Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote the vast majority of the band's music, including hits like "Sherry" and "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)", as well as "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for Valli. Though he no longer performs with the group, Gaudio and lead singer Frankie Valli remain co-owners of the Four Seasons brand.
He grew up in more comfortable middle-class surroundings than the other members of the Four Seasons, which caused some tension and differences early on. He was a cerebral person, interested in reading and learning. He stayed out of trouble and had a mild manner, which proved useful during negotiations throughout his career.
He rose to musical fame at the age of 15 as a member of The Royal Teens, for whom he co-wrote the hit "Short Shorts".[2] In 1958, while he and the group were promoting the single, they met Frankie Valli and his group the Four Lovers as they prepared to perform on a local television program. Wearying of touring, Gaudio left the Royal Teens soon afterward.
One year after he ceased touring, Gaudio joined the Four Lovers. While commercial success was elusive, the group was kept busy with session work (with Bob Crewe as the producer), and a string of performances at night clubs and lounges.
The Four Seasons Era
Gaudio (left) with The Four Seasons in 1966
In 1960, after a failed audition at a bowling establishment in Union Township, called the "4 Seasons", songwriter/pianist 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.
After the Beatles' Sgt. 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 evening 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. The 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 U.S. and Ace in the UK. Gaudio and Holmes also wrote and produced Frank Sinatra's 1969 album Watertown.
Gaudio withdrew from touring in the early 1970s, a decision that fellow band member Joe Long indicated was due to stage fright and introversion.[5]Lee Shapiro, who had idolized Gaudio as a child, would be hired as Gaudio's replacement, while Gaudio continued to produce and write songs for the Four Seasons and continued to be credited as a full member.[6]
In 1975 Gaudio wrote "Who Loves You" and "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" with his future wife Judy Parker. The Bob and Judy songs became big hits for a reconstituted Four Seasons group (only Valli was left of the original lineup; Gaudio stopped touring with them in 1971 to concentrate on writing and producing).
In the 1990s Gaudio moved to Nashville and produced recordings for Canadian country artist George Fox, among others. He lured Neil Diamond to Nashville to record the album Tennessee Moon. In recent years Gaudio has focused on musical theater, writing the music for the 2001 London West End production of Peggy Sue Got Married.
Gaudio was instrumental in mounting Jersey Boys, a musical play based on the lives of the Four Seasons, which ran at the La Jolla Playhouse through January 2, 2005, and then opened on Broadway on November 6, 2005, to mostly positive reviews. In 2006, the play won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In 2007, it won a Grammy in the Best Musical Show Album category.
Gaudio remains active in managing the Four Seasons catalog and consults with Primary Wave, a company Gaudio partnered with to manage the catalog in 2020, on each licensing request, with a spokesman for Primary Wave noting that Gaudio was more hands-on than most musicians in how he wanted the Four Seasons' music to be used, especially in advertising.[14]
In 2022, Gaudio and Peggy Farina received credits as a co-songwriter for the song "Burning" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which is driven by a piano loop inspired by their Four Seasons song "Beggin'." The lyric, "Lay your red hand on me, baby," is an allusion to the opening line in "Beggin'," "put your lovin' hand out, baby."[15] The song gained attention after it was used for the film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
Personal life
Gaudio was married to Brit Irene Olsen until the early 1970s. They had two daughters, Lisa Gaudio and Danielle Lahlezar, and a son, Shannon Gaudio.[16] Near the end of their marriage, the two wrote three songs together, all of which have titles pertaining to a disconnected couple.[17] Brit Olsen died in 1989, age 47.[18] Gaudio acknowledged: "I am hardly a model father, or grandfather for that matter."[16] Lahlezar conceived the 2008 album Jersey Babys, a Four Seasons album featuring the band's hits rearranged as instrumentals for young children's listening.[16]
By 1975, Gaudio was in a relationship with Judy Parker, who would become his wife and regular songwriting collaborator. "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" is, according to Gaudio, based upon an early encounter between the two.[19] The two married in 1981 and remained so until Parker died September 14, 2017.[20]
Related Research Articles
The Four Seasons is an American rock band formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, having sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide.
Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer and occasional actor, best known as the frontman of the Four Seasons. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.
Nicholas E. Macioci was an American bass singer, songwriter, and bass guitarist. He is best known for his work as the bassist and bass vocalist for The Four Seasons, for whom he performed under the stage name Nick Massi.
Charles Calello is an American arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, and singer born in Newark, New Jersey. Calello attended Newark Arts High School and the Manhattan School of Music, in New York City. His track record of successfully collaborating with various artists to produce or arrange Billboard hit songs led to his nickname in the industry as the "Hit Man."
Gaetano "Tommy" DeVito was an American musician. He was best known as a founding member, vocalist, and lead guitarist of rock band the Four Seasons.
Dennis Joel Rafkin, known professionally as Denny Randell, is an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Sandy Linzer and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", "Let's Hang On!", "Working My Way Back to You", and "Native New Yorker", and was nominated with Linzer for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) in 2012.
"December, 1963 " is a song originally performed by the Four Seasons, written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group's album Who Loves You (1975).
Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and breakup of the 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons. The musical is structured as four "seasons", each narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music. Songs include "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Sherry", "December, 1963 ", "My Eyes Adored You", "Stay", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", "Walk Like A Man", "Who Loves You", "Working My Way Back to You" and "Rag Doll".
Robert Stanley Crewe was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons.
"Big Girls Don't Cry" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by the Four Seasons. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 17, 1962, and, like its predecessor "Sherry", spent five weeks in the top position but never ranked in the Billboard year-end charts of 1962 or 1963. The song also made it to number one, for three weeks, on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues survey. It was also the quartet's second single to make it to number one on the US R&B charts.
"Sherry" is a song written by Bob Gaudio and recorded by The Four Seasons.
"Walk Like a Man" is a 1963 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by the Four Seasons. The song is sung from the perspective of a man whose girlfriend has been belittling him, and who takes his father's advice to "walk like a man" and leave the relationship in order to preserve his dignity. The song was a #1 hit in the United States for the Four Seasons. A 1985 cover version by Divine was a top 40 hit in several European countries.
Joseph Louis LaBracio, better known by his stage name Joe Long, was an American musician. He was best known for his tenure as the bass guitarist and vocalist for the Four Seasons from 1965 to 1975, having succeeded original bassist Nick Massi in those positions.
Jersey Boys: Original Broadway Cast Recording is the cast album for the 2005 Broadway musical Jersey Boys, which tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The album was produced by Bob Gaudio, one of the original members of the Four Seasons. Principal vocalists include original Broadway cast members Christian Hoff as Tommy DeVito, Daniel Reichard as Bob Gaudio, J. Robert Spencer as Nick Massi and John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli.
"Who Loves You" is the title song of a 1975 album by The Four Seasons. It was composed by Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker and produced by Gaudio. It reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1975.
"Beggin'" is a song composed by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina and first released as a single by American band the Four Seasons in 1967. Initially charting at number 16 in the US Billboard Chart, the song became popular in the Northern soul scene in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. It has been covered multiple times, with versions by Norwegian hip-hop duo Madcon and Italian rock band Måneskin topping music charts in Europe and beyond. The Four Seasons' version was remixed in 2007 by French DJ Pilooski and re-released as a single, reaching number 32 in the UK Singles Chart, commercially outperforming the band's original release in the UK.
Judy Parker Gaudio was a record producer and songwriter who is best known for her collaborations with and marriage to fellow producer and songwriter Bob Gaudio.
Arthur Bruce Schroeck is an American musician, best known for arranging and composing popular songs and jingles. He has won multiple Clio Awards, such as when he composed the music for the 1981 ABC-TV promo "Now is the time, ABC is the place". He also composed the 1982 promo "Come on along with ABC". He arranged the classic "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" in 1967 for Frankie Valli and has written or arranged music for multiple other artists including Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. In the 1990s, he was a regular performer at Harrah's in Atlantic City with his wife, singer Linda November, and in 1997, he wrote, arranged, and produced a tribute to bandleader Spike Jones. As of 2011, he continues to perform in Las Vegas.
Jersey Boys is a 2014 American musical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, based on the 2004 Tony Award-winning jukebox musical of the same name. The film tells the story of the musical group The Four Seasons. Original band members Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio serve as executive producers.
The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette is a 1969 album by American rock band the Four Seasons. Member Bob Gaudio teamed up with Jake Holmes to create a psychedelic concept album which adjusted the band's stylings to the changing times of the late 1960s. Instead of love songs, the band tackled subjects such as war and racial tension.
1 2 Rotella, Mark. "Straight Out of Newark", The New York Times, October 2, 2005. Accessed October 9, 2007. "Originally from the Bronx, Mr. Gaudio had, at age 15, written the hit "Who Wears Short Shorts", which he made up while driving with friends along the main drag in Bergenfield."
↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Bob Gaudio". AllMusic.com. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
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