." The group had 29 songs in the Top 40 and when he became a solo artist, he had nine more. Songs like: "Sherry," "Walk Like a Man," "Oh, What a Night," and many others, rocketed up the charts.
Although his music career was legendary, his personal life wasn't. He's been married three times. He had five children (one stepdaughter), and two of them died. His stepdaughter fell to her death off of a fire escape and one of his biological daughters died of a drug overdose. He also had three sons.
I'm not a huge fan of watching plays, but the story of Frankie Valli and his rise to fame in "Jersey Boys," was one of the best I've ever seen. The crowd was going wild because there were so many hit songs and his life story is so amazing. If you ever get a chance to see it, I promise that you'll be happy that you did. Frankie is still bringing it at the young age of 84.
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