According to Gaudio, the song took about 15 minutes to write and was originally titled "Jackie Baby" (in honor of then-First LadyJacqueline Kennedy).[5] In a 1968 interview, Gaudio said that the song was inspired by the 1961 Bruce Channel hit "Hey! Baby".[6]
At the studio, the name was changed to "Terri Baby", and eventually to "Sherry", the name of the daughter of Gaudio's best friend, New York DJJack Spector. One of the names that Gaudio pondered for the song was "Peri Baby", which was the name of the record label for whichBob Crewe worked, named after the label owner's daughter.
The single's B-side was "I've Cried Before". Both tracks were included in the group's subsequent album release,Golden Hits of the 4 Seasons (1963).[7]
"Sherry" drew the attention ofWPOP inHartford, Connecticut, a radio station known for its aggressive seeking out of new hit records; WPOP overnight hostJoey Reynolds soon placed the record into heavyrotation.[17] Shortly thereafter, "Sherry" became the band's first nationally released single and their first number one hit, reaching the top of the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 on September 15, 1962. It remained at number one for five consecutive weeks, and number one on the R&B charts for one week.[18] "Sherry" became the first single by The Four Seasons to go to number one on the R&B charts.
A version by British pop group the Red Squares became a hit in Scandinavia, reaching number five on theDanmarks Radio chart in Denmark during October 1966.[19] In Sweden, their versionpeaked at number one onTio i Topp for two weeks in January 1967,[20] and also reached number four on sales chartKvällstoppen.[21]
A version of the song was later recorded and released by British singer/songwriterAdrian Baker. It was released in July 1975 along with "I Was Only Fooling" on theMagnet Records label (MAG 34).
A version byRobert John enteredBillboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position number 82 on October 25, 1980;[22] it spent five weeks on the Top 100, peaking at number 70 on November 8, 1980.[23]
One version of the song was recorded by British pop groupDreamhouse, which appears on their debut album, and was released in 1998.
As with most of the Four Seasons' hit records, "Sherry" is included in the Four Seasons musical biopicJersey Boys, with Reynolds's stunt being used to lead into the song. (Reynolds went uncredited in the musical and was replaced by the fictional disc jockey Barry Belson, a fact that Reynolds resented.[25])
^Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons (1991-11-19),Greatest Hits, Volume 1, Internet Archive, Warner Special Products, retrieved2023-01-30{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (2012).Tio i Topp - med de utslagna "på försök" 1961–74 [Tio I Topp With The Eliminated On Try 1961–1974] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Premium. p. 453.ISBN978-91-89136-89-2.
^Hallberg, Eric (1993).Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P3 [Eric Hallberg Presents Kvällstoppen on P3] (in Swedish) (1st ed.). Stockholm: Drift. p. 203.ISBN9-789-16-302-14-04.
