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46-496: As a songwriter, his most successful songs include " Silhouettes " (co-written with Frank Slay ); " Big Girls Don't Cry ", " Walk Like a Man ", " Rag Doll ", " Silence Is Golden ", " The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore) ", " Can't Take My Eyes Off You " and " Bye, Bye, Baby " (all co-written with Gaudio); " Let's Hang On! " (written with Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell ); and " My Eyes Adored You " and " Lady Marmalade " (both co-written with Kenny Nolan ). He also had hit recordings with

92-507: A Distance: The Event . The single and album were live recordings of two special concerts celebrating Richard's 30th anniversary of his recording career. Titled The Event , the concerts were held at the Original Wembley Stadium with an audience of 72,000 each evening over the 16 and 17 June 1989. Doo-wop group The Silhouettes (known for their hit " Get A Job ") were named after the song. According to John Lennon ,

138-499: A New Road ). With Bud Rehak and Eddie Rambeau he co-wrote " Navy Blue " for singer Diane Renay , and also produced it. Renay's recording made the Top 10 on the US pop chart in early 1964, and number one on the adult contemporary chart. In 1965, Crewe formed his own record label, DynoVoice Records . With the release of the 1965 hit " Concrete and Clay " by Eddie Rambeau , DynoVoice launched

184-677: A Scarborough, Maine, nursing home. His charity, the Bob Crewe Foundation, donated $ 3 million to the Maine College of Art in April 2014. Crewe died in the nursing home on September 11, 2014, at the age of 83. He had been in declining health for several years following a fall. US peak chart position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart follows the song title. Only singles that reached a position of No. 30 or higher on

230-511: A chart act in the mid-1970s, recording material for the disco era. The 1976 LP Street Talk on Elektra was in this vein. In 1975, Crewe wrote and produced disco material for the Eleventh Hour , who had dance club success with at least three releases on 20th Century Records : "Hollywood Hot" (45 rpm single, number: TC-2215), "Bumper to Bumper", and "Sock It To Me/It's Your Thing". In the mid-1970s, Crewe and Sir Monti Rock III formed

276-403: A collaboration by Crewe and writers Jerry Corbetta and Bob Gaudio produced another Billboard Top 100 success with the romantic duet "You're Looking Like Love To Me", sung by Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson . Another Crewe-Corbetta project united them with singer-songwriter-producer Ellie Greenwich , for whom they produced the original cast album of Greenwich's Broadway musical Leader of

322-477: A couple embracing through a windowshade as he passed on a train. He quickly set about turning the image into a song. Frank Slay , who owned the small Philadelphia record label XYZ with Crewe, added lyrics, and they soon had a complete song ready to record. The story has frequently been reported that Slay heard the Rays audition for Cameo-Parkway Records , for which he worked, and immediately decided that they were

368-556: A run of twenty-one Top 100 hits. The label found early success with the R&;B trio the Toys , best known for their single " A Lover's Concerto ", a No. 2 hit single, and "Attack". The Toys were produced by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer for executive producer Crewe. Writing about "A Lover's Concerto", based on a melody inspired by Bach's " Minuet in G major ", critic Dave Thompson observed, "Few records are this perfect. Riding across one of

414-494: A series of well-received recordings such as Ben Bagley 's Cole Porter Revisited and Rodgers and Hart Revisited featuring vocal performances by such artists as Harold Arlen , Elaine Stritch , Dorothy Loudon , Anthony Perkins , Ann Hampton Callaway , Bobby Short , Jerry Orbach , Tammy Grimes , and Blossom Dearie . Crewe sang " The Whiffenpoof Song " and was interviewed on The Jack Spector Show and appeared on Dick Clark's ABC-TV programs American Bandstand and Where

460-697: A solo album in Memphis, with Barry Beckett co-producing. The album, entitled Motivation , was a showcase for his singing voice. Although the album did not achieve chart success, it included the ballad "Marriage Made In Heaven", a collaboration between Crewe and Kenny Nolan which later became popular with Carolina beach music bands. The album also produced the song "It Took a Long Time (For The First Time In My Life)", also recorded by Patti LaBelle . Crewe and Nolan had previously written two other songs - " My Eyes Adored You " and " Lady Marmalade " - which became back-to-back No. 1 records in 1975. "My Eyes Adored You"

506-498: A solo singer, Crewe recorded a pair of albums in 1961, one of which included a Ralph Burns-produced swing version of Yale University's signature " The Whiffenpoof Song ". The record became a major hit in New York and led to Crewe's receiving "teen heartthrob" coverage in such popular teen magazines as 16 Magazine , and to guest appearances with Mickey Rooney and Connie Francis on such TV variety shows as The Revlon Revue . In

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552-451: A vocal hit by Andy Williams . In 1967, Bob Crewe produced and wrote seven of the songs sung by Lesley Gore on her last commercially successful album, California Nights , including producing the title track . The Bob Crewe Generation also recorded the original soundtrack (composed by Crewe and Charles Fox ) for the 1968 Paramount Pictures motion picture Barbarella , starring Jane Fonda and directed by Roger Vadim . The soundtrack for

598-509: A young pianist from Texas. Their collaboration created several hit songs (as well as a small record label, XYZ), for which Crewe performed as the demo singer. Crewe and Slay's 1957 recording session with the Rays for XYZ (picked up nationally by Cameo Records ) produced two major hit songs. " Silhouettes ", produced by Crewe, became a doo-wop anthem of the era. Climbing to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957, "Silhouettes" displayed

644-674: Is " Can't Get Enough of You Baby ". The number, co-written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell , was also recorded by the Bay City, Michigan, rock group ? and the Mysterians , best known for their 1966 hit " 96 Tears ". "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" has enjoyed subsequent reinterpretations by the Colourfield and Smash Mouth , among many others. Crewe's record label scored another hit with Norma Tanega 's off-beat, folksy " Walkin' My Cat Named Dog ". Crewe also helped bring success to

690-642: The Epic Records group the Tremeloes with their hit cover of " Silence Is Golden ", a song originally written for and recorded by the Four Seasons. Bob Crewe himself (recording as The Bob Crewe Generation ) released a version of Sid Ramin's 1967 instrumental " Music to Watch Girls By " (originally composed as a Diet Pepsi commercial jingle) on DynoVoice. The song became a Top 20 hit. and spawned another successful instrumental version by Al Hirt and

736-567: The R&;B Best Sellers chart and Billboard Top 100, while also hitting the top five on both the sales and airplay charts. It was the group's only top 40 hit. The Canadian pop group the Diamonds , who had experienced success with cover versions of other doo-wop records, quickly put out their own version of the song. They even used the same song, "Daddy Cool", on the B-side of their record as

782-573: The UK Singles Chart . Also achieving chart status over the decades were English-language versions by the Lettermen , Maureen McGovern , Boys Town Gang and Lauryn Hill . The song has been heard in numerous motion pictures, including The Deer Hunter , The Fabulous Baker Boys , Conspiracy Theory , 10 Things I Hate About You , Drop Dead Gorgeous , Bridget Jones's Diary , and Jersey Boys . In 1969, Crewe collaborated with

828-545: The " British Invasion " of the US, reaching number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also reached number 3 in the UK. Information from Peter Noone and others indicates that guitarist Vic Flick played on the track, and not Jimmy Page as previously thought. Cliff Richard released a live version as a single in 1990, reaching number 10 on the UK Singles Chart . It was the first single culled from his 1990 live album From

874-473: The Action Is . He was interviewed by Dick Clark and some of his current 1960's songs were played for the dancers and crowds. The Generation's late 1969 LP Let Me Touch You , including covers of Henry Mancini's "Moon River" and "Two For The Road", arranged by Charles Fox, remains a favorite of lounge music collectors. It was also their only quadraphonic release. The Bob Crewe Generation briefly reappeared as

920-666: The American singing group the Walker Brothers , who recorded their No. 1 selling version in England; their version made the American Top 10 as well. The Crewe-Gaudio collaborations capitalized on the extraordinary and distinctive voice of Frankie Valli, who could effortlessly soar to a piercing, emotionally expressive falsetto that became one of the emblematic and widely imitated sounds of the era. Record sales racked up by

966-502: The Beatles ' song " No Reply " (1964) was inspired by "Silhouettes". The song was featured in the 2005 jukebox musical Jersey Boys as well as in the film version . Tallahassee Lassie " Tallahassee Lassie " is a song written by Bob Crewe , Frank Slay , and Frederick Picariello and performed by Freddy Cannon (Picariello's stage name ). The song was featured on his 1960 album The Explosive! Freddy Cannon . The song

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1012-467: The Detroit Wheels . Under his direction, they scored eleven Top 100 hits, most notably Crewe's powerful and muscular arrangements of " Devil with a Blue Dress On ", the group's highest-charting single at No. 4, as well as " Sock It to Me, Baby! ", a No. 6 hit in 1967, and " Jenny Take a Ride ", which reached No. 10 in 1965. Another often-recorded song from the 1965 Linzer-Randell album by the Toys

1058-422: The Four Seasons are estimated as being between anywhere from 100 million to 199 million. As the "Four Seasons sound" became more and more defined, other signature touches emerged, including dense but pristine-sounding percussion, such as the military-sounding march cadences and drum-stomps of "Sherry", "Big Girls Don't Cry", and "Walk Like a Man". The sophisticated harmonic patterns of the Four Seasons punctuated by

1104-483: The Hot 100 are listed here. Silhouettes (The Rays song) " Silhouettes " is a song made famous by the doo-wop group the Rays in 1957, peaking at number 3 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 . A competing version by the Diamonds was also successful. In 1965 it was a number 5 hit in the US for Herman's Hermits , and in 1990 it was a number 10 hit in the UK for Cliff Richard . In May 1957, songwriter Bob Crewe saw

1150-579: The Pack . The album was a Grammy Award nominee and the show itself was nominated for a Tony Award . In 1985, Crewe was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame . "Lady Marmalade" was re-recorded by Christina Aguilera , Lil' Kim , Mýa , and Pink for the soundtrack of the 2001 film Moulin Rouge! , and their version stayed at No. 1 in the U.S. for five weeks. It achieved the same chart position in

1196-570: The Rays , Diane Renay , Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels , Freddy Cannon , Lesley Gore , Oliver , Michael Jackson , Bobby Darin , Roberta Flack , Peabo Bryson , Patti LaBelle , Barry Manilow , and his own Bob Crewe Generation. Born in Newark in 1930 and raised in Belleville, New Jersey , Crewe demonstrated an early and apparent gift for both art and music. Although lacking in formal musical training, he gravitated to learning from many of

1242-530: The Rays had. Their version received widespread radio play in a heavily segregated radio market, also reaching the top ten of the Billboard airplay chart. However, it did not reach Billboard's sales chart, and only hit number 60 on the Top 100. Herman's Hermits recorded the song in 1965 after hearing it on American Armed Forces Radio . It reached number 1 in Canada's RPM charts. It became their third hit in

1288-419: The Rays instead. The song received a break when popular Philadelphia disc jockey Hy Lit fell asleep with a stack of newly released records on his record player. "Silhouettes" happened to be the last to play, and so it repeated until he woke up. He began to play the song on his show. It became popular enough that Cameo-Parkway picked it up for national distribution, and it eventually reached number 3 on both

1334-524: The United Kingdom and Australia. Rolling Stone ranked "Lady Marmalade" as the 479th greatest song of all time. In 1999, when the US performing rights and royalties organization BMI ( Broadcast Music Incorporated ) announced its Top 100 Songs of the Century, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" landed in the Top 10 with six million airplays. BMI calculates one million continuous performances of a song of

1380-827: The Warwick label, and in 1977, the UK band Darts made the song their first-ever studio recording, scoring a No. 6 hit. Crewe and Slay built on their success by signing a deal with new, Philadelphia-based Swan Records . Sessions with Billy and Lillie (singers Billy Ford and Lillie Bryant) produced the 1958 hit "Lah Dee Dah", which reached the No. 9 position on the Billboard Hot 100 ; the following year, Billy and Lillie's recording of "Lucky Ladybug" hit No. 14. Crewe and Slay also wrote two Top 10 hits - " Tallahassee Lassie " and "Okefenokee" - for Swan's rising star Freddy Cannon . Crewe also began to score his own hits, "Sweetie Pie" (US No. 111, 1959) and " The Whiffenpoof Song " (No. 96, 1960). As

1426-609: The average length (3 minutes) as representing 5.7 years of continuous airplay. In addition to his numerous benchmarks and accolades in music, Crewe also achieved recognition as an artist, he designed a number of album covers and had highly successful one-man gallery showings of his paintings at the Earl McGrath Gallery, Thomas Soloman's Garage, and the Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles. Since 2005, Crewe

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1472-556: The cult favorite features vocals by Crewe and the group the Glitterhouse . In 1967, Crewe and Gaudio scored one of their greatest successes with " Can't Take My Eyes Off You ", recorded by Frankie Valli with the Four Seasons. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a gold record. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" has since been recorded by a wide variety of vocalists and bands, in several different languages. A 1968 version by singer Andy Williams climbed to No. 5 on

1518-463: The disco club favorites Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes , best known for their 1975 successes " Get Dancin' " and " I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance) ". The group is referenced by Elvis Costello in his song "Invasion Hit Parade" and by The Pet Shop Boys in their song "Electricity". In 1977, at the insistence of producer Jerry Wexler , who had been an early mentor of his, Crewe recorded

1564-464: The distinctive falsetto of Frankie Valli were at once classic and innovative, as was Crewe's use of melancholy harmonica on " Big Man in Town ", the space-age organ of " Save It for Me ", and the otherworldly glissandos of " Candy Girl ". In addition to his work with the Four Seasons, Crewe produced recording sessions by such artists as Dee Dee Sharp , The Orlons , Ben E. King , and The Highwaymen ( On

1610-409: The early 1960s, Crewe began writing with Bob Gaudio , who had risen to fame at age 15 as a member of The Royal Teens , for whom he'd co-written the hit " Short Shorts ". The first Crewe-Gaudio collaboration, " Sherry ", was written by Gaudio and produced by Crewe. In 1962 it became a No. 1 single for Gaudio's new band, the Four Seasons , (fronted by Frankie Valli ). The pair wrote many other songs for

1656-475: The flair for story-driven lyrics, innovative musical hooks, and final lyrical twists that were to become known as Crewe trademarks. In 1965, with a slightly faster tempo, "Silhouettes" again became a hit, this time for the British group Herman's Hermits , reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bob Dylan recorded "Silhouettes" during his legendary Basement Tapes sessions of the late 1960s, although his version

1702-473: The great 19th- and 20th-century classical romantic composers as well as giants of jazz and swing, including Stan Kenton , Harry James , Duke Ellington , Benny Goodman , and Tommy Dorsey . He studied for almost a year at Parsons School of Design in New York City with the intention of eventually pursuing a career in architecture. In 1953, Crewe met and partnered professionally with Frank Slay Jr. ,

1748-498: The group, including the No. 1 hits " Big Girls Don't Cry ", " Rag Doll ", and " Walk Like a Man ", as well as "Ronnie", " Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye) ", and " Connie-O ". Crewe collaborated with Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell on the Four Seasons hit " Let's Hang On! ". The Four Seasons were also the first to record the Crewe-Gaudio composition " The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore) ", later covered virtually note-for-note by

1794-710: The most deceptively hook-laden melodies ever conceived ... 'A Lover's Concerto' marks the apogee of the Girl Group sound." The song was subsequently recorded by the Lennon Sisters , the Delfonics , Sarah Vaughan , the Supremes , Mrs. Miller , Audrey Hall , and Kelly Chen . Another DynoVoice powerhouse of the mid-1960s emerged when Crewe discovered a band called Billy Lee & The Rivieras. The group had limited success until he renamed them Mitch Ryder &

1840-411: The perfect group for "Silhouettes". However, Slay and Crewe were actually already familiar with the group, as "Silhouettes" was their third single with them. Neil Arena of the original Mello-Kings maintains that Slay and Crewe had first written the song for their group, but since they were away on tour and unable to record it when Crewe offered it to Herald Records boss Al Silver, the writers opted for

1886-642: The show to start a foundation supporting gay rights, people with AIDS, and bringing music and art to children in deprived communities. While Crewe was portrayed as openly gay in the Jersey Boys stage musical and film, his brother Dan Crewe told an interviewer that his brother was discreet about his sexuality, particularly during the time he was working with the Four Seasons. "Whenever he met someone, he would go into what I always called his John Wayne mode, this extreme machoism," Dan Crewe told The New York Times . From April 2014 until his death, Crewe resided in

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1932-500: The singer Oliver , producing his pop hit " Jean ", a song written by poet Rod McKuen which served as theme to the Oscar -winning film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie , starring Maggie Smith . Crewe also produced a hit single of Oliver performing the optimistic " Good Morning Starshine " from the rock musical Hair . The song reached No. 3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening singles surveys. The Crewe record label released

1978-407: The song became a radio and dance club sensation. When it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, it displaced "My Eyes Adored You". Both songs spent one week at No. 1. "Lady Marmalade" has since been used in numerous motion pictures, including Cheech and Chong's The Corsican Brothers , Beethoven , Carlito's Way , The Birdcage , The Long Kiss Goodnight , and Semi-Pro . In 1984,

2024-431: Was featured as a supporting character (played originally by Peter Gregus) in Jersey Boys , the long-running, multiple Tony Award -winning Broadway musical based on the story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. Although the 2014 film version (with Mike Doyle as Crewe) was only a modest success, the play has gone on to become an international hit, with Crewe credited as the show's lyricist. He used his proceeds from

2070-546: Was not released until 2014. " Daddy Cool " was the B-side of the Rays' "Silhouettes" single. Written and produced by Crewe and Slay at the same 1957 session, it achieved considerable note. Both "Daddy Cool" and "Silhouettes" were covered the same year by the Canadian group the Diamonds , whose version of "Daddy Cool" reached No. 10 on the Billboard charts . In 1961, Guy "Daddy Cool" Darrell released another single version on

2116-598: Was produced by Crewe and performed by Frankie Valli with the Four Seasons. When the record label, Mowest, balked at releasing it, Crewe, certain of its quality and hit potential, bought back the rights for $ 4,000 and it was issued on Private Stock Records. Despite widespread rejections from music industry pundits, the song became a smash solo hit for Valli, and was the fifth biggest song of the year. " Lady Marmalade ", recorded by Labelle , became notorious for its sexually provocative, New Orleans-inflected chorus, " Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? " Produced by Allen Toussaint,

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