Frankie Valli

On May3, 1934 Frankie Valli was born in New Jersey as Francesco Stephen Castelluccio. He was born to Italian parents Anthony Castelluccio, a barber and Mary Rinaldi, a homemaker and beer company employee. At a very small age of 7, Mary Rinaldi took young Frankie to see one of Frank Sinatra’s shows, which inspired him to take up a singing career. His last name ‘Valli’ came from his mentor, Jean Valli.

Frankie Valli started taking his singing career seriously in 1951. Initially he was part of one small band Variety Trio. Soon the band got disbanded and he joined the house band in New Jersey. His first single which was named ‘My Mother’s Eyes’ released in 1953. Around the same time, he formed a new band called ’The Variatones’. Other members of the band are Hank Majewski, Frank Cattone and Billy Thompson. The band was later renamed to ‘The Four Lovers’. Around 1958, the band underwent major changes such as Hank Majewski leaving out of the band. The band was later renamed to ‘The Four Seasons’ in 1960 with Nick Massi and Hugh Garrity joining the band.

Frankie Valli being the lead singer of ‘The Four Season’ started recording several singles. The band’s first hit ‘Sherry’ was released nationwide in 1962. The song went on to reach U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and remained on top for 5 consecutive weeks. The Four Season continue to record several hits. Valli along with his producer Bob Crewe continued to record great Group albums and solo recordings with commercial success. Valli’s other hits were ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Walk like a Man’ and ‘Rag Doll’.‘You’re Ready Now’, new single sung by Valli was released in 1966 and became an instant hit. ‘Hope and Glory’ album was released in 1992 was one of the most noteworthy albums released by The Four Seasons.

‘Jersey Boys’, a musical was opened by Four Seasons on Broadway in 2005 depicting some real incidents of Frankie Valli’s life. ‘Jersey Boys’ also includes several of the band's hit songs. It follows the biographical narrative pattern narrated by four members of 'The Four Seasons’ band (Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio, Frankie Valli and Nick Massi). The musical was commercially very successful and won 6 Tony awards. Jersey Boys was later made into film. Following the Jersey Boys musical, Four Seasons released an album ‘Romancing the 60’s’, which includes his favorite songs from the 1960’s. Apart from being the lead vocalist of The Four Seasons, Frankie Valli acted in some TV shows like Miami Vice, The Sopranos, Full House and the Hawaii Five-0.

Valli was involved in 3 failed marriages. His three wives are Mary Mandel (1958-1971), MaryAnn Hannagan (1974-1981)and RandyClohessy (1984-2004). He married his third wife Randy who was 26 years younger to her in 1984. His divorce with Randy finalized in 2004. He has two daughters, three sons and 1 step-daughter. His youngest daughter Francine died in 1980 due to a drug overdose. He was always affectionate towards his children. His net worth is $60 million. His twitter id is @frankievalli.

Related Biographies