IN: Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 - September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Seasons. As a songwriter, his most successful songs include "Silhouettes" (co-written with Frank Slay); "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", "Rag Doll", "Silence Is Golden", "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)",

The Bob Crewe Generation briefly reappeared as a chart act in the mid-1970s, recording material for the disco era. The Generation's 1970 LP Let Me Touch You, including covers of Henry Mancini's "Moon River" and "Two For The Road", arranged by Charles Fox, remains a favorite of lounge music collectors. It was also their only quadraphonic release. In 1975, Crewe wrote and produced disco material for The Eleventh Hour, who had dance club success with at least three releases on 20th Century Records: "Hollywood Hot" (45 rpm single, number: TC-2215), "Bumper to Bumper", and "Sock It To Me/It's Your Thing". In the mid-1970s, Crewe and Sir Monti Rock III formed the disco club favorites Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, best known for their 1975 successes "Get Dancin'" and "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)". The group is referenced by Elvis Costello in his song "Invasion Hit Parade" and by The Pet Shop Boys in their song "Electricity". In 1977, at the insistence of producer Jerry Wexler, who had been an early mentor of his, Crewe recorded a solo album in Memphis, with Barry Beckett co-producing. The album, entitled Motivation, was a showcase for his singing voice. Although the album did not achieve chart success, it included the ballad "Marriage Made In Heaven", a collaboration between Crewe and Kenny Nolan which later became popular with Carolina Beach bands. The album also produced the song "It Took a Long Time (For The First Time In My Life)", also recorded by Patti Labelle. Crewe and Nolan had previously written two other songs - "My Eyes Adored You" and "Lady Marmalade" - which became back-to-back #1 records in 1975. "My Eyes Adored You" was produced by Crewe and performed by Frankie Valli with the Four Seasons. When the record label balked at releasing it, Crewe, certain of its quality and hit potential, bought back the rights for $4,000. Despite widespread rejections from music industry pundits, the song became a smash solo hit for Valli, and was the #1 chart-topping song of the year. "Lady Marmalade", recorded by Labelle, became notorious for its sexually provocative, New Orleans-inflected chorus, "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?" The song became a radio and dance club sensation. It achieved status as the #1 chart-topper of 1975 and has since been used in numerous motion pictures, including Cheech and Chong's The Corsican Brothers, Beethoven, Carlito's Way, The Birdcage, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Semi-Pro.
QUESTION: Did he write songs for other artists?
IN: Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937-1988). Sam & Dave are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and are Grammy Award and multiple gold record award-winning artists.

Sam Moore and Dave Prater's early musical backgrounds involved listening to and singing gospel music in their homes and churches, and in Dave's case, also singing gospel in the choir in his church. Dave later sang with his older brother JT Prater in the gospel group The Sensational Hummingbirds, who recorded "Lord Teach Me" in the 1950s. Sam recorded "Nitey-Nite"/"Caveman Rock" in 1954 with the doo-wop group The Majestics, and later sang with the gospel groups The Gales and The Mellonaires. Moore and Prater listed Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke as influences on their styles, and Moore was also influenced by Little Willie John, whom he and Dave opened for often in the early 1960s. Sam & Dave met working the gospel music circuit, and later in small clubs in Miami during amateur nights in 1961 according to Dave. They sang together one night at the King of Hearts club, and started working together immediately thereafter, developing a live act featuring gospel-inspired call-and-response. Soul singer and record producer Steve Alaimo discovered them while performing during the same show with them at the King of Hearts nightclub in Miami and signed them to Marlin Records. After two singles in early 1962 were released on the local Marlin label owned by Miami's Henry Stone, Stone helped sign them to Roulette Records in New York City. They released six 45s from 1962-1964 (two were re-releases of Marlin recordings) with Roulette, and one single on Stone and Alaimo's Alston Label. A few of the singles received regional airplay, but did not achieve national chart success. The songs, some of which were produced by Steve Alaimo and some of which were produced by Henry Glover, were similar in many ways to R&B recordings by Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Little Willie John. Prater was the lead vocalist on most of these singles, with Moore singing harmony and alternate verses. In summer 1964, Stone introduced the duo to Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler, who signed them to Atlantic. Wexler asked Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, which Atlantic distributed nationally, to work with Sam & Dave. Wexler wanted the Southern roots and gospel style of their live performances, so the pair were loaned to Stax to record, although they remained Atlantic Records artists. According to Wexler's autobiography Rhythms & Blues, "Their live act was filled with animation, harmony and seeming goodwill. I put Sam in the sweet tradition of Sam Cooke or Solomon Burke, while Dave had an ominous Four Tops' Levi Stubbs-sounding voice, the preacher promising hellfire."
QUESTION:
what did they do early in their career?