Comments on: Frankie Valli Rated 80th in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time!

By: Ted Hammond

Ted Hammond — Sun, 08 May 2011 05:19:07 +0000

I found another FV4S connection to a Rolling Stone Top 500 song. Artie Schroeck played the great electric piano solo break in “Summer In The City” (393) by the Lovin’ Spoonful. Artie arranged many FV4S tracks, most notably “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.

By: Ted Hammond

Ted Hammond — Sat, 22 May 2010 03:20:22 +0000

After all this time, I discovered that “Lady Marmalade” by LaBelle, written by MEAY and “Hickory” composers BOB CREWE and KENNY NOLAN, cracked the Rolling Stone Top 500 at #479. That is the closest FV4S connection I could come up with. Of course, I’m sure that Bob Gaudio and Charlie Calello and others were connected to some of the other artists in some way. I’d have to look through the list again if I can stand the slight.

By: Susie

Susie — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:10:42 +0000

The PopScene.com blog has some info about how the 100 Greatest Singers list was put together: Each voter was asked to list his or her 20 favorite vocalists from the rock era, in order of their importance. Those ballots were recorded and weighted according to methodology developed by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, which then tabulated and verified the results for Rolling Stone.

Here’s the list of voters: http://thepopscene.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/rolling-stone-reveals-the-100-greatest-singers-of-all-time/

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:25:01 +0000

In reference to David’s comments, music critics never thought much of FV4S or the writing and production of Bob Crewe or Bob Gaudio. Not many artists have recorded and been around for over five decades. Why does Rolling Stone not mention that in their comments?

By: Ted Hammond

Ted Hammond — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:28:20 +0000

I couldn’t find “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” by The Walker Brothers on the Rolling Stone Top 500 list. It must have been on another similar list I saw online somewhere.

I guess you have to respect the Dylan fans for their idiosyncrasies of musical/lyrical tastes. FV4S did after all get a hit out of “Don’t Think Twice” as the Wonder Who. And Bob Dylan reportedly liked their cover version.

When I look through a list of this type, I can usually only agree with 10-20% of the listings on a good day.