Four Seasons' Member Succumbs to Cancer

Nick Massi of the popular Sixties vocal group, the Four Seasons, died of cancer on Dec. 24. He was seventy-three.

Born in Newark, N.J., Massi performed in several local acts in the area, including Hugh Garrity and the Hollywood Playboys, before he became a member of the Four Lovers, renamed the Four Seasons in 1961.

Massi sang bass vocals in the group and acted as vocal arranger for many of their songs during the group's most productive period, which included their hits "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man." He left the group in 1965 after growing tired of touring and to focus on his production company, Vitomass Productions.

The Four Seasons, who continued to tour sporadically without Massi, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

More Song Stories entries »

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