Not knocking Frankie in his time he was great and produced some fantastic songs that I grew up with and will always enjoy.
But time makes things change as we all know.
he just recorded a Cd also...

"Romancing The 60's"
http://www.amazon.com/Romancing-60s-Frankie-Valli/dp/B000VDDCII

PBS has been holding a lot of fund raisers and using many of the older groups. Some are still incredible, while others are just awful. I think my biggest dissapointment lately was while watching Good Morning America where they featured Barry M. (can't print his last name or I'll probably hear from his layers) singing Copa Cabana. It was just awful. He performed a couple other songs that were really popular in the past and they were equally as bad. It brought back memories of Sinatra when he was in his final months of being on stage, a time when he could no longer remember the lyrics to songs that made him famous. Unfortunately, I'm not far away from this myself. I figure that I may have a couple more years, then I'll send all my jobs to someone younger.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Taking a look - and listen - at his web site, it seems that Bobby is trying to make it on more than Frankie's coat tails ... and it's no wonder Frankie was the star in the family ...
Listening to "Eyes 2" on the site, it sounds like Bobby was using a poor vocal harmonizer ...
Just another 'wannabe' ...
t.

Gary , You are right about the PBS shows ... some guys, like Johnny Maestro, still sound as good, and sing in the same keys ... Others should just lip-synch the original recording ...
As for Sinatra, he used tele-prompters for years... At a concert in Providence, I was sitting where I could see the tele-prompter and even his 'ad-libs' were printed for him ...

As for yourself, you certainly sound like you have more than a "couple of more years" ...
And when the time comes, who ever you hand your gigs over to had better be some STUD !!! ...
t.

In defense of Barry M. I was in Vegas several months ago and caught his act. He Was Fabulous!!! He has not lost a step!!! And yes he sang LIVE!!!!
Also attended a Paul Anka concert here in Long Island ... He was Terrific!!!

Here's my 2 cents. First of all, Frankie Valli has been deaf in one ear for many years. It has definitely affected his performances. Barry M has been lowering his keys for years and he still has trouble reaching the not so high notes. It was sad to watch Frank Sinatra in his final years. I saw him some 10 times throughout his later life and he didn't age well. Johnny Mathis has just turned 70 and he still sounds great. Tony Bennett is 81 and he can still put on a great performance. I saw and met Perry Como later in his life and he was not only wonderful, but also very personable. Getting old is a bitch and everyone deals with it differently. I hope I can still to what I love well into my 70's and 80's.

Ciao,

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Not to belabor the point but Manilow was never on my list of "Great" singers like Mathis, Sinatra or Bennett. But IMO he is no better or worse than he was 20 years ago and he is a terrific showman!!
I am a very big Sinatra fan but only the stuff he did before the 70's and yes he did not age gracefully. Bennett is now a very "Crafty" singer he knows how to use what he has left, God bless him!! I hope he lives forever!!

[This message has been edited by JCkeeys (edited 01-04-2008).]

Here is the actual "performance" of The Star Spangled Banner.
http://gilgweb.com/FOXFB-01-02-2008wmv.html

IMHO, the use of our National Anthem mostly for the benefit of the performer has degraded its meaning. If I ruled the world........

Thanks for the link...I enjoyed it as much as the first time.

I thought it was great! a different rendition than we're used to. But you could recognise Frankie's unique voice.
You can tell it's pre recorded, but the networks started doing that with everybody a few years ago.
talk about half dead Frankie was on the Sopranos a couple of years ago and I didn't think he would make it till the end of the hour.