Some octogenarian singers seem to have indestructible voices, like Tony Bennett, who's still going strong at 89. Others keep singing well after their voice is shot, like the late B.B. King, whose final Dallas performance in 2013 was a sad affair.
And then there's 81-year-old Frankie Valli, who relied so heavily on pre-recorded backing vocals Saturday night at the Hilton Anatole it's impossible to know what his voice actually sounds like today.
It's pointless to get too worked up about Valli's use of backing tapes, since he was performing for a good cause: the Bishop's Gala of the Catholic Charities of Dallas, an organization that fights hunger, poverty and homelessness. Most of the well-attired crowd had bought their pricey tickets to support Catholic Charities, not just to hear Valli perform.
That's a good thing, because from the first song it was apparent the powerful falsetto voice booming out of the speakers wasn't coming straight from Valli's mouth.
All the tell-tale signs of backing tapes were plain to see on two large video screens: Valli's lips sometimes didn't sync up with his singing; his chest didn't rise and fall as he sang and his voice sounded exactly the same whether he held the microphone next to his lips or two feet away.
Whenever Valli talked between songs on an actual live mike, the timbre of his voice was noticeably different than when he sang.
"Now we're going to slow it down a bit, because I need to," he said, huffing and puffing with comic drama after a fast song. "Is it intermission yet?"
Valli was funny and engaging throughout the set, and his 13-man band was flawless on everything from early R&B-pop gems like "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" to a bold big-band version of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin." The current lineup of the Four Seasons -- who could pass for Valli's grandkids -- helped fueled the show with pristine vocals and snazzy dancing.
The audience danced, too, gliding slowly around the dance floor in "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" and spinning faster and faster in "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)." Younger fans were probably seeing Valli for the first time since the Jersey Boys musical and movie made him popular all over again.
For the older crowd, it was a chance to stroll down memory lane with songs they probably first heard Valli lip-syncing on American Bandstand in the early 1960s: Live or taped, Valli's music has lost none of its luster after all these years.
Thor Christensen is a Dallas writer and critic.
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