In addition, their contract with Crewe allowed them to record individually or collectively for Crewe's Peri Records - which they did under more than a handful of "stage names". The Four Lovers worked steadily as session artists, primarily as background singers and background musicians, in addition to resuming their live performances in various clubs and lounges between New York City and Philadelphia) Meanwhile, guitarist/vocalist Henry Majewski was replaced by Hugh Garrity for a few months in 1958, and then by keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Bob Gaudio in 1959. During this period, the reconstituted quartet had some significant personnel changes, as bassist/vocalist Nick DeVito left the group in 1958, to be replaced by Nick Massi for just a few months, then by bassist/arranger Charles Calello until 1960, and then by Massi again. In 1958, Valli met record producer Bob Crewe at a recording session, who signed the Four Lovers to a three-year artist contract. As a consequence, the discouraged group temporarily disbanded. The group promptly signed to Epic Records but was quickly dropped when its first single for the label also failed to chart. RCA gave up on the Four Lovers when the group's fifth straight single failed to chart in 1957 and finally dropped the group from its label. The single got them their first national television appearance, on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. The quartet released seven singles and one album under the Four Lovers name, with only their debut single, Otis Blackwell's " You're the Apple of My Eye" achieving significant national sales to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The group that ended up recording as The Four Lovers was Frankie Valli (lead vocal, drums), Thomas DeVito (vocal, guitar), Philip Mongiovi (Drums), Henry Majewski (vocal, guitar) and Nicolas DeVito (vocal, bass).
RCA signed them up that day and the group selected a new name, The Four Lovers. A week later, they were themselves auditioning for RCA. One of the two record men, Peter Paul, was suitably impressed enough to become their manager. The Four Lovers' big break came in early 1956 when backing up a female singer's audition for two New York record men.
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