Bob Gaudio - The Four Seasons

The Four Seasons

In 1960, after a failed audition at a Union Township, Union County, New Jersey, bowling establishment, songwriter/keyboardist Gaudio shook hands with lead singer Valli and formed the Four Seasons Partnership, and Gaudio, Valli, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi became the Four Seasons.

Gaudio wrote the Seasons' first #1 hit, "Sherry," 15 minutes before a group rehearsal in 1962. With producer Bob Crewe often assisting with lyrics, Gaudio wrote a string of subsequent hits for the Seasons, including "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "Dawn (Go Away)," "Ronnie," "Rag Doll," "Save It for Me," "Big Man in Town," "Bye Bye Baby," "Girl Come Running," "Beggin'," and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (the first big success under Valli's name as a "solo artist"). Crewe/Gaudio compositions also became major hits for other artists, including The Tremeloes ("Silence Is Golden," originally the B-side of The Four Seasons' "Rag Doll") and The Walker Brothers ("The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," originally recorded by The Four Seasons as a Valli "solo" single).

"Rag Doll" is regarded by many as the greatest achievement of the Four Seasons. The story behind the origin of the song has been told many times. Gaudio was on the way to a recording session and his car was stopped at an extremely long traffic light in Hell's Kitchen. Often, kids would wash the car windows during the long waits and ask for some change. In Gaudio's case, a scruffy little girl washed his window. When Gaudio went to give her change, all he had was a $10 bill. After a moment's hesitation, he gave her the bill because he had to give her something. The astonished look on her face stayed with him and inspired the subsequent song.

After The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released in June 1967, Gaudio saw the pop music market changing, and sought to position the Four Seasons into the trend of socially conscious music. One night he went to The Bitter End in Greenwich Village and saw Jake Holmes performing. Gaudio was taken with Holmes' song, "Genuine Imitation Life", and decided to base a Four Seasons album upon it. With Holmes as his new lyricist, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette album was released in January 1969. The album was a commercial failure and symbolized the end of the Four Seasons' first period of success. But appreciation of The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette has grown over the years, and it was re-released on CD (minus the newspaper cover) in the 1990s by Rhino in the US and Ace in the U.K. Gaudio and Holmes also wrote and produced Frank Sinatra's 1969 album Watertown.

In 1975, Gaudio wrote "Who Loves You" and "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" with his future wife Judy Parker. The songs became big hits for a reconstituted Four Seasons group (only Valli was left of the original lineup; Gaudio stopped touring with the group in 1971 to concentrate on writing and producing for the group and for others). The 1960–1965 Four Seasons membership were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.