Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons never had an autumn. They are of their time, and timeless.
With his early life and crooning career chronicled in the multiple Tony Award–winning and internationally successful stage musical, Jersey Boys—along with a movie version directed by Clint Eastwood—a five-decade catalogue of blockbuster hits, and even a sinister stint on TV’s The Sopranos, Frankie Valli is a well-deserving pop culture icon.
The living legacy of some artists, however, is just as much in the sound as much as the songs. Few have achieved such universal recognition as Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, who were an early highlight of Ravinia’s 2016 season in their festival debut.
Frankie—to my parents’ generation, that meant “Sinatra.” To my generation, it meant “Valli & the Four Seasons.” Although as with so many other things in life, I was a bit late in coming to this party.