The Four Lovers

The Four Seasons are justifiably among the most fondly remembered pop/rock vocal groups of the early to mid-'60s. Their soaring harmonies, coupled with Frankie Valli's exquisite falsetto lead on romantic, teenage-oriented songs, were as central to the early-'60s music scene as the work of the Beach Boys, Del Shannon, or any other top rock & roll names one cares to invoke from that period. But before Valli and company emerged with their first hit in the summer of 1962, they spent eight years working in music, first as the Variatones and, more permanently, as the Four Lovers. They never charted a record higher than number 62 (their only chart entry), but did record more than two dozen songs, including a complete LP for a major label. And their music roots were closer to Frank Sinatra than to Elvis Presley. The Four Lovers started out in the early '50s, but the individual members' musical backgrounds went back to the 1930s. Their whole story started with the DeVito family of Belleville, a working-class town in northern New Jersey just outside of Newark, part of the same locale that produced Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, and Lou Costello, among other performing legends during the 1930s. The whole family was musical and, beginning with eldest son Danny, took up singing and an instrument from their father. Tommy DeVito (born June 19, 1928) emerged in music at the age of ten, appearing on Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour. Two years later, he was singing and playing guitar with Nickie & the Starliters, an octet modeled after the professional pop (or "sweet," as they were called) bands of the era, led by his older brother Nickie DeVito (born September 12, 1924), who also played bass. They made a decent part-time living, picking up extra cash playing dances, weddings, and...