Frankie Valli is speaking out amid concerns over his health, telling fans that nobody is forcing him to perform against his will.
Videos of the 90-year-old Four Seasons frontman have gone viral on social media in recent weeks due to the singer appearing frail and disoriented onstage.
The videos sparked widespread concern among Valli’s fans, with some wondering if he was being forced to perform and others accusing his team of elder abuse.
Valli disputed the claims in a statement to People magazine, stressing that nobody ever forces him to do anything he doesn’t want. The singer doubled down and said he has no plans to stop performing at this time.
“I know there has been a lot of stuff on the internet about me lately so I wanted to clear the air,” Valli said. “I am blessed to be 90 years old and still be doing what I love to do and as long as I am able, and audiences want to come see me, I am going to be out there performing as always. I absolutely love what I do. ... I get a chuckle from the comments wondering if someone is forcing me to go onstage. Nobody has ever made me do anything I didn’t want to do.”
Valli concluded: “I plan to be doing shows as long as I can. ... I’m like that bunny on TV, that just keeps going and going and going. Chasing the music.”
Book Award finalists named: Salman Rushdie’s memoir about his stabbing, “Knife,” and Percival Everett’s revisionist historical novel, “James,” are among the finalists for the 75th annual National Book Awards. Others nominated include author-filmmaker Miranda July for her novel on middle age, “All Fours,” and celebrated Canadian poet Anne Carson for “Wrong Norma.”
The National Book Foundation named finalists Tuesday in fiction, nonfiction, young people’s literature, poetry and books in translation.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony Nov. 20, when honorary prizes will be given to novelist Barbara Kingsolver and publisher- activist W. Paul Coates.
Actor Hogestyn dies: Drake Hogestyn, the “Days of Our Lives” star who appeared on the show for 38 years, died Saturday, his family said. He was 70.
Hogestyn died after “putting up an unbelievable fight” against pancreatic cancer, his family said in a statement.
The actor played the character John Black in more than 4,200 episodes of the popular soap opera, joining in 1986.
Actor Creel dies: Gavin Creel, a Broadway musical theater veteran who won a Tony Award for “Hello, Dolly!” opposite Bette Midler and earned nominations for “Hair” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” died Monday of a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 48.
Publicist Matt Polk said Creel died at his home in Manhattan of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. He was diagnosed in July.
Oct. 2 birthdays: Singer Don McLean is 79. Actor Avery Brooks is 76. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 75. Musician Sting is 73. Actor Lorraine Bracco is 70. Singer Robbie Nevil is 66. TV host Kelly Ripa is 54. Singer Tiffany is 53. Actor Efren Ramirez is 51. Actor Christopher Larkin is 37. Singer Brittany Howard is 36.