Frankie Valli, the 90-year-old icon of The Four Seasons, discusses his six-decade career with Rubin, reflecting on hits like "Sherry" and "Oh, What a Night," while revealing his preference for jazz over pop. They explore Valli's legacy in Jersey Boys, his rejected Sopranos audition, and his philosophy that performance serves the audience. Sharing anecdotes from pandemic watermelon thumping to playing "Who Loves Ya?" for Rubin's dying dog, they highlight how Valli's energetic shows continue to bridge generations through enduring nostalgia and pure joy. [Automatically generated summary]
As long as you understand that you're not doing it for you, and you're doing it for an audience who may be out there waiting to hear you have bought a ticket or waited six months until you appeared in your place.
So that's what keeps it fresh.
I've been doing this since I was about 16 or 17. Can you imagine what it's like to have an audience your whole life doing what you love and them loving what you're doing?
Anybody who could stay with you and be a fan for as long as some of these people have been deserves to get as close to you as they could possibly get when they can.
So I've always loved Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons from the first time I heard them.
I can't tell you that I remember the exact first time that I heard them, but it must have been somewhere around 10 or 11 years old.
I can sort of picture the park in the town that I lived in and just going to summer concerts with my parents, and they'd have all these cover bands of the bands that they used to listen to when they were kids, you know, 50s, 60s.
music.
And I remember Oh, What a Night and obviously Grease and, you know, all the major hits that everyone knows about.
There's so many others now that I love that were lesser hits over And then, of course, over the years, not only did I love the music...
But then Frankie himself sort of became a legend through the Jersey Boys musical, which then became a movie as well.
And, you know, I'm from New York.
I'm from Long Island.
Had a lot of family in Jersey.
The whole Jersey Boys story is so connected to everybody that lived in that New York tri-state area.
There's sort of mafia parts of it and foods and accents and all of these things.
And the story of a guy as they go into in the play and in the movie.
Of a guy who was doing something for the love of music, not just Frankie, but the Four Seasons as well, all of them, and then had the trials and tribulations, lost a daughter, dealing with one of the other guys, getting them into debt, and just going and going and going.
I've always just had this affinity towards all of that.
But of course, at the end of the day, it comes down to the music.
And over the last couple years, we've just...
He introduced a million people to some of the stuff that people don't know from the four seasons and what Frankie's been doing, because he had solo albums as well.
My favorite album is Soul Heaven Above Me, which I think came out in 1980.
So this is like at the end of disco, and he did this incredible song.
The album is Soul Heaven Above Me.
The title song, Soul, is just an absolute banger.
There's another one on there, Let It Be Whatever It Is, that's amazing too, Passion for Paris.
These are not the songs that most people think of.
Most people think of Sherry, and they think of Walk Like a Man, and the stuff from really the 60s and 70s, and of course, Oh, What a Night.
And I love all those, too.
And then there's some other stuff that gets in there over the years, and he did more jazz stuff and ballads.
But again, it was just about the voice and the joy that it has brought to my family and literally millions of people.
And then it turned out...
Frankie's drummer was a fan of mine, so I got to meet Frankie a couple years ago when I lived in LA.
It also turned out we lived only a couple blocks from each other.
And then finally, just recently, we actually got to sit down, and it is truly one of the great...
For me, it's one of the greatest moments of my career.
I've interviewed presidents, I've interviewed prime ministers, I've interviewed comedians who I've loved, and actors, and all sorts of politicians and pundits and all of that stuff.
But there are a few that really stand out as something that were just more important to me personally than just the public side of all of this.
And this absolutely was one.
And the guy at 90 years old, I've been to probably 10 of his concerts, 90 years old, still out there.
And as we talked about, he does it just because it still makes people happy.
And what could possibly be better than that?
So I hope you guys enjoy this interview with Frankie Valli as much as I did sitting there across from truly one of the last living legends.
And is it as exciting for you personally every morning?
Like when you wake up, I mean, you had a gig last night, and then you get on the bus, I saw the tour bus, and then here you are again, and you got another one, I think, tomorrow.
And I see, I've been to, I told you, I've been to probably a dozen of your shows, and I see grandparents now who saw you back then, now with their grandkids, and they equally love it.
What do you think 1962 Frankie Valli, or even before that, the kid that was under the lamppost that you talk about in Jersey Boys, what do you think he would think?
And it's crazy because I've seen you do this where the women are still coming to you and you're still touching all the hands and they love you and you're blowing the kisses and the whole thing.
Anybody who could stay with you and be a fan for as long as some of these people have been deserves to get as close to you as they could possibly get when they can.
Well, it's going to be exciting to put together the show and try to make it a little bit different, but still have the essence of everything that it originally had.
Sometimes the public takes advantage, but you've got to understand that when they are taking advantage, it's probably something they've never done before, and they don't know exactly how to do it.
They can't do it your way.
And they'll come and ask for a picture or an autograph.
Well, I told you right before, the one time I bumped into you, you were at the supermarket thumping a watermelon, and you thought I was completely insane, and you're wearing a mask.
It was during COVID, and I tell you this crazy story.
You said, okay, Kate, okay, as if I was, you know, just anybody, which I guess I am.
The part I auditioned for, they said it just didn't feel right for me.
And that they would write me in.
And they called me a couple times after that.
But nothing really came of it, and I said to myself, until they send the paper that I have to write my name on it, the contract, I said I'm not even going to give it a second thought.
When the cameras go off, that's usually when things kind of liven up, and immediately the cameras went off, and I showed him my phone, and I have tons of these videos, because we do basically...
A soul heaven above me dance party here at about 7 o 'clock every night.
The kids request it, usually Luke.
And we run around and we're dancing and doing our thing and they absolutely love it.
And I showed him the video of the kids doing that.
And then he really lit up and he started asking me if they're into music and what instruments they play.
And Justin plays the harmonica and Luke's got his little electric piano.
And that's really when he lit up and he told me a little bit about his kids and what it's like watching kids grow up and all of those things.
So it's like, you know, I didn't...
I didn't think we were going to sit there and it was going to be the most mind-blowing interview of all time.
But just when you're privileged enough, actually, to get a few minutes with someone that has literally just brought joy to your life.
That is freaking awesome.
And I can't tell you how many times we have had parties in this backyard right here.
A lot of tequila at that bar right there.
That, you know, the Four Seasons and Frankie are there playing in my massive party playlist.
And people come up to me and they're like, what song is that?
What song is that again?
I'm like, that's Frankie.
And they're like, that's Frankie Valli?
I can't believe that.
And it could be begging.
There's just a million of these bangers.
And that is the cool part.
That's the beauty of music, right?
That's the beauty of art.
It inspires you.
And it brings out something in you.
And then you can share that with other people.
And then they feel that thing.
And they find something they love.
That's a really beautiful thing.
But the moment with the kids was definitely the best part.
So when I lived in LA a couple years ago, it turns out that the real estate agent that sold me my house, by total coincidence, sold Frankie his house a few years before, and he lived like three blocks away from me.
I mean, there's so many outside of the dance parties.
But I would say one main one that actually I think has probably been seen millions of times on Twitter is that when our dog Emma, about five years ago, when she was rolling into her last couple of days, we were obviously taking a lot of videos and pictures of her.
And she was pretty sick, 16 years old.
She lived an incredible life.
And the day we knew that we were going to put her down that afternoon at 4 p.m., we gave her her last, what turned out to be her last tomahawk steak bone.
And we put her in bed and she was chewing on it.
and we played Who Loves Ya?
And, well, take a look.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
you You know, they say you're not supposed to meet your heroes in life.
Like, that's just one of those things.
They're always going to disappoint you one way or another.
But I have to tell you, having spent time with Frankie in the afternoon...
Watching him do the rehearsal before the show where, again, 90 years old, he's still fully checked in, asking about volume levels, making sure the band's doing what they're supposed to do, all of that.
Then going to the show that night, sold out.
Again, I've been to a dozen of these things, but they're just great every time.
Like, within five minutes, everyone in that room is just in love with all of those songs from their childhood or from their earlier years or whether they're just finding it out now.
And that's a beautiful thing because you see people that are Frankie.