The 4 Seasons - 50 Year Anniversary

Most available sources are pegging the date of group, as known as, The 4 Seasons' 50th Anniversary as a band as today, Friday, October 19, 2012.  The group was together under varisou different names - the The 4 Romans, the Four Lovers, et al.  For our purposes - The Four Seasons released their first single in 1961 ("Bermuda"/"Spanish Lace"  - on Gone Records).  They began working with producer Bob Crewe as background vocalists, and sometimes leads under different group names, for his productions on his own Topix record label.  Bob Gaudio eventually wrote a song that, after some discussion between Crewe and Gaudio, was titled "Sherry."  The song was recorded and Crewe, along with members of the group, went about soliciting labels to release the record.  It was Frankie Valli who spoke with Randy Wood, West coast sales manager for Vee Jay (not the founder of Dot Records) who, in turn, suggested the release of "Sherry" to the decision makers at Vee Jay.  "Sherry" made enough of an impression that Crewe was able to sign a deal between his production company and Vee Jay for its release.  At the time, The 4 Seasons were signed, as artists, to Crewe's production company.  They were the first white artists to sign with Vee-Jay.  In 1962, the group released their first album, featuring the single "Sherry", which was not only their first charted hit, but also their first number-one song.  Under the guidance of producer/songwriter Bob Crewe, The Four Seasons followed up "Sherry" with several million-selling hits, including "Big Girls Don't Cry" (their second #1 hit), "Walk Like a Man" (their third #1), "Candy Girl", "Ain't That a Shame", and several others.  From 1962 to early 1964, only the Beach Boys matched the Four Seasons in record sales in the United States, and their first three Vee-Jay non-holiday single releases marked the first time that a rock band hit #1 on the Billboard singles charts with three consecutive entries (ignoring their version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town").