If I close my eyes, I can remember the first apartment where I lived with my family in Newark, N.J., in the late 1930s. The rooms were lined up like train cars - you had to go through one to get to another - and there wasn't any heat or hot water.
From Frankie Valli
I'd seen so many people become stagnant in New Jersey - I had this fear I'd just stay there. They'd come out of high school, get a job, get married, have kids and die in Jersey. I wanted more.
Becoming successful is a relentless pursuit. It's good that it's that way: When it does come, you learn to know how to appreciate it, and know how lucky you are to be doing something that you love so much.
You can take the guy out of the neighorhood but you can't take the neighborhood out of the guy.
Jazz was my first love.
I'm not doing contemporary songs unless something comes along that really knocks my socks off.
I spent many a summer early morning with the radio very low, half sleeping and half listening.
It was very important to establish a sound, so that people heard a record on the radio and knew immediately that it was you.
I do belong to Jersey. There's no doubt about that in my mind. They have been so loyal and so good to me; how could I possibly belong any place else?
I grew up beyond proud - we didn't have much, but we had a lot of love.
2 perspectives
1 perspectives