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Nick Massi (born Nicholas Macioci, September 19th, 1927 - December 24th, 2000)^[1] was the bass singer and bass guitarist for the Four Seasons. He was born in Newark, New Jersey.

Massi had been playing with several bands before he joined The Four Lovers in 1958, including some groups that featured future Four Lovers members Frankie Valli and Tommy DeVito. After the group evolved into the Four Seasons, they performed such hits as "Sherry," "Dawn (Go Away)," and "Rag Doll." He was responsible for most of the group's vocal arrangements. Massi left the Four Seasons in 1965 and was replaced temporarily by Charles Calello who in turn was replaced by Joe Long.

Music wasn't Nick's only talent. Some of his paintings can be viewed at http://www.nickmassiart.com/1.html. He was also very talented at billiards.

He succumbed to cancer on Christmas Eve in 2000 at his home in West Orange, New Jersey.

References[link]

1. ^ Peter Grendysa, liner notes, "The Four Lovers", Bear Family Records BCD-15424, 1989

v t e The Four Seasons Frankie Valli Tommy DeVito Bob Gaudio Nick Massi Charles Calello Joe Long Albums Sherry & 11 Others (1962) The 4 Seasons Greetings (1962) Big Girls Don't Cry and Twelve others (1963) The 4 Seasons Sing Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others (1963) Golden Hits of the 4 Seasons (1963) Chameleon (1972) Who Loves You (1975) The Very Best of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (2002) Singles "Sherry" "Big Girls Don't Cry" "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" "Walk Like A Man" "Ain't That a Shame" "Candy Girl" "New Mexican Rose" "Dawn (Go Away)" "Stay" "Ronnie" "Rag Doll" "Alone (Why Must I Be Alone)" "Save It for Me" "Sincerely" "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" "Big Man in Town" "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" "Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)" "Since I Don't Have You" "Girl Come Running" "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" "Let's Hang On!" "Don't Think Twice" "Working My Way Back to You" "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)" "On the Good Ship Lollipop" "I've Got You Under My Skin" "The Proud One" "Tell It to the Rain" "Beggin'" "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" "C'mon Marianne" "Lonesome Road" "Watch the Flowers Grow" "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" "You've Got Your Troubles (I've Got Mine)" "My Eyes Adored You" "Our Day Will Come" "Who Loves You" "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" "Silver Star" "Grease" Related topics Discography Members Albums Songs The Four Lovers The Wonder Who? Bob Crewe Jersey Boys Ces soirées-là Book:The Four Seasons

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Theodore "Teddy" Smith (January 22, 1932, Washington DC - August 24, 1979, Washington, D.C.) was an American jazz double-bassist.

Smith played with Betty Carter in 1960, and with Clifford Jordan (with whom he recorded the LP Bearcat in 1962) and Kenny Dorham in 1961-62. In 1962-63 he played with Jackie McLean and Slide Hampton. Following this he played with Horace Silver, including at the 1964 Montreux, Antibes, and Paris jazz festivals and on the album Song for My Father. Following this Smith played with Sonny Rollins (1964-65) and Sonny Simmons (1966).

Smith's performance on the title track of Song for My Father, beginning with the opening unison figure between Smith's bass and Silver's piano, has been one of the most widely heard pieces of jazz music in the world for nearly a half-century and an influence on such artists as Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan.

References[link]

• "Teddy Smith", Grove Jazz online.

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Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli in 2010, with Linda November and Artie Schroeck
Background information
Birth name	Francis Stephen Castelluccio
Born	(1934-05-03) May 3, 1934 (age 78)
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Rock, Pop
Occupations	Vocalist
Years active	1953–present
Associated acts	The Four Seasons also known as The 4 Seasons The 4 Seasons featuring the "sound" of Frankie Valli The Wonder Who?

Frankie Valli (born May 3, 1934) is an American popular singer, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is well known for his unusually powerful falsetto voice.

Valli scored 29 Top 40 hits with The Four Seasons, one Top 40 hit under The Four Seasons' alias 'The Wonder Who?', and nine Top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of The Four Seasons, Valli's number one hits included "Sherry" (1962), "Big Girls Don't Cry" (1962), "Walk Like a Man" (1963), "Rag Doll" (1964) and "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" (1975). Valli's recording of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" reached number two in 1967. "You're Ready Now", a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in Great Britain as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number eleven on the British pop charts in December 1970. As a solo artist, Valli scored number one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" (1974) and "Grease" (1978).

Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio — the original members of The Four Seasons — were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990^[1] and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.^[2]

Early life[link]

Valli was born Francis Stephen Castelluccio in the First Ward of Newark, New Jersey. His father, Anthony Castelluccio, was a barber; His mother, Mary Rinaldi, was a homemaker.^[3][4] He was inspired to take up a singing career at the age of seven after his mother took him to see the young Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater in New York City.^[5] His early mentor was Texas singer Jean Valley, from whom he obtained his last name, although it took him some time to settle on the spelling "Valli".^[4] Until he could support himself with music, he worked as a barber.^[5]

As with many other celebrities, Valli's birth year has been called into question. Valli never addressed the issue himself, until the 2007 posting at the Official Frankie Valli Site, sponsored by his current record label, Universal Records. Much of the previous official publicity surrounding his career had used 1937 as the birth year. It is hard to tell when and why this occurred, but inference can be made that by chopping a few years off his age, he would seem more commercially viable to a younger audience. Other sources, such as the Bear Family Records release, entitled 'The Four Lovers' (BCD 15424), as well as a 1965 "mug shot", available through The Smoking Gun, all identify his year of birth as 1934.

Music career[link]

1950s – 1960s[link]

Valli began his professional singing career in 1951 with the Variety Trio (Nickie DeVito, Tommy DeVito and Nick Macioci). Valli's desire to sing in public was initially granted when, having heard Valli sing, the group offered him a guest spot when the group performed. In late 1952, the Variety Trio disbanded and Valli, along with Tommy DeVito, became part of the house band at The Strand in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For his part, Valli played bass and sang. He cut his first single, "My Mother's Eyes," in 1953 as "Frankie Valley," a name he adopted from "Texas" Jean Valley, a favorite female singer. Around this time, Valli and Tommy DeVito left the house band at The Strand and formed The Variatones with Hank Majewski, Frank Cattone and Billy Thompson. In 1956, as part of an audition backing a female singer, the group impressed New York record man Peter Paul, who had them auditioning at RCA Victor a week later. Renamed The Four Lovers, the group recorded several singles and one album's worth of tracks. They had a minor hit with "You're the Apple of My Eye" in 1956. Nickie DeVito and Hank Majewski left in 1958 to be replaced by Nick Macioci (now Nick Massi) and Hugh Garrity. Massi was in and out of the group, and, occasionally Charles Calello joined on accordion. The group continued to perform until 1959, when Bob Gaudio became a member. After a few more changes, the group was renamed "The 4 Seasons" in 1960.^[6][7][8][9]

As the lead singer of The Four Seasons, he had a string of hits beginning with the number one hit "Sherry" in 1962. As a footnote to this period of Frankie's career with The Four Seasons, the group's bassist and vocal arranger Nick Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charlie Calello, the group's instrumental arranger, and, then shortly thereafter, Charlie was replaced by Joseph LaBracio, who went by the pseudonym Joe Long.

During the 1960s, Gaudio and his then songwriting partner, producer Bob Crewe (born Stanley Robert Crewe on November 12, 1931), worked with Valli to craft solo recordings with varying degrees of success. This concept of a major recording artist performing solo in opposition to his or her own group performances was new to the rock/pop world and may have given tacit approval to other groups and members of other groups to pursue such a path. The potential to dominate the charts with group and solo recordings was great, and Valli, Gaudio and Crewe occasionally rose to the occasion with both great performances and commercial hits. Valli was the original artist to record the Gaudio-Crewe composition "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", a performance that was copied nearly note for note when recorded by The Walker Brothers, an American group based in England. The Walker Brothers version was a huge success. Valli continued to record solo performances and finally reached major success with the release of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Though it only reached number two in the charts, the song itself was widely recorded by many other artists.

Valli's debut solo album was a gathering together of various single releases and a few new recordings. Prior to the release of Valli's second solo album, a single was released in July 1967 with the A-side "I Make A Fool Of Myself," a record that reached number 18. 'Timeless,' Valli's second solo album release was more coherent and Valli took more time in recording it. 'Timeless' contains one Top 40 hit, "To Give (The Reason I Live)."

Finally, Valli ended the '60s with a string of recordings that were included in the Valli/Four Seasons album 'Half & Half' or released as various singles. The only hit to emerge at this time was the recording of "The Girl I'll Never Know (Angels Never Fly This Low)," reaching number 52.

1970s to the present[link]

"You're Ready Now", a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in Great Britain as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number eleven on the British pop charts in December 1970.

In 1975, Valli's single "My Eyes Adored You" hit number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. In the same year, he also had a number 6 Billboard hit with the disco-laden "Swearin' To God", while a further UK Chart success came with "Fallen Angel" written by Guy Fletcher & Doug Flett and produced by Bob Gaudio; Valli was in the UK charts with this at the same time as The Four Seasons enjoyed a UK hit with "Silver Star" on which Valli did not appear.

In 1976, Valli covered the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

In 1978, Valli sang the theme song for the film version of the stage play, Grease, a song written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, which became a number 1 hit. He had two further chart successes the following year, "Save Me, Save Me" in November 1978, which entered the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and "Fancy Dancer" in January 1979, which entered the pop charts.^[4]

Valli suffered from otosclerosis in the 1970s, forcing him to "sing from memory" in the latter part of the decade. Surgery restored most of his hearing by 1980.^[10]

In 1992, a new Four Seasons album was released entitled Hope and Glory.

In 2005, the Broadway musical Jersey Boys opened on the "Great White Way". Besides performances of many of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons hit recordings, the musical features a biographical narrative, told as four separate points of view by each of the members of The Four Seasons (Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio). The musical dramatizes several real-life incidents from Valli's life, including his estrangement from his daughter Francine, who died in 1980. The show was widely acclaimed, financially successful, and won six Tony awards. The musical has touring companies around the world, as well as a version at The Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas.

In October 2007, Valli released Romancing the 60s, an album containing covers of his favorite songs from the 1960s, two of which he had previously recorded. Those songs were "Sunny" and "Any Day Now".^[5]

In October 2010, a duet version of "The Biggest Part of Me" by Frankie Valli and Juice Newton was released on Newton's album Duets: Friends & Memories.

Acting career[link]

Valli made several appearances in Seasons 5 and 6 of the HBO series The Sopranos as mobster Rusty Millio.

Philanthropic activities[link]

Valli has been a supporter of heritage-related causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2006, he received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala. In 2008, NIAF presented a scholarship in his name to an Italian American music student during the Foundation's East Coast Gala.

Discography[link]

Singles:

Studio Albums[link]

For albums recorded as part of The Four Seasons, see Discography of The Four Seasons

Many of Valli's solo recordings, recorded before 1975 were recorded with the participation of one or more of The Four Seasons.

Compilations and Misc. Four Seasons Albums with Frankie Valli "Solo" Songs[link]

• 04/1970: Half & Half - Philips PHS 600-341 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; five tracks by The 4 Seasons)
• 05/1972: Chameleon - MoWest MW108L (two tracks by Frankie Valli; seven tracks by The Four Seasons)
• 12/1975: Valli Gold - Private Stock PS 2001
• 04/1978: Frankie Valli Hits - Private Stock PS 7012
• 12/1979: Very Best Of Frankie Valli - MCA 3198
• 08/1980: Superstar Series Volume 4 - Motown M5-104V1 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; four tracks by The Four Seasons)
• xx/1988: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 25th Anniversary Collection - Rhino Records Inc RNRD 72998-2 (twelve tracks by Frankie Valli; forty-two tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
• xx/1990: Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons volume 2 rarities - Rhino Records Inc R2 70924 (two tracks by Frankie Valli; sixteen tracks by The Four Seasons)
• xx/1994: FRANKIE VALLI SOLO TIMELESS 2LPs ON 1 CD + BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 538
• xx/1996: THE 4 SEASONS FRANKIE VALLI HALF & HALF PLUS 6 BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 635 (eight tracks by Frankie Valli; eight tracks by The Four Seasons)
• 07/1996: FRANKIE VALLI GREATEST HITS - Curb Records D2-77714
• 05/2001: IN SEASON THE FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS ANTHOLOGY - Rhino/Warner Special Products R2 74266 OPCD-5508 (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirty-seven tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
• 06/2007: ...Jersey Beat... The Music Of FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS - Rhino R2 74852 3 CDs + 1 DVD (thirteen tracks by Frankie Valli; sixty-three tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?) (DVD contains two solo performances by Frankie Valli and ten group performances by The Four Seasons)
• 04/2008: The Four Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo - Timeless - collector's choice Music CCM-927
• 04/2008: Closeup - Valli - collector's choice Music CCM-928 (this CD contains a longer version of "Swearin' To God" than the original album release of 02/1975. This version clocks in at 10:35. Also, the tracks "Can't Get You Off My Mind" and "Easily" have been edited down from their original album lengths.)
• 04/2008: Our Day Will Come - Lady Put the Light Out - collector's choice Music CCM-929
• 04/2008: Frankie Valli Is the Word - Heaven Above Me - collector's choice Music CCM-930
• 05/2008: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: The Motown Years - Hip-O Select.com Motown A Universal Music Company B0010777-02 2 CDs (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirteen tracks by The Four Seasons)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Biography at Starpulse.com
• Frankie Valli interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).[1]

v t e The Four Seasons Frankie Valli Tommy DeVito Bob Gaudio Nick Massi Charles Calello Joe Long Albums Sherry & 11 Others (1962) The 4 Seasons Greetings (1962) Big Girls Don't Cry and Twelve others (1963) The 4 Seasons Sing Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others (1963) Golden Hits of the 4 Seasons (1963) Chameleon (1972) Who Loves You (1975) The Very Best of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (2002) Singles "Sherry" "Big Girls Don't Cry" "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" "Walk Like A Man" "Ain't That a Shame" "Candy Girl" "New Mexican Rose" "Dawn (Go Away)" "Stay" "Ronnie" "Rag Doll" "Alone (Why Must I Be Alone)" "Save It for Me" "Sincerely" "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" "Big Man in Town" "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" "Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)" "Since I Don't Have You" "Girl Come Running" "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" "Let's Hang On!" "Don't Think Twice" "Working My Way Back to You" "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)" "On the Good Ship Lollipop" "I've Got You Under My Skin" "The Proud One" "Tell It to the Rain" "Beggin'" "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" "C'mon Marianne" "Lonesome Road" "Watch the Flowers Grow" "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" "You've Got Your Troubles (I've Got Mine)" "My Eyes Adored You" "Our Day Will Come" "Who Loves You" "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" "Silver Star" "Grease" Related topics Discography Members Albums Songs The Four Lovers The Wonder Who? Bob Crewe Jersey Boys Ces soirées-là Book:The Four Seasons

Denis Walter (born 3 January 1955) is an Australian media personality and singer.

Throughout his music career Walter has recorded 14 albums. For many years until his resignation in November 2008 to join Melbourne radio 3AW full-time, Walter was the host of the evening news in the regional areas of Victoria for WIN TV (a regional affiliate of the Nine Network). Walter has also hosted nightly drawings of Keno lotteries.

Walter is patron for cystic fibrosis and also does regular work for the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, the Neuroscience Foundation, Royal Women's Hospital and a number of other charities and community groups.

Each year Walter hosts Carols By The Bay at Eastern Beach on the Geelong waterfront, the third largest Christmas concert in Australia behind similar major Christmas events in Sydney and Melbourne.

On 7 November 2008, Walter began hosting the afternoon radio program on 3AW (693 AM) Melbourne, replacing Ernie Sigley who retired. He regularly performs at concerts throughout Victoria when his radio commitments allow and is also a popular corporate host.

From 1 December 2008 until 16 January 2009, Walter filled in for Livinia Nixon presenting the weather on Nine News in Melbourne.

External links[link]

• Denis Walter Official website
• 3AW Afternoons with Denis Walter
• 3AW

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