He wrote and/or produced more than 30 top-30 hits, ranging from “Silhouettes” (1957) to “Lady Marmalade” (1974, by Labelle and a #1 hit, and covered by Christina Aguilera in 2001 when it again went to #1).
Rolling Stone article.
He wrote and/or produced (and co-wrote with Bob Gaudio) a ton of great songs, including most of The Four Seasons’ biggest hits and one of my favorite songs of all time, “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.”
He was a huge talent. I bought the vinyl version of “The Best of the Bob Crewe Generation,” which of course features his super-cool version of “Music to Watch Girls By,” a month or so ago. It’ll be on the turntable tonight.
Thanks for all the great music, Bob.
I am fairly knowledgeable on classic pop music, but I wouldn’t have recognized Crewe’s name if I hadn’t seen the film version of Jersey Boys this summer. The actor who played Crewe did a great job and made me want to read more about him. The movie really made it seem like Gaudio alone wrote all those songs that he co-wrote with Crewe. When I got home and read up on Crewe, I was really impressed.
And the way Crewe comes off in the movie, yeah, I can totally see that guy writing “Lady Marmalade”. Such a great and expansive career he had.
He also did the soundtrack to the movie Barbarella, which is a pretty amazing piece of work
While The Four Seasons’ stock has gone up a bit with the whole Jersey Boys thing, I still think overall they aren’t rated among the greats of 60s rock.
Yet they should be. They had so many great songs, but somehow were never thought of in the same way as most other self-contained 60s bands…even though they did play their own instruments in live performance and had a member who co-wrote most of their hits.
Crewe wasn’t a member but worked closely with Gaudio as a songwriter and producer. The sound he got on those records was phenomenal. (And if you really want to hear a production that will stop you dead in your tracks, seek out “I Won’t Tell” by Tracey Dey, another Crewe protogé.)
RIP Bob, and thank you.
Does anything say Mad Men 60s like a catchy single titled “Music to Watch Girls By”?
Crewe is an unsung hero. Pardon the pun.