Top songwriter Bob Crewe dies

Singer, teacher and songwriter Bob Crewe, who wrote hits including ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ and ‘Walk Like a Man’, and was the brains behind the Four Seasons pop group, has past away at the age of eighty three. His brother and business partner Dan Crewe said the musician died on Thursday at a USA nursing home in Maine. “He had a wonderful career and I’m sorry he has passed but I’m glad he’s out of his discomfort,” said Mr Crewe.  “He was not able to function, and for a guy who was so creative, it was not an easy life,” his brother added.

Bob grew up in New Jersey and started his music writing career in the 1950s after leaving an architecture course at the Parsons School of Design in New York. By the time he met the Four Seasons, he was established as a songwriter and produced their first number one hit Sherry. The Four Seasons became renowned for lead singer Frankie Valli’s falsetto voice and Crewe collaborated with their keyboardist and backing vocalist Bob Gaudio. Together they wrote 1967’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, which went on to be covered by numerous artists and also featured in the films The Deer Hunter and Bridget Jones’s Diary. The duo also wrote The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine for The Walker Brothers and Silence Is Golden for The Tremeloes.

Although Crewe did much of his songwriting from the 50s to the 70s, he made a comeback with the Jersey Boys Broadway musical that depicted the story behind the Four Seasons. There was also a film of the same name directed by Clint Eastwood and released earlier this year. Both the film and the play featured a character called Crewe, based on the songwriter. During the 80s he took up painting and sculpture and is also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.