Bob Gaudio was inducted into the Songwriters, Rock and Roll, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame. He was the principal writer & an original member of The Four Seasons, as in Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. He wrote and/or co-wrote “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and numerous others. He produced a number of songs for Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack & others. He co-produced the Frank Sinatra album Watertown His longtime association with Neil Diamondyielded seven albums.
It seems like almost everything Bob was involved with was wildly successful. Born in da Bronx and having moved to New Jersey, he created the music for the hit Tony Award winning Broadway musical Jersey Boys, in which he was also portrayed. He is now the co-Lead producer of the sensational Neil Diamond Broadway musical A Beautiful Noise. In this exclusive interview on C-Suite Radio’s The Motivation Show podcast, Bob discusses:
How did the Four Lovers turn into the Four Seasons in 1960?
I have to clarify, as they told me when I joined the band, it’s the four lovers of music. When I joined the band, I was one of the four lovers. I think I made $100/week. We met Bob Crewe in an elevator and he knew Frankie from awhile before. That turned into hey come up see me, I need a band to play on my stuff, and we did. He promised us a recording contract and at some point we finally got around to recording our own stuff and Sherry came out and here we are and we changed the name, because nobody liked the Four Lovers and it was time for a change.
How did your upbringing lead you to the musical path that you were on and were you always confident at an early age that you would have pretty much a meteoric level of success that you enjoyed pretty early on?
I don’t think anyone can predict success. I was driven. I started playing piano when I was six or seven. I had an amazing teacher Sal Mosca who was a jazz artist in his own. I learned so much from him. He taught me how to focus. I think the focusing is what drove me through many times, good, bad and indifferent to just stay on track and getting too scattered didn’t work. That pretty much was a life lesson for me. Maybe that’s part of the reason I’ve been lucky. Focus is everything as far as I am concerned.
Besides Focus, anything else you would add?
I think it always helps to do something you can make a living at and love. I was really fortunate. I started at sixteen. I had a hit record at sixteen, “Short Shorts,” so I had that taste of blood. I knew something was here, so I stayed with it, travelled on buses.
I look at success as having good collaborations. You’ve had some of the most perfect collaboration. How did you form these collaborations?
Sometimes they just happen. They drop in your lap. I have always tried to work with people better than me. Then when I get as good as them, it is time to move on. Always surround yourself with people that are as good or better than you.
What about your career are you most proud of?
Jersey Boys winning Best Musical. It was the first musical that was called a jukebox musical that won a Tony Award. When I saw Julie Andrews come out on the stage and read that announcement, my body went numb. That was a moment I didn’t expect because we were categorized as a jukebox musical.
