HEDY SONTAG - HE NEVER CAME BACK

What would a Four Seasons song sound like…without The Four Seasons?

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Bob Crewe tried and tried to find a female Frankie Valli when, as we all know, he already had one. Well, a castrati IS sort of female, and “the sound” as Frankie was oft billed, involved a pretty cunty falsetto.

A traditional hand-clappin’ pop tune with a backing chorus of chicks, this ain’t “My Boyfriend’s Back,” it’s “He Never Came Back.” Shoo-la shoo-la!

Hedy (whose brief singing career also included “Bad”) doesn’t sound too heartbroken about this, or even pissed off in a Lesley Gore way. This 1964 Crewe-cut is on Philips, which was having hits with The Four Seasons. You can almost imagine this having more traction as a Frankie Valli item.

The 1964 single which Crewe co-wrote has an amusing credit. It was “Arranged and Conducted by “Calello.” Huh? What’s a CALELLO? This was Charlie Calello, who I guess figured that using a single name would make him seem magical or mysterious.

As another pioneering falsetto guy, Lou Christie, used to sing, “Oh, NO NO NO, no no no no.”

Hedy may be best known for her role in the 1971 movie “Doc.” She was 30 at the time. In the still above, she’s hanging around while director Frank Perry talks to star Faye Dunaway. Hedy may not have had a big film career, but she’s well respected as an acting teacher. A senior faculty member of the Actors Studio, she’s been allied with Cafe La Mama in New York and the United Performance Studio in Japan.

HEDY SONTAG He Never Came Back