Thomas Devito

He had been hospitalized for 3 weeks and was on a ventilator when he died at St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus in Henderson, Nevada.

Tommy was born in Belleville, New Jersey the son of Italian immigrants, and the youngest of nine children.

As a small child, he picked up an older brother’s guitar and attempted to play it. This earned him a beating – and then a warning that he would get another beating “if he didn’t keep practicing”.

By the time he was 12, Tommy was playing for tips in neighborhood taverns and left school at 13.

During the ’50s, he began playing in bars and neighborhood venues. The Four Lovers, one of the groups in which he played, ultimately would become the Four Seasons.

The Founding member of the Four Seasons, the biggest selling US pop group of the early 1960s, whose stories were told in the musical "Jersey Boys".

They would go on to rock ’n’ roll fame. The group’s string of hits began with “Sherry,” which hit No. 1 in 1962 and continued with still-beloved songs such as “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man” — both of which also hit No. 1 — “Let’s Hang On,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Rag Doll” and “Working My Way Back to You.”

Tommy left the group in 1970 and landed in Las Vegas where he enjoyed working with the local talent, with his wife Edda and partner Brian Baggs; they formed Gold Sound Music and Gold Sound Records.

He was also President of Hollermoe Music and Records.

The time in between sometimes was difficult. The story of the Four Seasons was an inspiration for the “Jersey Boys” musical.

“Jersey Boys” also was a staple on the Strip. A production of the show opened at Palazzo in 2008 and moved to Paris Las Vegas in 2012. It closed there in September 2016 and was depicted in and turned into a 2014 feature film directed by Clint Eastwood.

But, to all if us who was lucky enough to know him and be a part of his life he was just ‘Tommouch, Dad, Boss, or Papa.

His wife, of 50 years, Edda, predeceased him in death by three months; and a son Thomas Joseph in the 80’s.

He is survived by three children; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.