Happy Birthday to Bob Crewe!
November 12th, 2007
“Music to Watch Girls By” by The Bob Crewe Generation (Peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967)
We wish Bob Crewe a Happy 76th Birthday today!
Bob Crewe was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985. While Crewe is perhaps best remembered for the parade of hits he co-wrote with Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio, his music career began much earlier. Crewe, a Newark, New Jersey native who got his first taste of success on the music charts with writing partner Frank Slay in the early 1950s. With Slay, Crewe wrote a variety of hits, including “Silhouettes†for The Rays; “Lah Dee Dah†for Billy and Lillie; and Freddy Cannon’s “Tallahassee Lassie.â€
Crewe signed the Four Seasons in the early ’60s, at first using them as backup vocalists for other artists. In 1962, the Four Seasons’ recorded the number one smash hit “Sherry,†written by member Bob Gaudio. Following the success of “Sherry,†Crewe and Gaudio teamed up to write hit after hit for the Newark foursome, including, number one hits “Big Girls Don’t Cry,†“Walk Like a Man,†and “Rag Doll.†The hits continued as the ‘60s progressed, including “Ronnie,†“Save It for Me,†“Bye, Bye Baby,†and Valli’s monumental solo hit, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.â€
The Songwriters Hall of Fame provides a complete discography of the songs written by Crewe.
Bob, Jen Naimo honored you at her cabaret show tonight with a rousing rendition of your “Lady Marmalade”, which, along with your co-writer Kenny Nolan, makes you the only songwriter to have a #1 hit in two millennia. (LaBelle in 1975 and Christina Aguilera in 2001.) Happy Birthday.
Comment by Howard Tucker — November 12, 2007 @ 2:27 am
Happy Birthday Mr. Crewe!…Jody
Comment by Jody Cardillo — November 12, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Happy Birthday, Mr. Crewe!
Best Wishes!
Comment by Anna — November 12, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
Dear Mr. Crewe,
Besides your outstanding work with Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons, which I am simply enthralled with, I also enjoyed your creative relationships with Lesley Gore and Oliver in the late ’60′s as well as your earlier partnership with Frank Slay. It’s so nice that the success of “Jersey Boys” has immortalized you and brought you into the consciousness of today’s audiences.
A happy, happy 76th birthday to you and all the best wishes.
Comment by Len Gersten — November 12, 2007 @ 7:39 pm
Belated birthday greetings, Bob, from your relatives in Newfoundland, Canada. I think I’ll go now and play the old 45 of “Transistor Sister” that your parents gave me back in the 60′s(?) when visiting St.John’s.
Phil and Melita’s daughter,Betty
Comment by Betty (Saunders) Priddle — June 11, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Oh my gosh, Betty – “Transistor Sister” by Freddy “Boom-Boom” Cannon!!! One of the lesser songs by one of the lesser, albeit influential, figures in early ’60′s American rock’n'roll!!
Why I haven’t thought about him since, oh, three weeks before your post, when his “Tallahassee Massi” appeared on a Top Ten list [insert shameless act of self-promotion here] of oldies the early Four Seasons didn’t cover…the stars must be in alignment!
PS What’s on the flip side?
Comment by stubbleyou — June 14, 2008 @ 8:50 am
Hi, “Transistor Sister” is on the Swan label with “Walk to the Moon” (Frank Slay-Bob Crewe)on the reverse. Betty
Comment by Betty (Saunders) Priddle — June 16, 2008 @ 8:56 am