The Four Seasons Celebrate 50th Anniversary

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Frankie and company almost called it quits before they had their first hit with "Sherry" back in September of 1962.

The group went on to have 31 Top 40 Hits and hit Number One 5 Times. Their success on the Billboard charts is only part of the story. In the past few years, the story of the Four Seasons has been a Broadway smash.

There's another very cool element about their success as well. A rare story of two guys with a ton of integrity.

Not to take anything away from the other original Four Seasons, but the nucleus of the group always has been Frankie Valli and another guy most people have never heard of named Bob Gaudio.

While it was the 'sound' of Frankie that made the Season distinctive, we can't overlook the song writing and producing talents of Bob Gaudio. Gaudio wrote and produced just about every major hit by the guys and that played an enormous part in their success.

Still Gaudio has never received the kind of credit of most songwriters of the 60's. While he wasn't as 'experimental' as the likes of Brian Wilson or Lennon and McCartney, he not only wrote great pop hits, but those songs have also been the basis of the utlra-popular Broadway show "Jersey Boys.'

Now you might think that, what with the success of those songs, that there must be a serious, binding contract between Gaudio and Valli. Well, there is. they shook hands on the whole thing back in 1962 and for them, that's has proven to be binding. Imagine that kind of plan working in the music industry today.

Here's to a great 50 years from a group that gave us a lot of fun and good music over the years!

Here's a video of the guys 'back when.'