I was recently sitting with Liberty DeVitto, one of the all-time great drummers in music. Liberty is best known for his work with Billy Joel. One of my favorite people in the music business happens to be the young drummer for the Frankie Valli band, Craig Pilo. \u00a0Craig has always told me that his two favorite drummers are Ringo Starr and Liberty DeVitto. I mentioned this to Liberty and asked him if he would send Craig a video to say hello. While sending a nice greeting to Craig, Liberty said, \u201cHow could I not say hello to someone that works for the Man?\u201d Referring to Frankie Valli. As cool as it was to have Craig receive a greeting from one of his hero\u2019s, it was also nice to hear one of the all-time great musicians talk so glowingly about Frankie Valli. Liberty referred to Frankie as \u201cone of the true all-time greats in the music business.\u201d Earlier this week, Frankie was honored in Brooklyn for his lifetime achievements by some of the biggest stars in the world including Robert De Niro. A few of the greats born in New Jersey include Bruce Springsteen and of course maybe the biggest of them all, Frank Sinatra. \u00a0However, when they talk about the \u201cJersey Boy\u201d you know that they are referring to Mr. Frankie Valli.<\/p>\n
Frankie is performing at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center tonight and next week he will be at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. While at The Mohegan Sun, Frankie and the Hotel are donating tickets to the Cristian Rivera Foundation, which funds research for children with Pontine Glioma, an inoperable brain tumor. This donation helped the foundation raise several thousand dollars for the fight for a cure.<\/p>\n
I recently had some alone time with one of my all-time hero\u2019s, who the wonderful singer Jose Feliciano calls \u201cincredible.\u201d Frankie was very candid and honest in our Q&A. I think that you will learn a few things about the man that Steven Van Zandt calls \u201cour Sinatra.\u201d<\/p>\n
Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Frankie Valli, last month you were in Florida performing during the same time the Yankees had their spring training.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never seen\u00a0Ruth Eckerd Hall\u00a0as crazy as it was that night.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u00a0know, almost as crazy as\u00a0going to see a\u00a0Yankee game.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Almost.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Right.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Frankie, you had two Yankee greats, Willie Randolph and Ron Guidry there at Ruth Eckerd Hall. They were so excited to see\u00a0you;\u00a0they were so excited to meet you. How was that?<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0It was very exciting\u00a0for me to meet them too,\u00a0because I\u2019ve\u00a0never met them personally and I\u2019ve been a Yankee fan ever since I was a kid. I like the Yankees and\u00a0in\u00a0the National League I used to like the Giants and the day of Stan Musial and guys like that.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Well Frankie, you don\u2019t realize the\u00a0magnitude of\u00a0what you mean to a lot of these guys. In the clubhouse we play your music and we have played your\u00a0music since I was a bat boy there.\u00a0The aspect of Frankie Valli being all over the place like that, what does it mean to you?<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Well it\u2019s a lot more than I ever expected. I never thought it would have that kind of\u00a0an\u00a0impact. I just have a lot of gratitude\u00a0and\u00a0I\u2019m very happy for everything that\u2019s gone on in my life.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Frank Sinatra once asked me \u201cKid, what are\u00a0you,\u00a0a\u00a0Michael Jackson fan?\u201d And I said, \u201cI\u2019m a Frankie Valli fan.\u201d This was in 1978. And Sinatra started chuckling and\u00a0he\u00a0said, \u201cFrankie is a nice boy\u201d. What does that mean to you?<\/p>\n Valli:\u00a0<\/strong>He was\u00a0really\u00a0a great guy. I was so pleased to meet him, become friends with him and spend a lot\u00a0of private time around him; certainly one of a kind. They threw the mold away when he went.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0After all of these years,\u00a0I mean so many people, Steve\u00a0Van Zandt,\u00a0all these\u00a0different\u00a0guys, Reggie Jackson said \u201cHey,\u00a0he\u2019s our Sinatra,\u201d talking about you.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Reggie\u00a0was a phenomenal baseball player. I think a lot of people had him a little wrong with attitude and all that. I don\u2019t\u00a0think he was mean like everybody made him out to be. He took a lot of heat and that was his way of giving\u00a0a little\u00a0heat back.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Did you ever have a relationship with Billy Martin?<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Not really a personal relationship, but he was really a\u00a0very\u00a0strong personality. He would take anybody on;\u00a0he was that kind of guy. It wouldn\u2019t matter if\u00a0it was the president of the United States or one of his competitors.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0I was very close to Billy Martin and when I\u00a0talk to a lot of players from that time and then I talk to the people\u00a0that work for you that call you boss, you remind me the most of Billy,\u00a0just from the standpoint of the heart. Billy was someone that I really loved\u00a0and at the same time could be intimidating to me.\u00a0 Sometimes\u00a0you intimidate me, Frankie, because you are strong and\u00a0I see the strength that your\u00a0guys see in you and how you lead them.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Sometimes they need a little intimidation. It\u2019s all a part of what it\u2019s all about. I love everybody that works for me, but there are certain\u00a0things that I expect and I want\u00a0them exactly that way. I don\u2019t expect any more from any of them that I expect of myself so it\u2019s not like I\u2019m beating\u00a0them up. I beat myself up with\u00a0things I\u2019m not doing\u00a0and things that are not right.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you\u00a0ever feel like\u00a0with\u00a0Billy Martin, he was like the type of guy that\u00a0wasn\u2019t afraid of anybody and if someone overstepped, you knew about it?<\/p>\n Valli:\u00a0<\/strong>Oh there\u2019s no doubt about it. Something I\u2019ve learned as a kid\u00a0is that you have to stand your ground; it was really very\u00a0important, especially if you felt like you\u00a0were right. And it was okay to be humble too,\u00a0but when you are right on something it is important to stand your ground or someone\u00a0was challenging you in a way that they\u00a0really\u00a0had\u00a0no\u00a0right to challenge you,\u00a0because they\u00a0weren\u2019t really the\u00a0one in charge. When it\u2019s your store,\u00a0you run it the way you run it. When you work for somebody you work and you do it the way they want it, that\u2019s how it is.\u00a0If you don\u2019t like\u00a0what\u2019s happening\u00a0in the store, you go and get another job in a different store. It\u2019s really simple.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Frankie besides your talent, what do you think that\u2019s\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0made you such a great business man?<\/p>\n Valli:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u00a0don\u2019t know. I was very demanding on myself. I just didn\u2019t expect any less from anyone that worked for me. No more,\u00a0but\u00a0not any less. And I am also the\u00a0kind of an individual who understands that perfection is something that we all strive for and sometimes we hit it exactly and sometimes we\u2019re off, and I accept that. As long as I know that person is giving 100 percent, that\u2019s the key.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0The last\u00a0thing Frankie,\u00a0me coming from New York I lived\u00a0in the Bronx, Brooklyn,\u00a0and Queens. I know the white boys love you but\u00a0I also know the brothers and the\u00a0Latinos\u00a0think the world of you.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh I know;\u00a0I\u2019ve been very, very lucky with that.\u00a0In 1963,\u00a0I could remember after just having a couple of hits,\u00a0I played at the Apollo\u00a0Theater,\u00a0probably one of the first white acts\u00a0they\u00a0had\u00a0ever done. \u00a0I\u2019ve played\u00a0it\u00a0with Jerry Butler, Tina Turner, Godfrey\u00a0Cambridge. I never had any problems with that, but you have to remember that I grew up in Newark, New Jersey,\u00a0in a mixed neighborhood. Race was never an issue. Some of the people that I admire guys like Little Jimmy Scott and Jack McDuff,\u00a0who\u00a0was one of the great oracle players, and Shirley\u00a0Scott. I went to\u00a0all\u00a0the black clubs,\u00a0it was always a comfort zone for me,\u00a0and I\u2019ve never had a problem with that. In high school I hung out with blacks and whites and\u00a0we sung in\u00a0locker rooms in\u00a0the high school I went to. I lived in a housing project,\u00a0a\u00a0government run housing project.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Isaac Hayes\u00a0was a friend of mine. He helped me\u00a0actually with the\u00a0addiction problem with Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. Again, we talked music. Isaac said one thing about you Frankie, \u201cThe\u00a0man\u2019s\u00a0got soul.\u201d\u00a0What does that mean to you?<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, it means a lot to me because I think it\u2019s the true part of what music is all about or artistry is all about. It\u2019s not how\u00a0great\u00a0your\u00a0instrument\u00a0is, it\u2019s\u00a0where it\u2019s coming from. It\u2019s the player of the instrument-that\u2019s what it\u2019s really all about at the end of the day,\u00a0because anybody\u00a0can have an instrument,\u00a0but not everybody can play\u00a0it.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0And not everybody can appreciate the aspect of what you bring to the party.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Well I love doing what I\u00a0do; this\u00a0is\u00a0my whole life. I\u2019m not a tennis player or\u00a0a golfer or any of that.<\/p>\n Negron:\u00a0<\/strong>But the difference between\u00a0you and a Mickey Mantle or\u00a0you and a Joe\u00a0DiMaggio\u00a0is that you go on forever.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0The one thing that is,\u00a0I never loss strive with my street sense.\u00a0Deep down inside me\u00a0I\u2019ll always be a street kid. That\u2019s what I am,\u00a0that\u2019s what I know. You learn to almost be able to have eyes behind\u00a0your head. You can feel what\u2019s happening around you and you immediately gravitate to it.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s just like when you\u2019re rehearsing and I\u00a0go backstage to\u00a0watch you,\u00a0because I\u00a0just adore watching the\u00a0aspect of your talent. But I\u2019m always watching,\u00a0like I used\u00a0to do with Steinbrenner,\u00a0I\u2019m always watching like\u00a0\u201cokay he\u2019s the boss here,\u00a0don\u2019t overstep,\u201d\u00a0you know what I\u2019m saying Frankie?<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0I call things when they\u2019re happening. One thing that I\u2019ve\u00a0learned in life that is really, very important,\u00a0never collect problems and carry them. You must take it on right when it happens, this way you never\u00a0really\u00a0carrying a load where it\u2019s a\u00a0buildup of\u00a0years\u00a0of this and that. If it\u2019s not\u00a0right you have to fix it right then. You\u00a0can\u2019t say well I\u2019ll get it right next time or\u00a0the time after that.\u00a0You\u2019re going to wait three or four or five or six or ten\u00a0or hundred times before you fix it?\u00a0If it\u2019s not right\u00a0you stop it and fix it; \u201cHold up this is not right,\u201d you\u2019ll see me do that.\u00a0I don\u2019t do that to embarrass\u00a0anybody;\u00a0I do it to remind them\u00a0if it\u2019s not right we fix it.\u00a0It\u2019s not like I\u2019m reprimanding.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong> If you have one message to give to the people with the dream that you had in 1950 Frankie, what would that be?<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0That would be it is very important in order for you to be true to anything,\u00a0you must be true to yourself. There is nothing more important. You can get away from anything and anybody,\u00a0but wherever you are that\u2019s where you\u2019ll be. You look in the mirror and there you are, so there\u2019s no escape. So\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0better to\u00a0take it on and fix it.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0Frankie Valli, I love you and I thank you so much for always being so generous to me.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0You deserve to be generous\u00a0to, you\u2019re a\u00a0great guy. We\u2019ve become friends because you\u2019re a great guy and I\u2019m not too quick to take on friends.\u00a0Friend is probably one of the loosest terminologies that there is and in most cases it\u2019s acquaintance. Friend is different.<\/p>\n Negron:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m thrilled to hear that from you, I\u2019m honored Frankie. Thank you so much brother,\u00a0I love you.<\/p>\n Valli:<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you\u00a0Ray.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was recently sitting with Liberty DeVitto, one of the all-time great drummers in music. Liberty is best known for his work with Billy Joel. One of my favorite people in the music business happens to be the young drummer for the Frankie Valli band, Craig Pilo. \u00a0Craig has always told me that his two … <\/p>\n