Check Out Sneak Peek of NJ.com’s Fantastic Piece on Longtime #FourSeasons Member Joe Long!
July 3rd, 2016NJ.com’s Mark Voger has a terrific piece on longtime member of The Four Seasons, Joe Long! Below is a preview of this marvelous article:
It’s a good thing Long — who’d changed his surname from LaBracio — had already honed his performing chops.
“Before I did anything on stage (with the Four Seasons),” he recalls, “I got a call from Tommy. He said, ‘Be at the airport. We’re flying to California.’ So three or four days after I was hired, we did a string of TV shows. I had never done that. It was crazy.”
Long recalls that his first actual live show with the Four Seasons took place at West Virginia University in front of about 6,000 people. Prior to the show, Long was told he would rehearse with Charles Calello, the Four Seasons’ Newark-born arranger.
“Charlie was supposed to rehearse me on singing parts and bass parts,” Long says. “I kept attempting to make appointments. He’d say, ‘Be at the house tomorrow at 8 o’clock.’ I’d show up, but he wouldn’t be there. He had so much going on. Charlie was one of the most successful arrangers and producers at at that time. He worked on hundreds of hits. He really didn’t have time to train me. Gaudio, Valli and DeVito didn’t know that I still hadn’t had a single rehearsal.
“Finally, the night of West Virginia, I had to go on without a single rehearsal.
Click HERE to read the entire article.