60s U.S. Bands: The Four Seasons Quiz

Answer: The Four Lovers

The group was actually formed in 1954 by Frankie Valli and Tommy DeVito and performed under a myriad of names before releasing their first charting single called "You're The Apple of My Eye" which peaked on the Billboard charts at number 62 in 1956. The group performed using 18 different stage names between 1956 and 1960, some of which included Frankie Valley and The Travelers, Frankie Valle and the Romans, The Topics and The Village Voices.

They finally settled on The Four Seasons in 1960.

Answer: Bowling alley

Early in 1961 the group auditioned for a job in a lounge which was connected with a bowling alley in Union Township, New Jersey and failed to get the job. Bob Gaudio has been quoted as saying "We figured we'd come out of the audition with something, so we took the name of the bowling alley".

Answer: The Royal Teens

Gaudio was a member of The Royal Teens in 1958 when their single "Who Wears Short Shorts?" shot to number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts. As a side note, another member of The Royal Teens was a 14 year old Al Kooper, who later would go on to form Blood Sweat and Tears.

Answer: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi

Valli formed the group of course, along with Tommy DeVito. Gaudio and Nick Massi joined in 1960. All the others mentioned were part of the group at one juncture or another. Majewski, Cattone, and Thompson were all members of the Four Lovers during parts of the 1950s before the group's major success, and Calello was in and out of the group during that period however he did return and perform as part of the group in 1965.

Answer: Sherry

"Sherry", written by Bob Gaudio hit the U.S. Billboard charts in August of 1962 and shot to the number one position. Gaudio once claimed that the song took about 15 minutes to write. Pretty good return for such a short effort of work. The song remained at number one for five consecutive weeks. Gaudio also was quoted as saying that the song had a number of working titles before its release, one of which was "Jackie Baby" in honor of then First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.**

**per wikipedia

Answer: It had never been done before

The Four Seasons became the first vocal group in the history of the Billboard charts to have three consecutive non-holiday number one hits. They rivaled The Beach Boys as the number one selling group in the United States during the period of 1962 to early 1964. Of course all this was prior to The British Invasion and the appearance of that famous group from England.

Answer: False

"Dawn" was considered one of their best recordings but in could not reach any higher than number three on the charts, a position it maintained for three weeks. Why? A couple of songs called "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" occupied the number one and two spots on the U.S. Billboard charts.

The song eventually dropped to number six on the charts. Why? Three more songs called "Twist and Shout", "Please Please Me" and "Can't Buy Me Love" occupied positions three through five on the Billboard charts.

Answer: Rag Doll

"Rag Doll" took the group to the top of the charts for fourth time. The song was written by Bob Gaudio with an assist from Bob Crewe. The interesting thing about this song, which arguably was their finest, is the way the song came about.
"According to songwriter Bob Gaudio, the recording was inspired by the activities of a young girl as he was stopped in traffic in Manhattan. As he waited for the traffic signal to change, a dirty-faced girl proceeded to clean the windshield of his automobile for some spare change. When Gaudio reached into his wallet, he was surprised to find that all he had was currency, and none of the bills were smaller than $20. He gave the girl in tattered clothes a $20 bill. Her look of utter astonishment stayed in Gaudio's mind as he approached the recording studio. "Rag Doll", with a few tweaks by Bob Crewe, was the result."**

**Wikipedia

Answer: It was recorded using a different name

The group was having a world of success in late 1964 and early 1965 with songs such as "Bye Bye Baby", "Save It For Me", and "Ronnie" among others. They had decided to record an album consisting of Bob Dylan covers, but Valli did not like how he sounded, and decided to do "Don't Think Twice" in his trademark falsetto voice as a joke.

Some joke. The record company wanted to release the song, but for contractual reasons, could not release it under the Four Seasons or Frankie Valli name, so it was released under the pseudonym "The Wonder Who". If you were a fan of the Four Seasons at the time there was nothing to wonder about.

The falsetto voice was unmistakable. The song eventually became a number 12 Billboard Hot 100 hit in late 1965. At the time, Valli had a song on the charts under his own name called "You're Gonna Hurt Yourself", and The Four Seasons had "Working My Way Back To You" on the charts as well, so they had 3 different songs under three different names on the charts all at once, a pretty good feat to say the least.

Answer: Will You Love Me Tomorrow

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" peaked at number 24 on the U.S. Billboard charts in 1968 and became the 22nd Top 30 hit for the group in the six year span between 1962 and 1968. Included were four number one hits and eight other Top 10 placings.

Answer: Motown

Kind of surprising, but Motown signed the group to their label, but the result was almost catastrophic. Between 1971 and 1974 the group recorded a number of tunes for Motown, but the cuts went nowhere. They recorded a number of songs in late 1973 and early 1974 for a planned album, but Motown refused to release it. The group left Motown in 1974

Answer: Who Loves You?

"Who Loves You" was penned by Gaudio and released by the group in 1975. The chart placing marked the end of a seven year hiatus, and reestablished the group as a top seller. They had never lost their popularity as a live performing act, but could not break through on the charts until this song got them back there.

It had a disco flair to it, which capitalized on the genre which was becoming very popular during the mid 1970s. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and remained on the charts for 20 weeks, which was longer than any prior Four Seasons record during their heyday in the 1960s.

Answer: December 1963 (Oh What A Night)

The song was written by Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker (whom he would later marry), and shot to the top of the Billboard charts in 1976. It also went to number one in the U.K. Valli shared lead vocals with then group members Don Ciccone and Gerry Polci. It remained at number one for three weeks.

A remixed version was released onto the charts in 1994 and made it to number 14 on the charts and spent 27 weeks on the charts. Combining this with the original release, the song spent a total of 54 weeks on the charts, which established a new record for the most ever for a Billboard Hot 100 single.

Answer: He had a hearing ailment

During the early 1970s Valli was diagnosed with otosclerosis, which is an abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear which interferes with the transmission of sound*. This prevented Valli from being able to perform his trademark songs with any measure of consistency. He continued to perform with help on certain tunes from other members of the band. Eventually the condition was corrected by surgery and most of Valli's hearing was restored.
*per answers.com

Answer: Jersey Boys

Jersey Boys opened on Broadway in November of 2005. It depicts to story of the group's rise to fame and uses many of the songs that the group sang and recorded. It has won numerous theatrical awards and has played in numerous venues with various productions around the U.S. as well as in the U.K., Canada and Australia.

The show was still running on Broadway in New York City as of June 2009.