The original Four Seasons (from left, Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi).
Tommy DeVito, an original member of the legendary New Jersey pop-rock group The Four Seasons, has been hospitalized with COVID-19. The Belleville native is 92.
DeVito’s granddaughter Brittany Reilly posted on her Facebook page that “he has been in the hospital battling COVID.”
“PRAYERS FOR TOMMY DEVITO (ORIGINAL JERSEY BOY). IN THE HOSPITAL WITH COVID-19 VIRUS,” wrote Bobby Valli on his Facebook page. Valli is the brother of The Four Seasons’ Frankie Valli and a veteran entertainer, as well.
Singer-guitarist DeVito and Frankie Valli had been performing together in The Four Lovers and The Variatones since 1954 when they formed The Four Seasons with Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi in 1960. From 1962 to 1967 they were regularly in the Top 10 with hits such as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Rag Doll,” “Let’s Hang On!” and “Working My Way Back to You.”
As portrayed in the “Jersey Boys” musical and movie, DeVito had the fieriest personality of the four original members.
“I think people connect with it because they see the story about guys from the wrong side of the tracks who are toughin’ it up, arguing, and you’re also hearing the stories about the mob,” DeVito said about “Jersey Boys” in 2006. “It’s a rags to riches story about tough guys and good guys.”
He remained in The Four Seasons until 1971. In 2007, he released an instrumental album, A Man 4 All Seasons: 1st Season — Summer. He has also done some acting, and had a small role in the 1995 movie “Casino.”
He and the Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
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