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Frankie Valli still doing shows-Is he LIVE or is it Memorex?


MikeT156

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There are a number of youtube videos of Frankie Valli Live Shows as recent as 2007 or so. Some people that have seen the shows LIVE say he is Lip Syncing his vocals. Frankie is 82 years old and hitting those high notes as clearly as it sounds on those videos seem unreal. Now, at age 69 I can still sing and hit the high notes I did back in the seventies, but I don't sing in the stratosphere like the Four Season Songs of yesteryear.

Anyone here see his show? Does anyone know if he is actually singing?

 

 

Mike T.

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Professor Google and the EwwTube say a pretty decisive yes to lip-syncing.

 

Look for the vids of four or five shows stacked on top of one another, with no variation in tempo or pitch.

 

The American Idol clip is particularly noticeable.

 

Your two choices are a crappy-sounding 82-year-old messing with the songs you love, or the same 82-year-old delivering a younger version of his vocals as if they were live, thus preserving your memories of the material (and his continued profitability as a tour draw).

 

The economics favor sounding good over making sound.

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A good friend is his longtime MD , since the middle 70s I believe.

 

Yeah the stories that I've heard about this ! :/...but then nothing surprises me anymore. It's show biz man :(

 

I can't post specifics other then like what MOI said - it's pretty obvious what's going on.

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Makes you wonder how prevalent that's become...towards the end of the ARW tour in recent weeks, most of the band was fighting a nasty, lingering cold.

 

Some folks who were there said how incredible it was that Jon Anderson could barely talk to the audience between songs, but could still nail the songs. And he's a true soprano, not falsetto.

 

First and foremost, at that level, it's the Music BUSINESS, and the logistics of rescheduling, refunding, etc., probably necessitates having a Plan B. "The show must go on!"

 

I doubt it's a nightly thing, and it's not like Anderson didn't originally sing it. He's paid his dues, and I wouldn't blame them or feel cheated.

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Well my buddy backed him up a couple of times in Buffalo. He said all the singers are made to sound like him doing back up but it's probably tracks. He hires union guys locally where he goes. Two of the four seasons have passed on.

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If you take a look at Wikipedia, the 4 Seasons changed players in their band numerous times. There were two members that were consistent for decades, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli. Other Players came and went.

I saw the 4 seasons back sometime in 1964 a Rocky Glen Park in NE PA. They played outside on a portable temporary stage. They were awesome, especially considering that period in music history. There was only one song (can't remember what song) that Frankie couldn't hit the notes that had to be in the stratosphere, otherwise his voice was great and so was the band. They sounded pretty much like their records. I also remember that Bob Gaudio used a Farfisa Dual Compaq Organ, that was top of the line back in the Dark Ages!

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I saw a show a few years ago on YouTube where he sang the low notes and somebody else sang the high notes. I thought that was a pretty reasonable way to go about it. The video above looks like he's phoning it in and either feels like crap or doesn't give a crap.

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THIS!...

 

The cynical businessperson in me (with an 85 year old mom) suggests his core audience can't see the difference.

 

Literally.

 

Yup. He's paid his dues. I give him a pass for not sitting on the couch. He's giving the audience what they want. And they want a show, with Frankie Valli on stage. And if many/most of the tracks are prerecorded, so what?

 

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And one more thing... a SHOUTOUT to MikeT156. The man's been here since forever, and all that time he's been a friend and a really good add to this forum. Good to see your post today, Mike!

 

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"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo
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And one more thing... a SHOUTOUT to MikeT156. The man's been here since forever, and all that time he's been a friend and a really good add to this forum. Good to see your post today, Mike!

 

I've seen the YouTube videos, and I'm pretty sure he's lipsynching his posts these days.... ;):P:cop:

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Watch the chorus starting just after 1:00 here--and onward. No real question what's going on here.

 

[video:youtube]

 

1:55-ish.

 

I really dug The Four Seasons and saw Valli live when he was touring his Grease theme song. He certainly still had his chops then. He's earned his place in history and as many have alluded, it's called show business for a reason.

 

Btw it was a hoot to see him on The Sopranos.

 

 

 

 

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And one more thing... a SHOUTOUT to MikeT156. The man's been here since forever, and all that time he's been a friend and a really good add to this forum. Good to see your post today, Mike!

 

I've seen the YouTube videos, and I'm pretty sure he's lipsynching his posts these days.... ;):P:cop:

 

Mike? Maybe he's iPhoning them in.

 

 

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My buddy is a trumpet player who backed him up when he played in Bangor last year. He says he didn't lip sync, but wasn't exactly in top form, either. Perhaps it depends on the show.

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Sometimes it looks like he's lip syncing but then he's saying things to the audience between the vocals...it seems at least his mic is on.

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I saw a show a few years ago on YouTube where he sang the low notes and somebody else sang the high notes. I thought that was a pretty reasonable way to go about it.

That's worked for Elton John, Billy Joel, and Ian Anderson...

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Billy Joel still sings in all the original keys. He quit smoking some years ago. That makes a difference, especially on the high notes and how your voice holds up.

 

Some years ago I could get away with smoking and singing. When I went on the road I had to sing 5 or 6 nights a week. So I had to make a choice, do I want to smoke or do I want to sing. So I quit smoking. Life is about choices, whats more important.

 

 

Mike T

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THIS!...

 

And one more thing... a SHOUTOUT to MikeT156. The man's been here since forever, and all that time he's been a friend and a really good add to this forum. Good to see your post today, Mike!

 

Thanks Tom! You've been here even longer than me and no one has shot either one of us! I guess we're better shots than they are!

 

Merry Christmas Tom, thanks for Posting!

 

 

Mike T.

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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Billy Joel still sings in all the original keys.

Perhaps, but I do remember seeing someone else sing the first two notes of the line "I am an innocent man..." ;-) It's fine by me though...

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Billy Joel still sings in all the original keys.

Perhaps, but I do remember seeing someone else sing the first two notes of the line "I am an innocent man..." ;-) It's fine by me though...

 

I saw the same.

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Yep, I saw that performance on youtube as well.

 

I do remember he was doing one of his shows that he has hung up using a band and a guy that was a really good piano player asked if he could come up on stage and back up Billy on New York State of Mind. Bill said OK. This guy walks up on stage and Billy asked him off Mic if he played it in C. That's the original key, the guest piano player said YES and they did the song together. So ya Billy had someone else sing some of the Vocals, but he did not try to hide it and that singer sang live in front of an audience.

 

I've been watching more of Frankie Valli's youtube videos and one thing I noticed is that he has not always did a play back of the original arrangements. If he was using recordings of the originals, that wouldn't work. I have noticed in some songs he was not singing the highest notes, he was singing lower parts.

 

I don't know how much is live in his most recent shows, but listen to his speaking voice, he is NOT a Baritone. His speaking voice was always high and so was his singing voice.

 

School for thought.

 

 

 

Mike T.

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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Billy Joel still sings in all the original keys.

Perhaps, but I do remember seeing someone else sing the first two notes of the line "I am an innocent man..." ;-) It's fine by me though...

 

When I saw Billy in 1984, he had someone else singing those notes also! One of the brass player/background vocalist did. So even back then in his prime, he couldn't hit those notes :) I'm sure that day in the studio, the stars aligned just right for him to hit that C!

 

He re-harm'ed NY State of Mind years ago, it is mostly Ab now? But also he performs many tunes these days transposed a full step down using the evil transpose button! Vienna is one that is consistently a step down. But that tune is a little up there for most of the song.

 

Mother Nature and Father Time wait for nobody and they can be a bit cruel. But Tony Bennett is a one of a kind. A testament to proper vocal training. Daryl Hall, who is 70 this year, was on Howard Stern a few years back talking about how his mother was a vocal teacher and taught him good technique. He's still doing very well.

 

Billy Joel was never much for good vocal technique and obviously years of smoking haven't helped much. But Joel is 67 years old and doing much better than I was in my prime :) !

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Yeah, Billy doesn't sing all his tunes in the original keys live. Anyway @Bill W, what I've heard about Frankie Valli (this was Anthony Cumia of O&A talking on the radio a couple years back after just having seen Frankie the night before) is that he was clearly switching his mic on to speak and then back off during the tunes.

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Yeah, Billy doesn't sing all his tunes in the original keys live. Anyway @Bill W, what I've heard about Frankie Valli (this was Anthony Cumia of O&A talking on the radio a couple years back after just having seen Frankie the night before) is that he was clearly switching his mic on to speak and then back off during the tunes.

 

I wondered if that might be the case. He's not just talking between songs, but in between lines in songs. Switching the mic on and off would do it.

 

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Yep now that you mention it I think that's exactly what he said, that he could see him switching the mic on and off during the song to speak.

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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So what would you prefer?

1. Artist lip-syncs to a recorded track (Valli, Parton and others)

2. Artist lowers the key (Joel)

3. Artist struggles in the original key (McCartney)

4. Artist offloads the tough parts to a younger singer (Elton, Joel and others)

 

I'm in favour of the even numbers on this one. No excuse for duping your audience. If you're going to play tracks, make like Queen and leave the stage.

 

(Their "Killer Queen" interlude in Bohemian Rhapsody was a cool alternative though...)

 

Cheers, Mike.

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