It was 1962, and Frankie was lighting a cigarette under a street lamp. He was waiting for his three friends outside of a closed diner at 11 pm. The last couple of days had been rough with Tommy blowing up at Crewe in the studio and Bob in a slump with the songs he had been writing. Times were stressful for everyone, and it was Nick who suggested a meeting. But of course, no one bothered to show up on time.
He was just about to head home when he heard footsteps walking quickly towards him, and was met by Bob, who had his hand up in greeting.
"Sorry I'm late! I had car trouble." Frankie waved him off and looked at his watch.
"Why'd Nicky even mention this if he wasn't gonna show?" Bob started to answer when he was cut off by a shout.
"Cool it, will ya? We're here," Tommy's rowdy voice bounced off the quiet walls.
"Why are we here, Nicky? I'm tired of fucking around, we need to be practicing, we need to write. We need to get serious," Frankie snapped.
"That's why we're here. To practice," Nick replied, shrugging, as if it was obvious. The other three just stared at him.
"What do you mean, practice?" Bobby asked.
"Practice. Sing. We need to blow off some steam, we need to focus."
Tommy rolled his eyes, about to make a smart remark, but one look from Nicky and he took his place under the streetlamp.
Bobby stood to the right, Nicky across from him, Tommy to the left. Frankie hadn't even moved, but instead scoffed.
"Here," Nicky said, and pointed to the open space between himself and Bob. Frankie was hesitant, but as soon as Nicky started snapping the counts, he stepped in.
"Silhouettes."
Four days later, they were huddled around a phone, singing what would become "Sherry," and a week after that, he was listening to himself on the radio asking a girl to come out and dance.
He knew he was a good singer- great maybe- aspiring to be bigger than Sinatra, but as he listened, he felt his heart flutter and his stomach flip and a rush of excitement followed. The four voices mingling to create one sound made his fingertips tingled and he was reminded exactly why he did this.