Interview -- Gerry Polci (The Four Seasons)
"And it humbles you in ways that
you should be humbled because there are so many great players."
~ Gerry Polci ~
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Everyone loves The Four Seasons, the golden vocals of Frankie Valli, and the gazillion hit singles they released. To some, they were The Beatles before The Beatles. When the 70s arrived, however, the band was still loved but mostly forgotten. Frankie was still pulling down solo hits now and then. Good ones, but not the same. But then some strange rock-n-roll magical thing happened, and The Four Seasons caught everyone by the unawares. In 1975, the band released a new album, "Who Loves You," and it was like Boom Boom Mancini going fifteen again. And radio loved'em.
Sure, the golden one, Frankie Valli, was still sounding great as ever, but as the 70s rolled on, new faces were beginning to replace old faces in the band, including 21-year-old drummer and singer Gerry Polci. And together, a fresh, almost magical energy surprisingly emerged. The harmonies and musicianship were amazing, just killing it. Sometimes, it's the people chemistry that can make all the difference.
From the first moment the bullet hits the bone on the album's lead single, "Who Loves You," radio DJs knew we were in for something tasty. Gerry Polci's opening hi-hat razz-a-ma-tazz and band harmonies immediately tell listeners that it's a new day for The Four Seasons, crushing the song to #3 on Billboard. And still sounds exciting. The band would follow up that gem with their #1 smash, "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)". It became the first #1 single for the Four Seasons since "Rag Doll" had topped the charts. The song would also appear on many "end of year" top-five lists. The album would have another radio spinner with "Silver Star," which blew up all over Europe and hit the top 40 in the States. Like a phoenix rising up from the ashes, The Four Seasons were back. And new member Gerry Polci was playing no small part. Fantastic drummer. Great singer. Gerry Polci…Go get you some.
Gerry Polci Interview -- March 2026
Gerry Polci
[The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.]
Casey Chambers: I'd like to start out by asking you about the song "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" (1975). The song seemed to come out of nowhere and became the biggest-selling single The Four Seasons ever had. And The Four Seasons had a bunch of hit singles.
Gerry Polci: When we started working on the "Who Loves You" album, Bob Gaudio and his late wife, Judy Parker, presented us with a number of songs. And one of them was that song. Everybody loved the track and felt really good about it...but the song was not what it would later become. It was initially about Prohibition, and flappers flipping on the floor, and various aspects of Prohibition. And as we were just young guys, the band, you know, we were in our 20s, and we're all going, 'Oh, man, I don't know.' (laughs) We really didn't care for the story of the song. It didn't seem very current. And we really griped about it. So Bob and Judy changed the song entirely and gave us a new version, "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" literally the very next day! Obviously, Bobby had quite the track record for The Four Seasons with all the songs that he wrote and produced, and Frankie, too. We're talking about a pretty solid business. And so to their credit, they kind of went along with it. (laughs) It worked out pretty well for them.
Casey Chambers: How did you come to sing the lead on this particular song?
Gerry Polci: Of course, Frankie, being the lead singer, sang on everything. But at the time, there were groups doing multiple leads. Like Chicago would do different leads. And Fleetwood Mac. A lot of bands were doing that sort of thing. So I think to some degree, it was trendy to have multiple leads. Also, the song was from a very naive type of young person's perspective. And my voice had a quality to it that just fit the track and the song. And with my voice being fairly high, it just seemed to work.
"December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" - The Four Seasons / "Who Loves You" (1975)
Casey Chambers: When you think about all the classic songs The Four Seasons recorded, I mean, learning that this puppy had a real bark must've been a huge revelation.
Gerry Polci: I know, it was quite something. I was a little surprised by it myself. I mean ya got "Sherry," "Candy Girl," and so many others. So many tunes that were such big hits. So yeah, that was quite the honor. It ran on Billboard 100 for 54 weeks and beat out "White Christmas" for the longest-running single on Billboard's Hot 100.
Casey Chambers: The "Who Loves You" album was a really strong dark-horse, with the title track rocketing to #3 right off the bat. When did you learn that your follow-up "December..." had done even better?
Gerry Polci: I joined up with The Four Seasons in '73. We had done some other recordings and different things that weren't published. So hearing a song I was involved with on the radio was really cool. I remember I was in a car when I heard "Who Loves You" for the first time. That was the lead single from the album. That was the first song where I could honestly say, 'Wow! I was there. I did it!' When they later released "December...", Bob Gaudio let us know the week coming up that the song was going to be the #1 record. And it was! Cash Box, Record World, and Billboard all listed the song at #1. And they actually made a plaque for us. And it was a pretty cool plaque, too. I still have it. But yeah, that's how I found out.
Casey Chambers: Sweet. Also, I saw on Billboard's Year-End List for 1976, "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" was just behind "Silly Love Songs" as the hit single of the year.
Gerry Polci: Oh, that's pretty cool. I know back East there's a radio station that does the Hot 500, where they play the 500 most popular songs from the last 50 years or something like that. And "December..." has been the number one song on that list a number of times. So people still listen to the song. (laughs)
Casey Chambers: It's timeless. And it shows up on the screen all the time. I've seen it in episodes from "Family Guy" to "Sherlock."
(Wedding Photos) / "Family Guy"
Gerry Polci: I know. That's pretty wild.
Casey Chambers: And this is kinda interesting, in both of those shows, the song plays during a wedding scene.
Gerry Polci: Yes, yes. And the same thing. I watched this show...it was kind of a bang bang shoot'em up thing. It's not Batman. It's something, devil. "Daredevil." But it was featured during a wedding scene in that show, too. (laughs)
Casey Chambers: Maybe we'd better grab ourselves a bowl of minestra maritata and check in with Coast to Coast! (laughs) But hey, if it works, it works, right? I wanna jump to the song "Who Loves You." It's a fantastic high-energy number, and your drums are just killer. It's all about the vibe.
Gerry Polci: The whole "Who Loves You" album was more collaborative for all of us. We really were a band during the making of that album. Bob and Frank really let us be ourselves and really have a lot of input into the music. "Who Loves You" was another song that really didn't start out the way it ended up. The form was very different in the beginning from its present state. Lee Shapiro played keyboard and arranged the strings and horns for the record. He totally took that song and made it make sense, with the verses flowing into the choruses and the choruses coming back into the verses. And again, we had a lot of input. And yeah, it was a high-energy thing. It was something completely different for The Four Seasons. It felt like we were making a statement. That this is the new Seasons. This is The Seasons of the '70s. Starting with the hi-hat and the phased hi-hat. And I was able to just play out and interpret the song in a way that we felt it should be. There was a lot of freedom with it. So we were very pleased with that. I was very pleased with that.
Casey Chambers: What influenced you guys to begin adding elements of what would later be known as "The Fever" sound?
Gerry Polci: Well, yeah, we were all pretty much different. I was different. Don Ciccone...the late Don Ciccone, he would listen to different things than what Lee listened to or what John Paiva would listen to. And of course, you know, Bobby and Frank, they had a myriad of influences. I had been working since I was 14, and I got with the band when I was 21. So I was relying on my own experiences. The same with Don and Lee. And we were given the freedom to express ourselves with that album. That was super important for all of us. And I think it paid off. Everyone was all in with that album. I did a lot of percussion overdubs. I was able to do that. And of course, we did so much background work. That was always a trademark of the group. Still heavy into background vocals, but a little different, as well.
"Who Loves You" - The Four Seasons / "Who Loves You" (1975)
Casey Chambers: Were you a fan of the group before you joined?
Gerry Polci: You know, the connection that I had with the group was through my father. My father grew up in Newark. He went to the same elementary school as Frankie did. He was a few years older than Frankie. But they went to the same elementary school. They knew many of the same people. My parents went to see The Four Seasons when they were The Four Lovers at different clubs in Newark.
So when I joined The Four Seasons, and I've said this many times...to my father, it was like I had joined the Beatles. When I went with the group, he thought that was amazing. Musically, he really loved that group. I knew of the group, obviously. But I was, you know, more of a progressive rock kind of guy. I was into jazz because of my upbringing and who I studied with. I studied with Joe Morello, who was the drummer with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. So I had a varied musical upbringing.
Casey Chambers: You guys did a lot of TV both here in the States and abroad. What are some of your takeaways from those experiences?
Gerry Polci: One show we often did was "The Mike Douglas Show." And that was in Philadelphia. One time, we hosted for a week, and they had us doing silly things that, as a musician, you wouldn't normally do. Cooking meals and wearing different outfits. It was TV, and you're creating somewhat of an image. I thought "The Mike Douglas Show" was a lot of fun. And we did the show fairly often. We did the Johnny Carson show, of course. We did "The Merv Griffin Show." A lot of talk shows. And then, of course, in Europe, we did "Top Of The Pops," and that was a lot of fun. "Top Of The Pops" was very interesting.
Casey Chambers: Speaking of "Top of the Pops," you guys performed "Silver Star," which was the third single from the album. You also sang lead on that one, as well.
Gerry Polci: The song was really popular over there. "Silver Star" reached #1 in England and parts of Europe. It didn't do all that great here in the States. It was a European-style tune with a very interesting rhythm track. It changed tempo in the middle, you know, in the bridge. But it just did very well in Europe. "Top Of The Pops" was great, and it was an honor to do that show.
"Silver Star" - The Four Seasons / ("Top Of The Pops")
Casey Chambers: While you were touring with The Four Seasons, were there any shows that particularly stood out?
Gerry Polci: Yeah, we played all the big venues like Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. Places like in Chicago. The Nassau Coliseum. Doing it in the big venues was a lot of fun. And the smaller venues were just as much fun, especially when you're on a center stage, and it's slowly turning so everybody can see what's going on. I really enjoy that. I always did. But there was this one time we were in Philadelphia, doing an outdoor show at Independence Mall, which is not a mall at all, but an area of Philly that has two large buildings on either side. It was July 5th, 1980. And there were like 45,000 people there. There had been threats of a storm coming through, but we went on anyway.
And during the song "December..." as I was singing, the storm came up, and the wind got so violent it was scary. There was a lighting truss about 40 feet long above us, with 100 lights on it, and it's fairly weighty. And while I'm singing, I see this thing starting to come down right at me. I had to get underneath my drums because I couldn't get away. There were monitors on either side of me and behind me, so I had to duck underneath the drums. And sure enough, the lighting truss literally hit the bass rack that was next to me and landed on my seat. And I'm under the drums. (laughs) There were thousands of people, and it got completely quiet. There was just this hush. People thought I had bought it. And when I finally crawled out from under the drums, I did that "Rocky" thing with my hands over my head and jumping up and down...and the place went crazy. It was amazing. And then a torrential downpour hit, like God was pouring a bucket right on top of us. It was total chaos. But yeah, that was definitely a memorable time singing that song. (laughs)
Casey Chambers: That's insane. And nobody got hurt?
Gerry Polci: No. I had some abrasions on my back. I know one of the singers got knocked off the stage, but she was fine. Oh, and Jerry Corbetta, who was playing keyboards at the time, broke a bone in his hand. It wasn't serious enough that he couldn't play, but we all went to the hospital and got checked out.
Casey Chambers: Was Jerry Corbetta the same guy who was in Sugarloaf?
Gerry Polci: Yes, he was. Jerry toured with us for a couple of years, and we would do "Green-Eyed Lady" at our shows when he was with us. He passed, unfortunately.
Casey Chambers: Yeah, I was sorry to hear about that. I was a fan of Sugarloaf, as well. Before I let you go, how about recommending a few artists you really enjoy?
Gerry Polci: Well, my early years were definitely twofold. First of all, I had a really heavy jazz influence growing up. Very heavy jazz. I mean, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk. All of John Coltrane's stuff is amazing. All those guys. All the masters. And then it was...Led Zeppelin. You can't do away with Led Zeppelin. The Stones. The Beatles, of course, because of their songwriting and McCartney's voice. And then in the '80s, it was absolutely The Police and Sting for me. And Stewart Copeland is a hell of a drummer. He approached the drums with a sort of reggae-rock feel. Very unique. There wasn't one Police album that I didn't listen to. As soon as "Roxanne" came out, it was over. It was done. (laughs) I mean, Sting's voice on "Roxanne" is sick! And the way Stewart played. Wow! I mean, I really enjoyed the early eighties.
By the end of the '70s, disco was becoming a little too formulaic. I mean, some of it I still love. But when the '80s hit the waves, there was such great music. And then later Pearl Jam, and of course, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. And it's like, 'Oh man! It's getting real again.' I also got heavy into fusion. One of my favorite drummers of all time is Billy Cobham. I followed him. I saw him a couple of times in New York, and he knocked me out. His "Crosswinds" album is some of the funkiest stuff. That was his second album, and Billy wrote and arranged most of it. And just some amazing drum work. I was also into Mahavishnu Orchestra. John McLaughlin is playing guitar, and Billy is playing drums. Great stuff. I was into all those guys.
John Paiva, Gerry Polci, Don Ciccone, Lee Shapiro, Frankie Valli
Casey Chambers: It sounds like you keep a pretty open mind to all kinds of music.
Gerry Polci: Yeah, it's true. (laughs) I just love to listen to everything. You gotta listen. When I was growing up, I was playing in wedding bands and clubs. For seven years, from 14 to 21, I was playing everything. I played cha-chas, rumbas, jazz, swing, and rock. I was playing in Dixieland bands. (laughs) I was constantly playing different stuff. You have to adapt constantly to whatever style you were playing. You have to adjust to that genre. And it was a great teaching tool for me because it made me listen to everything.
A great friend of mine, Richie Garcia. Gajate. Great percussionist. Have known him for 50 years. He took me to clubs in Chicago. Latin clubs in Chicago and New York. And we'd go see salsa bands, Johnny Rodriguez, Tito Puente, and all these guys. So just so much out there. You shouldn't limit yourself to just one or two genres. And it humbles you in ways that you should be humbled because there are so many great players. When you're fortunate to do what you do...nobody's the end of the world because again, there's just so much out there. You gotta listen.
Casey Chambers: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I really enjoyed talking with you, and I appreciate you doing this.
Gerry Polci: Thank you, Casey. You're a good guy. Take care.
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