Jersey Boys : The Story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

by COTE, DAVID

• ISBN13: 9780767927581
• ISBN10: 0767927583
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-16
• Publisher: Broadway

Summary

How did four blue-collar kids become one of the greatest successes in pop music history? You ask four guys, you get four different answers. Have we got a story for you! Everyone knows their songs. Few know their story. Named for a bowling alley that refused to book them, The Four SeasonsFrankie, Tommy, Bob, and Nickwere four high school dropouts who emerged from New Jersey to become true American Idols: one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. With a shiny doo-wop sound highlighted by lead singer Frankie Valli's stratospheric falsetto, they wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds, and sold 175 million records worldwideall before they were thirty. Jersey Boys, Broadway's 2006 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, is the electrifying tale of the Seasons' rise, the moment they established their signature sound with their breakout hit "Sherry"; becoming a sensation onAmerican Bandstand,of being young and full of hope and dreams and promise; of riding the rocket of success against the irresistible pull of the Jersey mob and the old neighborhood. Like the show itself, this gorgeous, full-color companion book captures the magic and the original excitement of the band's life and times through all-new interviews with the band members. It also features the show's libretto; interviews with the show's writers, director, and cast; and over 200 photos from the band members' personal collections of rarely seen memorabilia. For anyone who's ever sung along or danced to "Oh, What a Night!", "Walk Like a Man" or "Big Girls Don't Cry", and for those just discovering the timeless sound of The Four Seasons,Jersey Boysis the ultimate keepsake.

Author Biography

DAVID COTE is the theater editor and chief drama critic for Time Out New York. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Opera News, and Maxim. In 2005, he wrote Wicked: The Grimmerie, the lavish companion book to the hit Broadway musical Wicked.