Today in Frankie Valli Music History: March 22, 1975
March 22nd, 2012On March 22, 1975, Frankie Valli hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with “My Eyes Adored You.†The song stayed in the top spot for one week and remained on the chart for 23 weeks.
This song, written by the Four Seasons long-time producer and co-writer, Bob Crewe, and Kenny Nolan, was a sentimental ballad that Frankie recorded during his years at Motown in the early 1970s. Motown sat on the track for a year and a half without issuing it. Finally, when Frankie’s contract ran out in 1973, he bought back the master for $4,000.
“My Eyes Adored You†was shipped to radio stations in October 1974. It started to get a little play in November, breaking out in various parts of the country. It wasn’t until after Christmas, though, that the record broke wide open. By March 1975, it was the top pop song in the country.
No surprise, here–another family story regarding the first time I heard the song on the radio! This time, my brother (also a HUGE Four Seasons’ fan) cranked up the cheap clock radio and said, “Hey, Frankie Valli’s back on the radio!” If memory serves me, this was around Thanksgiving, 1974. Where were you when you heard “My Eyes Adored You” for the first time?
I remember hearing it for the first time in the spring/summer of 1974 as it was performed in his live act.
Frankie would preface it by saying that they haven’t had a song out in a while and they were thinking of releasing it and asked the audience thought.
I guess it was positive!
Comment by Ray — March 22, 2012 @ 11:40 am
I first heard MEAY around Thanksgiving, 1974, on WOMC Detroit. The station had an Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening format at the time, and those stations were the first to break MEAY, along with a handful of the traditional Top 40 stations in medium sized markets that broke FV4S records in the 1960s. It first appeared on the AC charts 11/9/74, one week before it hit Bubbling Under The Hot 100 at #103, before debuting the next week on the Hot 100.
I also remember that agonizingly slow ascent of MEAY up the charts to #1, in its 18th week on the Hot 100, the longest ever ascent to #1 at the time. I listened to Casey Kasem on American Top 40 as it inched up the chart…4-3-2-1. It seemed like Casey was rooting for the song to top the charts every week, and finally it did! Thank you to Joel Whitburn and Casey Kasem for aiding my memory on this!
I had nearly worn out an 8 Track Tape of “Edizione d’Oro”, marking time waiting for FV4S to return to the charts. In the meantime, I was also entertained by numerous other recording artists on the radio, some of whom I liked but who never quite measured up to FV4S!
Comment by Ted Hammond — March 22, 2012 @ 12:36 pm
I can confirm your post Ray as I too heard Frankie sing MEAY in concert before it was released. I remember saying to myself at the time: “That’s a catchy tune.”
If memory serves me correctly, I believe Frankie also sang MEAY on the Mike Douglas show before the song was released
Comment by David Cace — March 22, 2012 @ 5:40 pm