Either Tony DeFranco or the entire family made frequent appearances in the teen magazines of this period, such as Tiger Beat and Flip.
The five siblings who comprised the DeFranco Family were born to Italian immigrant parents and raised in Port Colborne and Welland, Ontario.
Initially performing as the DeFranco Quintet, the group found success after a demo tape of their songs was heard by Sharon Lee, editor of teen magazine Tiger Beat.
Impressed by what she heard, Lee arranged for Charles Laufer to fly the group to Los Angeles for an audition.
Much of their success in 1973 came at the expense of the Osmonds, who (themselves making an attempt at proselytizing with their music that year) declined in popularity, though they would recover in 1974.
A rock version of their tune "Write Me a Letter" failed to generate much attention and reached no higher than the 104th slot on the charts.