When I joined the UK Four Seasons Appreciation Society in 1976 I would not have believed that by 2016 George Ingram would still be finding articles re Frankie Valli and the group or that the Motown period of the group’s history would keep me researching their music some 40 plus years later, but as George has said “all good things come to an end” and after 40 years of publication this is the end of the newsletter era and our regular web site uploads. Frankie Valli has outlasted us as he continues to tour at 81 albeit with technology enhancing his voice. This has for most fans been enough to enjoy the great legacy of his music in recent years. But inevitably a Four Seasons tribute band will be the only way in future to enjoy the past music ‘live’. Alternatively there is the Jersey Boys musical.
For most of us who kept this fine organization going for 40 years it is a milestone moment and so we bring you the final library of articles and research from George Ingram’s Archive. Ray Nichol our top vinyl and CD expert collector has retired to dispose of his collection (something us older fans will all have to consider unless we can leave it to our children), George Ingram has retired and no longer has access to the print technology needed for his scrapbook style publication design and Ken Charmer who has single handedly been our web publisher since 1997 has a moved onto a final project/campaign
The web site and previous blogs will all remain on the WWW for any researchers into the history of the group. Unfortunately over time so many distortion and inaccuracies have arisen in the story of the group and hopefully our data provides important reference points for any interested party. The web site will continue to be a good reference point and its longevity now depends on the continuing support our web space sponsor Rik Williams. But until the plug is pulled on us some of our activities will go on albeit changed.
The good news is our secretary Lynn Boleyn will continue to keep in touch with friends and fans through her network and Ken Charmer will through his facebook page. This is the last update to the web pages we will do and the blog will close in the near future making this one of our last posts.
There are dozens of great articles in these last downloads of Newsletters 63 to 68 and we hope this last set of information will be of interest to the 250/300 fans that have found us or followed us over the last few years via the blog and web site and it is a pity we failed to achieve our objectives. Never recognized by The Four Seasons Partnership as being of benefit we know the fans have appreciated our Newsletters and research and we have had on average 50 hits a day from web searchers over the last decade.
We had hoped to achieve a complete collection of Four Seasons recordings available to fans before our closure but as Bob Gaudio in a 2000 interview confirmed he is ‘adverse’ to going back and although he has a ‘dozen or so’ unreleased recording in his ownership from the late Philips and Warner/Curb period it would take something major to get him to release these. But there are the 40/50 unreleased tracks that Motown own that remain in their vault and the campaign to get these released will continue.
Ken Charmer’s Campaign facebook page can be found here
Losing Stefan Wriedt and Frank Rovello before this milestone was achieved left me as a lifelong ‘music detective’ – disappointed, disheartened and dis-illuissioned at the Four Seasons Partnerships lack of appreciation for what the UK and USA web sites have done to support the group over the years. But, I can put that aside as the friendships made amongst enthusiasts and collectors has been ‘priceless’.
The Jersey Boys trial in May will signal a new chapter in the group’s history and we will observe that with interest. All fans owe a huge debt to Rex Woodard who collected so much factual data re the group’s history and the eventual publication of his co-written book with Tommy De Vito would be a fitting tribute.
Oh !!!!!and as Lynn Boleyn MBE reminds me there is the 2017 tour to look forward too. Live long and prosper! But for now enjoy this last set of articles. Casey Chameleon
Keep the web site in your ‘faves’ as the dicog page is an essential reference point for all of the releases.
The link to the updated discographies by George Ingram is here
The Newsletter Download Page Is here
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