Frankie Valli talks about his farewell tour coming to Birmingham tomorrow
Frankie Valli will bid goodbye to his Birmingham fans when he headlines the city’s Genting Arena tomorrow. He will play with The Four Seasons for his Farewell Tour.
Frankie and The Four Seasons have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and they defined the sound of an era with classic hits such as Walk Like A Man, Sherry, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Rag Doll, Big Girls Don’t Cry and many more.
Their story was so popular that it was turned into the musical Jersey Boys, which became an international best-seller and won countless awards.
Frankie has enjoyed a remarkable life having been born in 1934 into an Italian family living in the First Ward of Newark, New York.
Many of friends were seduced by the money a career in organised crime could offer but from an early age his parents encouraged Frankie’s singing. A trip with his mother to the Paramount Theater in Manhattan put the dream of music in a Jersey boy’s heart.
Frankie went on to have one of the longest running careers in music resulting in 71 chart hits, and more than 100 million records sold before the invention of the CD.
Times have changed since Frankie began and Newark is completely different to the district in which he was raised. “Newark is so changed. There are parts of it I don’t even recognise anymore. It’s kind of sad. I was very attached to Newark as a kid, especially downtown. It had the Adams Theater, which brought all the Big Bands and some of the biggest acts in the country.
“My appetite to get involved in music came from going to the Adams Theater. I saw the tail end of the Big Band Swing which was really incredible. I got to see everybody from Tommy Dorsey to Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw. It was quite important to me.”
Frankie started singing at an early age and recalls a performance of White Christmas acapella when he was in fourth or fifth grade. “I didn’t know what I wanted to be, but I did like to sing. I’ve been singing ever since I can remember, whether around the house or on a street corner. At a very young age I was drawn to jazz. That was really what I wanted to do.
“My mother was all over me as a kid. I got myself into trouble a few times and got a good lesson for it. But I decided I wanted to make something of my life. I remember one time I had a problem with a teacher and my father had to come to school with me, the principal wanted to see him. The first thing my father did was smack me in the mouth and he said that was because he had to take off from work. It was all about respect. I learned that if you really want to work, it can happen for you.”
In recent times, Frankie’s career has enjoyed a huge resurgence thanks to the success of Jersey Boys, the 2005 jukebox musical. The musical ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2017 and since its debut it has been on two North American national tours and two national tours of The UK and Ireland. There have been productions of the show in London’s West End, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Melbourne and other Australian cities, Singapore, South Africa, The Netherlands, Japan, Dubai, and China. Jersey Boys won four 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Frankie was involved in the project from the outset, though he has mixed views about the film. “Originally I was involved before he made the film. I was convinced to give up my rights and having any say. It went in a totally different direction. I think Clint (Eastwood) is a spectacular director, but we did not go where I thought we should. I didn’t think it was cast right and that was that.”
The success of the musical has been remarkable and Frankie is stunned by its success.
“It’s really spectacular to see that happen. You have to keep in mind that in a two-hour show you can never get the lives of four people in completion. So it’s a portion of our lives. There was so much more beyond what we could show, so there was a lot of elimination that was hard to swallow. But the writers really did an incredible job. Most of the writing came from the stories Bob and I told them.
“The nicest thing about it is it opened the door for other people to come out and do the same kind of thing.
“I’ve enjoyed every part of my career. There isn’t a part I haven’t enjoyed. If that weren’t true I wouldn’t be doing it anymore. What’s not to enjoy when you go out in front of an audience and make so many people happy.”
