Tommy DeVito, founding member of the Four Seasons, dies at 92

DeVito along with Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi founded the Four Seasons in 1960 and sang huge hits like, ″Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “Oh, What a Night.”

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The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli (from left), Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi.

The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli (from left), Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi.

Courtesy of Philips Records

NEWARK, N.J. — Tommy DeVito, a founding member of the 1960s Four Seasons band, has died from the coronavirus at the age of 92, NJ.com reported.

His former bandmate Frankie Valli wrote in a post on Facebook that DeVito had died, and said, “We send our love to his family during this most difficult time.”

Actor Alfred Nittoli said in a separate Facebook post that DeVito died Monday evening in Las Vegas at the age of 92.

DeVito along with Valli, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi founded the Four Seasons in 1960 and sang huge hits like, ″Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “Oh, What a Night.”

The Broadway musical “Jersey Boys,” which opened in 2005, tells the story of the band. The musical eventually won a Tony award for best musical, a Grammy Award for best cast album, and was made into a feature film.

“Jersey Boys” gave depth to the image of the band. In the stage and screen versions of “Jersey Boys,” DeVito is portrayed as a hustler with a heart of gold.

“They had a little ditty here and there, not that that I would complain about it,” said DeVito previously to the USA Today Network of his portrayal in the stage version of “Jersey Boys.” 

DeVito left the group in 1970, a moment pivotal in the story of “Jersey Boys.”

“No. 1, I give credit to Gaudio because he came up with good songs, you know what I mean,” DeVito said. “Everybody had their little parts in it and that made it strong and I was probably a strong character in the group, so everybody had a little piece in it.”

Not even the Beatles could stop the Four Seasons.

“They came in a year or so after we got going and they made some noise, but they didn’t bother us because we still had one or two songs on the charts when they were here,” DeVito said. “They didn’t bother me at all.”

After he moved to Las Vegas, DeVito would visit Jersey about once a year and his trips included time on the Jersey Shore with friend, and actor, Joe Pesci, who was depicted in “Jersey Boys.”

DeVito was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the fellow Four Seasons, Valli, Gaudio, and Nick Massi, in 1990. 

“In the Sixties, few acts had as many hits — or sounded as unique — as the Four Seasons,” according to the Rock Hall.

Contributing: USA Today

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