The Proud One (song)

Last updated
"The Proud One"
Theproudoneosmonds.jpg
Song by The Osmonds
from the album The Proud One
B-side "The Last Day Is Coming"
ReleasedMay 24, 1975
RecordedNovember 11, 1974
Genre Pop rock
Length3:02
Label MGM Records 14791
Songwriters Bob Gaudio, Bob Crewe
Producer Mike Curb
The Osmonds singles chronology
"Having a Party"
(1975)		"The Proud One"
(1975)		"I'm Still Gonna Need You"
(1975)

"The Proud One" is a 1966 song written by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe and originally performed by Frankie Valli as part of his debut solo album, The 4 Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo. A minor hit for Valli, it became a top-40 hit (and easy listening chart-topper) for The Osmonds with their 1975 cover version of the record.

Contents

Frankie Valli version

Background

"The Proud One" was the first single released in an effort to relaunch Valli's solo career as a side project from The 4 Seasons. (Valli had briefly been a solo artist in the 1950s, most successfully with the minor hit "My Mother's Eyes," before joining The Four Lovers, the group Valli fronted before the formation of The 4 Seasons.) Valli and Gaudio had originally planned on releasing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as the lead-off single from the new project, but reluctance on the part of the Seasons' label Philips Records (stemming from concerns about the band's stability after Nick Massi's 1965 resignation) prompted them to release "The Proud One," a record more in line with the Seasons' established stylings and sound, as the lead-off single. [1]

Chart performance

Valli's version, which featured the Seasons on instrumental backing but not vocals, peaked at #68 in the U.S. [2] and #64 in Canada. [3]

Reception

Billboard claimed that "the electric sound of Valli is used to perfection in this powerful ballad, stating that the "easy-go dance beat [is] effective." [4] Cash Box said that it is a "powerhouse" and that "the Valli sound holds the moving, teen-oriented tale of love together and the sweeping arrangement adds a must spin again quality to it." [5]

The Osmonds cover

The Osmonds recorded the song and released it in the spring of 1975. It was their final appearance in the US Top 40, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and their only number one on the Easy Listening chart, where it spent one week at number one in September 1975. [6] The song also reached number one in Ireland. [7]

Chart history

See also

References

  1. ↑ Willman, Chris (June 6, 2024). "Frankie Valli on Jersey Boys and His Unlikely Success: 'The Way I Grew Up, It Was Basically Against All Odds'". Parade . Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  2. ↑ Frankie Valli, "The Proud One" Chart Position Retrieved February 21, 2015
  3. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  4. ↑ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. October 22, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  5. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 22, 1966. p. 24. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  6. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 187.
  7. ↑ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know".
  8. ↑ RPM Adult Contemporary, September 27, 1975
  9. ↑ Irishcharts.ie Archived 2009-06-02 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved August 25, 2008)
  10. ↑ New Zealand Top 40 Singles, 18 August 1975
  11. ↑ UK Singles Chart Official Charts (Retrieved August 1, 2008)
  12. ↑ Billboard allmusic.com (Retrieved August 25, 2008)
  13. ↑ Bac-lac.gc.ca
  14. ↑ "Britain's best selling records of '75". Record Mirror . London: Billboard. January 10, 1976. p. 12. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  15. ↑ Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1975
  16. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN   0-89820-142-X.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.