Little did Peter know, back then, that he would one day be singing those songs on a UK tour.

This month Peter will be at Bradford Live starring in The Very Best of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, celebrating the songs of one of the biggest selling groups of all time.

Back by popular demand, the nostalgic show pays tribute to the life and career of four boys from Jersey who started singing under a street lamp and went on to become one of the most-loved groups in music history – selling 150 million records, including 20 Top 10 hits, eight of them reaching No.1, earning them a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The nostalgic show tells the Four Seasons story through the songs. Image: Steve Gregson

Joined on stage by West End performers, Peter will deliver Four Seasons hits including Sherry, Beggin’, My Eyes Adored You, Big Girls Don’t Cry and Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

“These are songs that we have grown up with, and parents now play them for their kids. It’s a show for everyone – we get people aged five to 95 coming along,” says Peter. “When I was a kid in the Eighties I remember speakers on the beach playing music from local radio stations. A lot of them were songs by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I didn’t realise until I started doing this show that I grew up with songs.

Peter is joined on stage by performers from West End musicals. Image: Steve Gregson

“They used to play Beach Boys songs too. And in this show we do a little Beach Boys section. It’s a nod to the rivalry between the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys back then.

“We have a phenomenal band on stage and one of the guys actually toured with the Beach Boys. How cool is that?”

The show is a musical journey, telling the story of Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi and Bob Gaudio.

“We go back to how it all started – it was Joe Pesci, the actor, who found them – and narrate the story through the songs,” says Peter. “My brother, Michael, has seen me in Thriller in the West End and lots of other shows and he says this is the best thing I’ve done.”

Frankie Valli, charismatic lead vocalist, was renowned for his powerful range and signature falsetto that defined the Four Seasons sound. Was it daunting stepping into Frankie’s shoes?

“A lot of people don’t know that falsetto is my strength. I’ve never really done it in my songs,” says Peter. “When people hear me they say ‘I had no idea you could sing like that’.

“The songs are beautiful. I particularly love My Eyes Adored You – it’s such a clean sound. I love singing Grease too. I was in Grease in the West End, and Frankie Valli sang Grease in the movie, so it’s kind of a full circle moment for me when I sing that.”

‘These are songs that a lot of us have grown up with,’ says Peter. Image: Steve Gregson

He’s enjoying the whole package of playing Frankie; singing the timeless classics and dancing those smooth Four Seasons moves. “When I was starting out you had to do all three – sing, dance and act. I’ve been writing songs since I was 13 but you need to be able to cut it on stage too,” says Peter.

I first interviewed Peter back in the mid-1990s when his first hit, Mysterious Girl, was climbing up the charts. He was very sweet; full of enthusiasm about making it as a pop act while also wanting to be taken seriously as a singer/songwriter. While his fans were going crazy over the Mysterious Girl video – in which Peter, flashing his famous abs, took centre stage in a Thailand lagoon – he was, he said, just as happy writing songs in his bedroom.

Born in England to Cypriot parents and raised in Australia, Peter became the sixth highest selling artist in the UK in the 1990s. He’s had chart-topping singles, two No.1 albums and toured the world.

Over a career spanning three decades, he’s found success in music and television, and has also moved into film and theatre, with a nomination for Best Actor in a short film at The North Hollywood Cinéfest and lead roles in Grease: The Musical and Thriller.

Now a father of five, Peter has been busy working on new film projects and in April he releases a new album, Legacy, celebrating his 30 years in the entertainment industry. He recently released new single Rock U Right from the album.

“It’s the first time I’ve released new music in 11 years,” he says. “I know I’m not going to compete with a lot of artists out there, but I do it because I love it. I loved it when I was the 13-year-old me sitting in my bedroom and I still love it now.”

When Peter started out, aged 16, he was initially asked to join a boy band. “I’d been signed and was approached about being in a band but, the way I saw it was, I couldn’t argue with myself,” he smiles. “I’d seen all these groups split up over the years and I felt ‘Well, I can’t argue with myself’. I was better off on my own. I grafted and grafted back then; I was left in the studio for days on end to write.”

Is it easier for young artists to get started now, promoting themselves on social media rather than waiting for a record label to sign them up? “It’s a very different industry now,” he says. “Social media is good for promotion but I say ‘use it wisely’. I’ve made mistakes and I accept constructive criticism, I was taught that you have to be able to take that in this industry, but there’s a nastiness out there that’s tough to deal with. I’m not very thick-skinned, I’ve realised, so I’m wary of social media.

“It all comes down to songwriting and being able to perform on stage. That’s what counts.

“I still pinch myself now when I think of being 16 and dreaming of making it. I was alive when Elvis, Michael Jackson, Prince and John Lennon were alive too. Our generation, and our parents’ generation, can say that. How lucky are we?”

And this month he gets to perform in a venue where the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Buddy Holly have appeared.

I tell Peter about the fond memories people still have of seeing 1960s package tour shows at the Gaumont, the concert hall that became Bradford Live. “I played a venue in Ipswich recently, where the Beatles had played, it was amazing to look out where they’d looked out,” says Peter. “I’m really looking forward to Bradford. It’s the only place on tour where I like to go out to eat after the show.”

* The Very Best of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons is at Bradford Live on February 25. Call 0343 3100026 or visit www.trafalgartickets.com/bradford-live-bradford/