Jersey Boys Blog

Josh McAliffe of The TImes-Tribune.com notes that although Frankie Valli is a Jersey boy through and through, Valli also has a fair amount of Northeastern Pennsylvania in him, too. After all, two of the most important women in the singer’s life hail from NEPA — the one who raised him and the one who gave [...]

In Jersey Boys, when Frankie Valli introduces Bob Crewe to Bob Gaudio, Frankie tells Crewe that Gaudio “is the next Otis Blackwell.” This line made me curious to find out more about Otis Blackwell. All I knew about him was that he had written some of Elvis Presley’s early hits, but I figured there was [...]

Jersey Boys Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer, and John Lloyd Young are among the many marvelous contributors who have provided song commentaries on the “Jersey Beat” boxed set. While Christian, Daniel, and JLY give their thoughts on songs performed in Jersey Boys, Bobby highlights one of the Four Seasons’ most underrated (peaking at [...]

JIM PETRECCA’S “YESTERDAY’S TREASURES”—A 4 SEASONS MEMORABILIA STORE– BY THE FOUR SEASONS BOWLING ALLEY IN UNION, NJ By Howard Tucker, Special Correspondent Meeting Jim Petrecca ([email protected]) One of my most exciting experiences since Jersey Boys began in November, 2005, has been discovering “Yesterday’s Treasures” in Union, NJ: a Four Seasons Memorabilia Store (well, mostly) owned [...]

LACityBeat.com’s Robert Holdship has a marvelous article that defends the real Jersey Boys–the Four Seasons. Holdship notes that as recently as three months ago, Robert Hilburn once again wrote in the L.A. Times that the Four Seasons don’t belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course, this belies Brian Wilson describing them [...]

The long-awaited Rhino boxed set, “Jersey Beat,” featuring a 76-track collection of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ hits, along with a spectacular DVD of the group’s rare television, concert, and promotional performances has arrived! “Jersey Beat” is more than a chronological compilation of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ blockbuster hits, album cuts, B-Sides, [...]

Jersey Boys Blog would like to send Happy Birthday wishes to Original Jersey Boy Tommy DeVito, who was born in Belleville, New Jersey on June 19, 1928! For more details on Tommy, check out his JBB Exclusive Interview!

The one and only Frankie Valli came to see Jersey Boys on Broadway with his twin sons at the Saturday June 9 matinee performance. Turns out Frankie wanted to take his kids to see “Oceans 13,” but the kids chose Jersey Boys instead! Check out Jennifer Naimo’s and Michael Longoria’s blogs for details! Thank you [...]

In a change of pace, Jersey Boys Blog Special Correspondent Howard Tucker spoke with Craig Pilo, the drummer for the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ current touring band. Craig joined Frankie in November 2005 and continues touring with him today. He is also touring with Edgar Winter (“Frankenstein”) and Player (“Baby Come Back”). In [...]

Jenelle Riley of Backstage.com has an in-depth Q & A with Erich Bergen, Michael Ingersoll, Christopher Kale Jones, and Deven Ma> She finds out how the four actors have banded together to play the Four Seasons in the national tour of Jersey Boys. Headlining the tour is a quartet of actors ages 21 to 36, [...]

The Los Angeles Daily News provides some brief biographical information on the real Four Seasons! Frankie Valli: Falsetto singer born Francis Stephen Castelluccio in Newark, N.J. Cut his first single in 1952.Sang with the Varietones, which later became the Four Lovers and then the Four Seasons. Solo hits include theme song to “Grease” and “Swearin’ [...]

On his Changing Channels blog, Miami Herald reporter Glen Garvin chatted last week with Steve van Zandt, the former E Street Band guitarist who plays family Silvio on “The Sopranos.” Garvin asked who was the Frankie Valli nut on the show. Not only has The Sopranos featured a lot of 4 Seasons’ tunes over the [...]

Paul Hodgins of The Orange County Register spoke to director Des McAnuff and pop icon Frankie Valli about why Jersey Boys is a hit. This blockbuster is a straightforward bio-play about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice with the blessing of Valli and the group’s songwriting genius, [...]

Lea Lion of LADowntownNews.com states that most Americans of a certain age only need to hear a few notes of one of the Four Seasons’ many chart-topping songs to identify it. In the early ’60s, the pop group recorded its first platinum title, “Sherry,” followed by the big sellers “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk [...]

Jon Fassnacht of the Reading Eagle says that Frankie Valli entertained an appreciative packed audience Thursday night in the Sovereign Performing Arts Center during a concert to benefit the Mental Health Association of Reading and Berks County. When the Four Seasons scored a hit some 40 years ago with “Working My Way Back to You,” [...]

Check out this great video of Frankie Valli and the Commodores on the “Midnight Special” back in the late ’70s, with Frankie and Lionel Richie sharing the lead vocals on “Grease.” How ’bout those gold chains?

Sad news to report: The real-life “Mary Delgado”–Mary Valli, Frankie Valli’s first wife, passed away on April 28 at the Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. Mrs. Valli was born in Newark and resided in Nutley before moving to Caldwell 15 years ago. She is survived by her daughter Toni Valli, three grandchildren, and [...]

Jersey Boys Blog would like to wish the legendary Frankie Valli a Happy 73rd Birthday today! In celebration of the day, the Tech Half of JBB has created a video scrap book of some of Frankie Valli’s most memorable performances. Do not press play, but use the forward and back arrows to flip through the [...]