Four Seasons Joe Long passes away at 88
I never know what's going to happen when I begin my show on New Jersey 101.5. Today I was informed by Tony Newell of the Jersey Four that Joe Long of the Four Seasons passed away at the age of 88. Joe had been battling COVID. I had the pleasure of both interviewing Joe at a Jersey Four show and performing with him when the band brought me up on stage at iPlay America. He was a truly great guy and a class act all the way.
February 9 marked the 55th anniversary of The Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Back then in 1964 New Jersey, The Four Seasons were so big that VeeJay records would put out an album called "The Beatles vs The Four Seasons" with each groups songs on each side. It was in 1965 that Joe Long replaced Nick Massi who left the group on bass. I caught up with Long who's now the music director of the Jersey Four, a Four Seasons Tribute Band at iPlay America and we talked about his time with the originals, "It was great, it was fantastic, I got to get in there on the ground floor, it was something that no one could ever forget."