Grease

"Grease" is a song written by Barry Gibb and recorded by Frankie Valli (of the Four Seasons fame): it was released as a single in May 1978. It is the title song for the musical motion picture Grease of that year, which was in turn based on the 1971 stage play Grease. The song celebrates the greaser lifestyle, and it sold over seven million copies worldwide and appeared twice on the film's soundtrack, first as the opening track and again as the closing track. "Grease" is one of four songs written specifically for the film that had not been in the stage production. Background Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey had written a different title track for Grease for its original Chicago production, but the song was discarded when the show was picked up on Broadway. Barry Gibb was commissioned to compose a new title song for Robert Stigwood's film of the stage musical. Production The song was recorded separately from, and later than, the rest of those in the film. Shortly after the filming of the 1978 musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Gibb invited cast-mate Peter Frampton to play guitar on the Grease session, while also providing backing vocals himself. The other musicians were some of those from the Andy Gibb album that was being made around the same time. Frankie Valli was approached to provide the vocals, due to his vocal range being similar to that of Barry Gibb, his being under the management of Allan Carr at the time, and his status as a popular singer from the pre-British Invasion era that Grease represented. Gibb had a long-standing respect for Valli as "one of the hallmark voices of our generation". Valli accepted, despite suffering from severe otosclerosis and loss of hearing at the time. When Valli recorded "Grease", he did not have a recording contract, having been contracted to Private Stock Records which had folded earlier in 1978. After the single was released on the RSO label, which also issued the soundtrack, Valli quickly landed a deal with Warner Bros., which had Valli's group The Four Seasons under contract at the time. Valli did not want to record a full album for RSO because he felt that Robert Stigwood had too much control over the Bee Gees' career and had too much of a conflict of interest in his numerous job titles. "Grease" was one of four songs in the film that had not been part of the original musical, and it was the only one not performed by the cast.