Movie Music Monday – Grease – Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian

46 years ago today, the title song to the blockbuster movie Grease hit number one in America. It was a huge smash for Frankie Valli, but did you know he almost didn’t record it?

The title song is one of four songs that were written specifically for the movie and obviously did not appear in the stage production. It was also recorded later than any of the other songs.

Bee Gee Barry Gibb was asked to write the song. At first, the thought was that Barry would sing it as well. However, it was felt that when people thought of Barry, they thought of disco. The Disco genre was obviously not the vibe of the film.

With Gibb out as the lead singer, they began to think about someone who would better fit the 50’s/60’s feel of the film. Frankie Valli was approached because his vocal range was very similar to Gibb’s. He also represented the “Pre-British Invasion” era that they were looking for.

The title song was the only song in the movie that was not sung by a cast member. Valli was actually given the option of singing the theme or having a role in the film as the Teen Angel. He opted for the theme song and Frankie Avalon was given the role as the Teen Angel.

Even though Barry Gibb didn’t sing lead on the song, he did sing background vocals. Oh, and Barry had his friend Peter Frampton play guitar on the song.

Grease was is last top 40 record for Frankie Valli to date.