Tommy Devito obit

Tommy DeVito, original Four Seasons member, dies of COVID-19 at 92

 

 He was not on the list.

Tommy DeVito, one of the founding members of iconic doo-wop group The Four Seasons has died from COVID-19. He was 92.

Actor Alfred Nittoli, a friend of DeVito’s, posted the news on Facebook. DeVito, a Belleville native, had recently been hospitalized after contracting coronavirus.

DeVito began performing with Newark native Frankie Valli in The Four Lovers and The Variatones in 1954 and founded The Four Seasons in 1960, leading to a decade of chart-topping hits like “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Sherry.” The group inspired the 2005 Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” which was eventually made into a feature film.

DeVito and the other original Four Seasons members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. DeVito left the group in 1971 and in 2007 released a solo instrumental album.

Bobby Valli, brother of Frankie, posted about DeVito’s passing as well.

DeVito's musical career began in the early 1950s when he formed "the Variety Trio" with his brother Nick DeVito and Hank Majewski. This core group performed under various names and changing lineups. The band expanded to a quartet and changed its name to "the Variatones" including the addition in 1954 of singer Francis Castelluccio (later known as Frankie Valli). When they were signed to a recording contract with RCA Victor, in 1956, the quartet of DeVito/DeVito/Hank Majewski/Valli had renamed themselves "the Four Lovers". Tommy and Frankie remained the only consistent members of the Four Lovers, as the group released seven singles and one album under the Four Lovers name. Their 1956 debut single, Otis Blackwell's "You're the Apple of My Eye", achieved enough national sales to appear as a minor hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The single landed Tommy his first national television appearance, when the Four Lovers appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.

While his brother Nick left the group, Tommy DeVito continued his musical pursuits, reforming and realigning the group. He was close friends with Joe Pesci, who introduced DeVito and Valli to Bob Gaudio. By 1960 The Four Lovers consisted of DeVito and Valli along with lyricist/singer/keyboardist Bob Gaudio and vocal arranger Nick Massi, and were mainly used as a backup band for producer Bob Crewe under contract. This is the lineup which adopted the name "The Four Seasons," (actually, they were billed numerically as the 4 Seasons) named after a bowling alley in Union, New Jersey, that had a lounge where they'd auditioned. Signed by songwriter/producer Bob Crewe, the Four Seasons cut their first single under that name, "Bermuda," in November 1961. It was released by Gone Records, but did not succeed. Their next single did, in 1962 Gaudio's composition #1 single "Sherry." Released by Vee Jay Records in July 1962, "Sherry" hit number one in September, the first of three consecutive chart-topping hits by the Four Seasons, the others being "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man".

Massi left the group in 1965, just before the release of "Lets Hang On," and arranger Charles Calello played bass until a new bass player could be found, and then Joe Long joined the band and participated on many chart topping hits for the remainder of the decade and into the mid-1970s. DeVito left the group in April 1970 before the album Half and Half was released. On the last song of this album, "Oh Happy Day, Any Day Now," Devito can be heard playing a bit of a solo on his guitar. He sold Valli and Gaudio his rights to the Four Seasons' material, name, and touring act.

Times were tough for him for a while, as he discussed in a 2009 interview with Doug Elfman in the Las Vegas Review Journal. DeVito, along with fellow original Four Seasons Valli, Massi and Gaudio, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. DeVito rejoined Valli and Gaudio (Massi had died in 2000) on stage at the 2005 Broadway opening of the documentary-style musical Jersey Boys, a Tony Award winning hit chronicling the story of the group's early days. 

In 1960, the band known as The Four Lovers evolved into the Four Seasons, with Frankie Valli as the lead singer, Bob Gaudio (formerly of the Royal Teens) on keyboards and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals, and Nick Massi on electric bass and bass vocals. On nearly all of their 1960s hits they were credited as the 4 Seasons.