Frankie Valli is a respectable American music artist, singer and an actor who was also a lead vocal of a popular “The Four Seasons” band.
He was and still is loved by his fans around the globe due to his great falsetto voice and his passion for singing although he is over 80 years old.
Early years
Frankie Valli was born as Francesco Stephen Castelluccio on May 3, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
He was born in a family with Italian descent who immigrated into the United States after the First World War. The family always cherrished their herritage and he spoke Italian from birth.
He was the oldest child in the family but he had two younger brothers. The family have lived in Newark in New Jersey where his both parents worked and where Frankie and his brothers have spent most of their childhood.
His father’s name was Anthony Castellucio and he was a known Italian barber and his mother Mary was employed in a company which manufactured alcohol, primarily beer. His parents had normal, regular income so Frankie never felt poverty as a boy.
Nevertheless, he was always empathic to people who struggled in life and that feeling followed him through his career, eventually making him a philanthropist.
His mother loved music, especially songs sang by Frank Sinatra. He was his big fan and she used to take him to the theater and concerts where he gained interest in music. When he got older he stated that he thinks that she has named him after Sinatra.
He especially liked jazz and soul music and thought highly of The Drifters and the famous Frank Sinatra his mother loved.
He became a big fan of a singer Jean Valli and began building his singing career inspired by this singer. This rose to the level that he wanted to name himself afzer him.
After finishing school, he started working as a barber at his father’s barber shop. Although it was a steady and a safe job for him, he wanted to have a career in music. He continued helping his father but knew that it is just in passing by.
Career development
It was in the 50’s that he started to take music more seriously. He started staging with a band “Variety Trio”, consisted of Italian musicians DeVito and Macioci.
And this happened only because the trio heard him sing and proposed him a deal. Otherwise, he would have waited longer for his first stage performance.
In 1952, the band fell appart and him and Tommy DeVito found a new engagement as the members of another Jersey band. Frankie didn’t only sing but he also played the bass. He had bigger dreams of success than his fellow band members.
He released his first song titled “My Mother’s Eyes” a year after. His stage name became Frankie Valley, which he borrowed from a known singer he loved – Jean Valli. Later on, he changed it from Valley to Valli.
Tommy DeVito and him decided to leave this new band and started a new one: “The Variatones”. They hired three new musicians: Frank Cattone, Hank Majewski and Billy Thompson. They were all great musicians.
A few years later they had a gig where they were spotted by a New York producer who invited them to an audition. The audition they went to wasn’t ordinary because it was viewed by all the best NY music producers.
The group changed name into “Four Lovers” and released a few singles but only one titled “You’re the Apple of My Eye” was interesting to the public.
In 1960, the group changed name again, this time into “The 4 Seasons”, and lost some old and gained some new members. All these changes stregthen the group and the members who streamed perfection.
At the beginning of the 60’s, the group started getting more recognition. Their first hit song called “Sherry” opened new doors for them. Sherry became widely known.
Valli started working solo no matter the fact that he had his own musical group. He did both jobs and the group members didn’t have anything against it although it was a strange thing to do in that time.
Valli’s first solo single to break as a huge hit was “Can Take My Eyes Off You”. This was his highest chart single and was “borrowed” by many artists for their version.
He released twi solo albums by the end of the 60’s. The second album was called “Timeless” and offered one big hit “To Give (The Reason I Live).
His solo single titled “The Girl I’ll Never Know(Angel Never Fly This Low) became another hit single. He had a big hit in the United Kingdom called “You’re Ready Now” from 1966.
Ten years later he had a single that has reached No.1 on the Billboard 100 list. It was “My Eyes Adored You” . During that period his group had a hit but he wasn’t the leading vocal in it: “Silver Star”.
He was called to participate in a documentary film “All This and World War II” with the cover of a song “A Day in the Life” earlier played “The Beatles”. This made him really proud.
He was given a task to sing the theme song for a known musical Grease. This gig on “Grease” gave him state recognition and reputation.
In the season 1978/79 he had two hits which entered the charts: “Save Me, Save Me” and “Fancy Dancer”. They stayed on the chart for weeks before sellout. He realased several albums in this period: in 1975 he released “Closeup” and “Our Day Will Come” and two years later in 1977 he released “Lady Put the Light Out”.
In 1985 he was a member of a cast of a known TV series “Miami Vice” where he played a mafia boss. He enjoyed acting very much and later stated that if he wasn’t a singer he would be an actor.
He and his music group was inducted not only in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” but in the “Vocal Group Hall of Fame” at the begining of the 90’s.
His group “Four Seasons” released a new album in 1992, titled “Hope and Glory”. The group also toured all over the country. In 1998 he appeared in a movie “Whitness by the Mob”. It is related to mafia and the Gambink family.
After that he had a few acting roles in a TV series “Sopranos” where his music and singles were used several times in different episodes. It seems that he was great in playing mafia bosses roles so he received more offers of similar gigs.
2005 brought a Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” which told the story of his group “Four Seasons” and the members all performed in it for a few times. The musical had big success and won six Tony Awards.
The musical toured all over the world and even got adapted into a film in 2014. The film was directed by a known American actor and a director Clint Eastwood.
In 2007, Valli’s new album came out under the name “Romancin’ the 60’s”. This was a kind of greatest hits albums but from Valli’s point of view. He chose all the songs for it, old or new.
He held his first Broadway concerts in 2012 in the Broadway Theatre.
In 2014 he gained a role in “And So It Goes”, a romantic drama film with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton. The same year he appeared in “Hawaii Five-0”, where he played a role of lawyer. He is a whitness to the fact that years cannot stop you in doing what you want if you really want it.
He toured through United States in 2016/2017 with “Four Seasons”. All of their concerts were sold out.
Personal life
He was very young, arround 20 years old, when he married his wife Mary and gained a step-daughter. They separated in 1971 and during their marriage they gained two daughters: Antonia and Francine.
Frank’s relationship with his daughter Francine was troublesome, and he had great differences and wasn’t close to her.. She died in 1980. This was a horrible year for him because not also his daughter Francine died of a drug overdose that year but his stepdaughter died after she fell of the stairs ( fire escape stairs).
Three years later he married his new love, Mary Ann, but this worked for only eight years.
In 1984, he married a woman named Randy with whom he had three sons. The first son was Francesco after what he gained twins Emilio and Brando. Randy and him1 divorced in 2004.
At the end of the 60’s otosclerosis, a disease that caused an abnormal growth of bone by his middle ear which caused him to lose a part of his hearing. Fortunately, the hearing was recovered by a known doctor and a specialist who helped him with this major problem.
Valli was involved in the work of the NIAF, National Italian American Foundation. He received an award for his involvment in their work. He cherrishes his herritage but also respects American way of living because he was born in America.
He was known for his humanitarian work so he received a Medal of Honor for his engagement in various humanitarian causes. He held an emorional speexh at this event.
He signed to Philips Motown Private Warner Bros and was loyal to them for most of his career. The band changed labels a few times but stilled remained professional no matter what.
Quick summary
Full name: Francesco Stephen Castelluccio
Date of birth: May 3, 1934
Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey, United States.
Age: 84
Profession: singer, actor, musician
Height: 1,68m
Weight: 79 kg
Net Worth: $50 million