This Day in History: American singer Franki Valli was born on this day in 1934. Frankie Valli (whose real name is Francesco Stephen Castelluccio) was known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. Valli scored 29 top 40 hits, such as "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. As a solo artist, Valli scored number-one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" (1974) and "Grease" (1978).
"Joe Pesci, the actor well known for his roles in John Hugh's Home Alone and Scoresese's Goodfellas, played a pretty major role in the formation of the group. Growing up near Newark, N.J., young Pesci was friendly with Tommy DeVito and the rest of the band. He connected DeVito with Bob Gaudio, who would later write nearly all of The Four Season’s most popular songs. Later, when Pesci starred in Scoresese’s Goodfellas with the name Tommy DeVito. To take the inside joke even further, at one point in the film, one character confronts another by saying 'Who the hell do you think you are, Frankie Valli or some kind of big shot?'"
Billy Joel's song Uptown Girl was a response to the Four Season's song Rag Doll.
Franki Valli and the Four Seasons sold 100 million records between 1962-1978, and they've been immortalized in the stage production of The Jersey Boys which was also made into a 2014 movie of the same name, which was directed by Clint Eastwood.
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