Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "
Chairman of the Board
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...
" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He is among the world's best-selling music artists with an estimated 150 million record sales.
Born to Italian immigrants in
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 ...
, Sinatra was greatly influenced by the intimate, easy-listening vocal style of
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
and began his musical career in the
swing era
The swing era (also frequently referred to as the big band era) was the period (1933–1947) when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though this was its most popular period, the music had actually been arou ...
with bandleaders
Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...
and
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...
. He found success as a solo artist after signing with
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
in 1943, becoming the idol of the " bobby soxers". Sinatra released his debut album, '' The Voice of Frank Sinatra'', in 1946. When his film career stalled in the early 1950s, Sinatra turned to
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
, where he became one of its best-known
residency
Residency may refer to:
* Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place
** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship
* Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...
performers and part of the famous
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
. His acting career was revived by the 1953 film ''
From Here to Eternity
''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...
'', which earned Sinatra an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and a
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra then signed with
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...
and released several critically lauded albums, some of which were later considered as among the first "
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...
Nice 'n' Easy
''Nice 'n' Easy'' is a 1960 album by Frank Sinatra.
All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The title song was a last-minute substitute for the originall ...
'' (1960).
Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own record label,
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
and released a string of successful albums. In 1965, he recorded the retrospective album ''
September of My Years
''September of My Years'' is a 1965 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released on Reprise Records in August 1965 on LP and October 1986 on CD. The orchestral arrangements are by Gordon Jenkins, their fifth album collaboration. ...
'' and starred in the
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
Sinatra at the Sands
''Sinatra at the Sands'' is a live album by Frank Sinatra accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra, and conducted and arranged by Quincy Jones, recorded live in the Copa Room of the former Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1966.
It ...
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...
. Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971, but came out of retirement two years later. He recorded several albums and resumed performing at
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesar ...
, and released "
New York, New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
" in 1980. Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured within the United States and internationally until shortly before his death in 1998.
Sinatra forged a highly successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for best supporting actor in ''From Here to Eternity'', he starred in '' The Man with the Golden Arm'' (1955) and '' The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962). Sinatra also appeared in musicals such as '' On the Town'' (1949), ''
Guys and Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...
'' (1955), '' High Society'' (1956), and '' Pal Joey'' (1957), which won him another Golden Globe. Toward the end of his career, he frequently played detectives, including the title character in ''
Tony Rome
''Tony Rome'' is a 1967 American neo-noir mystery crime thriller film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Sinatra in the title role, alongside Jill St. John, Sue Lyon and Gena Rowlands. It was adapted from Marvin H. Albert's novel ' ...
'' (1967). Sinatra received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1971. On television, '' The Frank Sinatra Show'' began on CBS in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
While Sinatra never learned how to read music, he worked very hard from a young age to improve his abilities in all aspects of music. A perfectionist, renowned for his style and presence, Sinatra always insisted on recording live with his band. He led a colorful personal life and was involved in turbulent relationships, including his second marriage to
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
. He later married
Mia Farrow
Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...
in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976. Sinatra had several violent confrontations, often with journalists he felt had crossed him or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was deeply involved with politics starting in the mid-1940s and actively campaigned for presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
. Sinatra was investigated by the FBI for his alleged relationship with the
mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
.
Sinatra was honored at the
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five hono ...
in 1983, was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
by Ronald Reagan in 1985, and the
Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
in 1997. He received eleven
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award that is awarded by The Recording Academy
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of ...
. Sinatra was included in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
called him "the greatest singer of the 20th century" and he continues to be regarded as an iconic figure.
Early life
Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 ...
, the only child of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
boxed Boxed may refer to:
* Boxed.com, a wholesale on-line shopping site.
* Boxed (Eurythmics), ''Boxed'' (Eurythmics), an eight album box set
* Boxed (Mike Oldfield album), ''Boxed'' (Mike Oldfield album)
* Boxed warning, a warning that appears on Unite ...
under the name Marty O'Brien. Sinatra weighed at birth and had to be delivered with the aid of
forceps
Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...
, which caused severe scarring to his left cheek, neck, and ear, and perforated his eardrum—remaining damaged for the rest of his life. When he was in an unconscious state, his grandmother resuscitated him by running her grandson under cold water until he gasped his first breath. Due to his injuries at birth, his baptism at St. Francis Church in Hoboken was delayed until April 2, 1916. A childhood operation on his
mastoid
The mastoid part of the temporal bone is the posterior (back) part of the temporal bone, one of the bones of the skull. Its rough surface gives attachment to various muscles (via tendons) and it has openings for blood vessels. From its borders, ...
bone left major scarring on his neck, and during adolescence he suffered from cystic acne that further scarred his face and neck. Sinatra was raised in the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
.
Sinatra's mother was energetic and driven, and biographers believe that she was the dominant factor in the development of her son's personality traits and self-confidence. Sinatra's fourth wife Barbara would later claim that Dolly was abusive to him when he was a child, and "knocked him around a lot". Dolly became influential in Hoboken and in local Democratic Party circles. She worked as a
midwife
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; ...
, earning $50 for each delivery, and according to Sinatra biographer
Kitty Kelley
Katherine Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American journalist and author of best-selling unauthorized biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and O ...
, also ran an illegal abortion service that catered to Italian Catholic girls, for which she was nicknamed "Hatpin Dolly". She also had a gift for languages and served as a local interpreter.
Sinatra's illiterate father was a
bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...
boxer who later worked for 24 years at the Hoboken Fire Department, working his way up to captain. Sinatra spent much time at his parents' tavern in Hoboken, working on his homework and occasionally singing a song on top of the
player piano
A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern im ...
for spare change. During the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, Dolly provided money to her son for outings with friends and to buy expensive clothes, resulting in neighbors describing him as the "best-dressed kid in the neighborhood". Excessively thin and small as a child and young man, Sinatra's skinny frame later became a staple of jokes during stage shows.''Sinatra at the Sands'' (1966),
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
At a young age, Sinatra developed an interest in music, particularly
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
jazz and listened to
Gene Austin
Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early " crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for ...
,
Rudy Vallée
Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, musician, actor, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type.
Early life
Hubert Prior Vall ...
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
. For his 15th birthday, his maternal uncle, Domenico, gave him a
ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
, and with the instrument, he performed at family gatherings. Sinatra attended David E. Rue Jr. High School from 1928, and A. J. Demarest High School (since renamed as
Hoboken High School
Hoboken High School (HHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Hoboken, in Hudson County, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Hoboken Public Schoo ...
) in 1931, where he arranged bands for school dances, but left without graduating after having attended only 47 days before being expelled for "general rowdiness". To please his mother, he enrolled at Drake Business School, but departed after 11 months. Dolly found her son work as a delivery boy at the ''Jersey Observer'' newspaper, where his godfather Frank Garrick worked, and after that, worked as a riveter at the Tietjen and Lang shipyard. He began performing in local Hoboken social clubs such as The Cat's Meow and The Comedy Club, and sang for free on radio stations such as
WAAT
Waat is a village in the northeastern part of South Sudan. It is located in Nyirol County, Jonglei State
Jonglei State is a state of South Sudan with Bor as its centre of government and the biggest city. Jonglei state comprises nine counties ...
in Jersey City. In New York, Sinatra found jobs singing for his supper or for cigarettes. To improve his speech, he began taking
elocution
Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...
lessons for a dollar each from vocal coach John Quinlan, who was one of the first people to notice his impressive vocal range.
Music career
Hoboken Four, Harry James, and Tommy Dorsey (1935–1939)
Sinatra began singing professionally as a teenager, but even though he never learned to read music, he learned music by ear. He got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group called the 3 Flashes to let him join.
Baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...
Fred Tamburro stated that "Frank hung around us like we were gods or something", admitting that they only took him on board because he owned a car and could chauffeur the group around. Sinatra soon learned they were auditioning for the ''
Major Bowes Amateur Hour
The ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' was an American radio talent show broadcast in the 1930s and 1940s, created and hosted by Edward Bowes (1874–1946). Selected performers from the program participated in touring vaudeville performances, under ...
'' show, and "begged" the group to let him in on the act. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four, and passed an audition from Edward Bowes to appear on the ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' show. They each earned $12.50 for the appearance, and ended up attracting 40,000 votes before winning first prize — a six-month contract to perform on stage and radio across the U.S. Sinatra quickly became the group's lead singer, and, much to the jealousy of his fellow group members, garnered most of the attention from girls. Due to the success of the group, Bowes kept asking for them to return, disguised under different names, varying from "The Secaucus Cockamamies" to "The Bayonne Bacalas".
In 1938, Sinatra found employment as a singing waiter at a roadhouse called "The Rustic Cabin" in
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, whose population at the 2010 United States census was 5,281.WNEW radio station in New York City, and he began performing with a group live during the ''Dance Parade'' show. Despite the low salary, Sinatra felt that this was the break he was looking for, and boasted to friends that he was going to "become so big that no one could ever touch him". In March 1939, saxophone player Frank Mane, who knew Sinatra from Jersey City radio station WAAT where both performed on live broadcasts, arranged for him to audition and record " Our Love", his first solo studio recording. In June, bandleader
Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...
, who had heard Sinatra sing on "Dance Parade", signed a two-year contract of $75 a week one evening after a show at the Paramount Theatre in New York. It was with the James band that Sinatra released his first commercial record "From the Bottom of My Heart" in July. No more than 8,000 copies of the record were sold, and further records released with James through 1939, such as "All or Nothing at All", also had weak sales on their initial release. Thanks to his vocal training, Sinatra could now sing two tones higher, and developed a repertoire which included songs such as " My Buddy", " Willow Weep for Me", " It's Funny to Everyone but Me", "Here Comes the Night", " On a Little Street in Singapore", "
Ciribiribin
"Ciribiribin" is a merry Piedmontese ballad, originally in three-quarter time, composed by Alberto Pestalozza in 1898 with lyrics by Carlo Tiochet. It quickly became popular and has been recorded by many artists. Decades later it enjoyed conti ...
", and "Every Day of My Life".
Sinatra became increasingly frustrated with the status of the Harry James band, feeling that he was not achieving the major success and acclaim he was looking for. His pianist and close friend Hank Sanicola persuaded him to stay with the group, but in November 1939 he left James to replace Jack Leonard as the lead singer of the
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...
band. Sinatra earned $125 a week, appearing at the Palmer House in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, and James released Sinatra from his contract. On January 26, 1940, he made his first public appearance with the band at the
Coronado Theatre
The Coronado Performing Arts Center (originally the Coronado Theatre), in Rockford, Illinois, is a 2,400-seat theatre, designed by architect Frederic J. Klein. The theatre cost $1.5 million to build, and opened on October 9, 1927.
Interior
The t ...
in
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
, opening the show with "
Stardust
Stardust may refer to:
* A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space
Entertainment Songs
* “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael
* “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974
* “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012
* ...
". Dorsey recalled: "You could almost feel the excitement coming up out of the crowds when the kid stood up to sing. Remember, he was no matinée idol. He was just a skinny kid with big ears. I used to stand there so amazed I'd almost forget to take my own solos". Dorsey was a major influence on Sinatra and became a
father figure
A father figure is usually an older man, normally one with power, authority, or strength, with whom one can identify on a deeply psychology, psychological level and who generates emotions generally felt towards one's father. Despite the literal te ...
. Sinatra copied Dorsey's mannerisms and traits, becoming a demanding perfectionist like him, even adopting his hobby of toy trains. He asked Dorsey to be godfather to his daughter Nancy in June 1940. Sinatra later said that "The only two people I've ever been afraid of are my mother and Tommy Dorsey". Though Kelley says that Sinatra and drummer
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time.
Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...
were bitter rivals, other authors state that they were friends and even roommates when the band was on the road, but professional jealousy surfaced as both men wanted to be considered the star of Dorsey's band. Later, Sinatra helped Rich form his own band with a $25,000 loan and provided financial help to Rich during times of the drummer's serious illness.
In his first year with Dorsey, Sinatra recorded over forty songs. Sinatra's first vocal hit was the song " Polka Dots and Moonbeams" in late April 1940. Two more chart appearances followed with " Say It" and "
Imagination
Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...
", which was Sinatra's first top-10 hit. His fourth chart appearance was " I'll Never Smile Again", topping the charts for twelve weeks beginning in mid-July. Other records with Tommy Dorsey issued by
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
include "
Our Love Affair "Our Love Affair" is a song recorded by Frank Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey Band in 1940. which reached No. 5 in the Billboard charts. Its music is by Roger Edens and lyrics are by Arthur Freed. It was written for the M-G-M musical '' Strike Up the ...
This Love of Mine
"This Love of Mine" is a popular American song that was first recorded in 1941 by Tommy Dorsey and His orchestra, with a vocal by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra wrote the words and Sol Parker and Hank Sanicola wrote the music.
Background
The Tommy Dors ...
There Are Such Things
"There Are Such Things" is a popular song by Stanley Adams, Abel Baer, and George W. Meyer, published in 1942.
The first and most popular version of the song was performed by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra with vocals by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipe ...
" in 1942; and "
It Started All Over Again
"It Started All Over Again" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller and performed by Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and ...
", "
In the Blue of Evening "In the Blue of Evening" is a song by Al D'Artega and Tom Adair recorded by Frank Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey Band and released in 1943. It was subsequently re-recorded by Sinatra, but did not feature on a release until a 1993 reissue of the albu ...
", and " It's Always You" in 1943. As his success and popularity grew, Sinatra pushed Dorsey to allow him to record some solo songs. Dorsey eventually relented, and on January 19, 1942, Sinatra recorded " Night and Day", " The Night We Called It a Day", "
The Song is You
"The Song Is You" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for their musical ''Music in the Air'' (1932) and sung in that show by Tullio Carminati. In the subsequent 1934 f ...
", and " Lamplighter's Serenade" at a Bluebird recording session, with Axel Stordahl as arranger and conductor. Sinatra first heard the recordings at the
Hollywood Palladium
The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 4,000 ...
and Hollywood Plaza and was astounded at how good he sounded. Stordahl recalled: "He just couldn't believe his ears. He was so excited, you almost believed he had never recorded before. I think this was a turning point in his career. I think he began to see what he might do on his own".
After the 1942 recordings, Sinatra believed he needed to go solo, with an insatiable desire to compete with
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
, but he was hampered by his contract which gave Dorsey 43% of Sinatra's lifetime earnings in the entertainment industry. A legal battle ensued, eventually settled in August 1942. On September 3, 1942, Dorsey bade farewell to Sinatra, reportedly saying as Sinatra left, "I hope you fall on your ass", but he was more gracious on the air when replacing Sinatra with singer
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentinian singer and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, television host, ...
. Rumors began spreading in newspapers that Sinatra's mobster godfather,
Willie Moretti
Guarino "Willie" Moretti (February 24, 1894 – October 4, 1951), also known as Willie Moore, was a notorious underboss of the Genovese crime family and a cousin of the family boss Frank Costello.
Criminal career
Born Guarino Moretti in Bari ...
, coerced Dorsey to let Sinatra out of his contract for a few thousand dollars, holding a gun to his head. Upon leaving Dorsey, Sinatra persuaded Stordahl to come with him and become his personal arranger, offering him $650 a month, five times his salary from Dorsey. Dorsey and Sinatra, who had been very close, never reconciled their differences. Up until his death in November 1956, Dorsey occasionally made biting comments about Sinatra to the press such as "he's the most fascinating man in the world, but don't put your hand in the cage".
Onset of Sinatramania and role in World War II (1942–1945)
By May 1941, Sinatra topped the male singer polls in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' and ''
DownBeat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Ch ...
'' magazines. His appeal to bobby soxers, as teenage girls of that time were called, revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had been recorded mainly for adults up to that time. The phenomenon became officially known as "Sinatramania" after his "legendary opening" at the Paramount Theatre in New York on December 30, 1942. According to Nancy Sinatra,
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...
later said, "I thought the goddamned building was going to cave in. I never heard such a commotion... All this for a fellow I never heard of." Sinatra performed for four weeks at the theatre, his act following the
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...
orchestra, after which his contract was renewed for another four weeks by Bob Weitman due to his popularity. He became known as "Swoonatra" or "The Voice", and his fans "Sinatratics". They organized meetings and sent masses of letters of adoration, and within a few weeks of the show, some 1000 Sinatra fan clubs had been reported across the US. Sinatra's publicist, George Evans, encouraged interviews and photographs with fans, and was the man responsible for depicting Sinatra as a vulnerable, shy, Italian–American with a rough childhood who made good. When Sinatra returned to the Paramount in October 1944 only 250 persons left the first show, and 35,000 fans left outside caused a near riot, known as the Columbus Day Riot, outside the venue because they were not allowed in. Such was the bobby-soxer devotion to Sinatra that they were known to write Sinatra's song titles on their clothing, bribe hotel maids for an opportunity to touch his bed, and accost his person in the form of stealing clothing he was wearing, most commonly his
bow-tie
The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that t ...
.
Sinatra signed with
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
as a solo artist on June 1, 1943, during the
1942–44 musicians' strike
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe c ...
. Columbia Records re-released Harry James and Sinatra's August 1939 version of "All or Nothing at All", which reached number 2 on June 2, and was on the best-selling list for 18 weeks. He initially had great success, and performed on the radio on ''
Your Hit Parade
''Your Hit Parade'' was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year ru ...
'' from February 1943 until December 1944, and on stage. Columbia wanted new recordings of their growing star as quickly as possible, so Alec Wilder was hired as an arranger and conductor for several sessions with a vocal group called the Bobby Tucker Singers. These first sessions were on June 7, June 22, August 5, and November 10, 1943. Of the nine songs recorded during these sessions, seven charted on the best-selling list. That year he also made his first solo nightclub appearance at New York's
Riobamba
Riobamba (, full name San Pedro de Riobamba; Quechua: ''Rispampa'') is the capital of Chimborazo Province in central Ecuador, and is located in the Chambo River Valley of the Andes. It is south of Ecuador's capital Quito and located at an ele ...
, and a successful concert in the Wedgewood Room of the prestigious Waldorf-Astoria New York that year secured his popularity in New York high society. Sinatra released "
You'll Never Know
"You'll Never Know", sometimes referred to as "''You'll Never Know (Just How Much I Love You)''" in later years, is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Mack Gordon. The song is based on a poem written by a young ...
People Will Say We're in Love
"People Will Say We're In Love" is a show tune from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, '' Oklahoma!'' (1943). In the original Broadway production, the song was introduced by Alfred Drake and Joan Roberts.
Plot context
The other characters ...
" as singles. By the end of 1943 he was more popular in a ''DownBeat'' poll than Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Bob Eberly, and
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentinian singer and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, television host, ...
.
Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War II. On December 11, 1943, he was officially classified 4-F ("Registrant not acceptable for military service") by his draft board because of a perforated eardrum. However, U.S. Army files reported that Sinatra was "not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint", but his emotional instability was hidden to avoid "undue unpleasantness for both the selectee and the induction service". Briefly, there were rumors reported by columnist
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
that Sinatra paid $40,000 to avoid the service, but the FBI found this to be without merit.
Toward the end of the war, Sinatra entertained the troops during several successful overseas
USO
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
tours with comedian
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popu ...
. During one trip to Rome he met the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
, who asked him if he was an operatic tenor. Sinatra worked frequently with the popular Andrews Sisters in radio in the 1940s, and many USO shows were broadcast to troops via the
Armed Forces Radio Service
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which ...
(AFRS). In 1944 Sinatra released "
I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night
I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...
Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week) "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week)", also known as "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)", is a popular song published in 1944 with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
Background
Although it has been int ...
", "
Dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
", and "
Nancy (with the Laughing Face) "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)" is a song composed in 1942 by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Phil Silvers, called, originally, "Bessie (With The Laughing Face)". It was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1944. Many, perhaps most, people— ...
" as singles.
Columbia years and career slump (1946–1952)
Despite being heavily involved in political activity in 1945 and 1946, in those two years Sinatra sang on 160 radio shows, recorded 36 times, and shot four films. By 1946 he was performing on stage up to 45 times a week, singing up to 100 songs daily, and earning up to $93,000 a week.
In 1946 Sinatra released " Oh! What it Seemed to Be", " Day by Day", "
They Say It's Wonderful "They Say It's Wonderful" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the musical '' Annie Get Your Gun'' (1946), where it was introduced by Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton. A film version in 1950 again featured the song when it was performed by ...
", "
Five Minutes More
"Five Minutes More" is a 1946 American pop song written by Sammy Cahn (lyrics) and Jule Styne (music). It is sometimes referred to as "Give Me Five Minutes More". It was featured in the movie ''Sweetheart of Sigma Chi'', sung by Phil Brito, and ...
", and "
The Coffee Song "The Coffee Song" (occasionally subtitled "They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil") is a novelty song written by Bob Hilliard and Dick Miles, first recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1946. Later that year it was recorded by The Smart Set, and by ot ...
" as singles, and launched his first album, '' The Voice of Frank Sinatra'', which reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic wrote that Sinatra "took the material very seriously, singing the love lyrics with utter seriousness", and that his "singing and the classically influenced settings gave the songs unusual depth of meaning". He was soon selling 10million records a year. Such was Sinatra's command at Columbia that his love of conducting was indulged with the release of the set '' Frank Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder'', an offering unlikely to appeal to Sinatra's core fanbase at the time, which consisted of teenage girls. The following year he released his second album, ''
Songs by Sinatra
''Songs by Sinatra, Volume 1'' is the second studio album by Frank Sinatra. The tracks were arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl and his orchestra. It is a collection of eight recordings from six different sessions. It was originally released ...
'', featuring songs of a similar mood and tempo such as
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russ ...
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...
Mam'selle "Mam'selle" is a bittersweet song about a ''rendez-vous'' with a "mam'selle" ('' mademoiselle'') in a small café. The music was written by Edmund Goulding, the lyrics by Mack Gordon.
The song originally appeared in the movie, ''The Razor's Edge' ...
", composed by
Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwi ...
with lyrics by
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler; June 21, 1904 – February 28, 1959) was an American composer and lyricist for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times in 11 years, including five consecutive years betwee ...
for the film ''
The Razor's Edge
''The Razor's Edge'' is a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. The story beg ...
'' (1946), was released as a single. Sinatra had competition; versions by Art Lund,
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentinian singer and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, television host, ...
,
Dennis Day
Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent.
Early life
Day was born and raised in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, New York City, the ...
, and The Pied Pipers also reached the top ten of the ''Billboard'' charts. In December he recorded "
Sweet Lorraine
"Sweet Lorraine" is a popular song with music by Cliff Burwell and words by Mitchell Parish that was published in 1928 and has become a jazz standard. It is written in F major and has an AABA structure.
A version by Teddy Wilson charted in Octobe ...
" with the
Metronome All-Stars
The Metronome All-Stars were a collection of jazz musicians assembled for studio recordings by ''Metronome Magazine'', based on its readers' polls. The studio sessions were held in the years 1939-42, 1946–53, and 1956, and typically consisted of ...
, featuring talented jazz musicians such as
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...
Charlie Shavers
Charles James Shavers (August 3, 1920 – July 8, 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday ...
, with
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
on piano, in what Charles L. Granata describes as "one of the highlights of Sinatra's Columbia epoch".
Sinatra's third album, ''
Christmas Songs by Sinatra
''Christmas Songs by Sinatra'' is the name of the third studio album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released in 1948 as a 78 rpm album set and a 10" LP record (CL 6019) featuring a collection of eight holiday songs. A compilation a ...
'', was originally released in 1948 as a 78rpm album set, and a 10" LP record was released two years later. When Sinatra was featured as a priest in ''
The Miracle of the Bells
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', due to press negativity surrounding his alleged Mafia connections at the time, it was announced to the public that Sinatra would donate his $100,000 in wages from the film to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. By the end of 1948, Sinatra had slipped to fourth on ''DownBeat''s annual poll of most popular singers (behind Billy Eckstine, Frankie Laine, and Bing Crosby). and in the following year he was pushed out of the top spots in polls for the first time since 1943. ''
Frankly Sentimental
''Frankly Sentimental'' is the fourth studio album by Frank Sinatra, released on June 20, 1949 as a set of four 78 rpm records and a 10" LP album.
The tracks were arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl and his orchestra.
The album is composed ...
'' (1949) was panned by ''DownBeat'', who commented that "for all his talent, it seldom comes to life".
Though "
The Hucklebuck
"The Hucklebuck" (sometimes written "The Huckle-Buck") is a jazz and R&B dance tune first popularized by Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers in 1949. The composition of the tune was credited to Andy Gibson, and lyrics were later added by Roy ...
" reached the top ten, it was his last single release under the Columbia label. Sinatra's last two albums with Columbia, '' Dedicated to You'' and ''
Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra
''Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra'' is the sixth studio album by Frank Sinatra. The tracks were arranged and conducted by George Siravo and his orchestra (except for track four, which was conducted by Hugo Winterhalter). Original Columbia 1 ...
'', were released in 1950. Sinatra would later feature a number of the ''Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra'' album's songs, including " Lover", "
It's Only a Paper Moon
"It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular song published in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose.
Background
It was originally titled "If You Believed in Me", but later went by the more popular title "It's On ...
", "
It All Depends on You "It All Depends on You" is a 1926 popular song with music by Ray Henderson, lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown. The song, written for the musical '' Big Boy'', was published in 1926. It was featured in the hit 1928 Warner Bros. film '' The S ...
", on his 1961 Capitol release, ''
Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!
''Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!'' is a 1961 album by Frank Sinatra.
Six of the tracks on the album are re-recordings of a batch of songs that Sinatra had previously recorded on the Columbia album, ''Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra''.
It was ...
''.
Cementing the low of his career was the death of publicist George Evans from a heart attack in January 1950 at 48. According to Jimmy Van Heusen, Sinatra's close friend and songwriter, Evans's death to him was "an enormous shock which defies words", as he had been crucial to his career and popularity with the bobbysoxers. Sinatra's reputation continued to decline as reports broke out in February of his affair with Ava Gardner and the destruction of his marriage to Nancy, though he insisted that his marriage had long been over even before he had met Gardner. In April, Sinatra was engaged to perform at the
Copa
Copa or COPA may refer to:
COPA
COPA may refer to:
* Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI
* Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet
* Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...
club in New York, but had to cancel five days of the booking due to suffering a submucosal hemorrhage of the throat. Evans once said that whenever Sinatra suffered from a bad throat and loss of voice it was always due to emotional tension which "absolutely destroyed him".
In financial difficulty following his divorce and career decline, Sinatra was forced to borrow $200,000 from Columbia to pay his back taxes after MCA refused to front the money. Rejected by Hollywood, he turned to
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
and made his debut at the Desert Inn in September 1951, and also began singing at the Riverside Hotel in
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
. Sinatra became one of Las Vegas's pioneer
residency
Residency may refer to:
* Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place
** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship
* Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...
entertainers, and a prominent figure on the Vegas scene throughout the 1950s and 1960s onwards, a period described by Rojek as the "high-water mark" of Sinatra's "hedonism and self absorption". Rojek notes that the
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
"provided an outlet for gregarious banter and wisecracks", but argues that it was Sinatra's vehicle, possessing an "unassailable command over the other performers". Sinatra would fly to Las Vegas from Los Angeles in Van Heusen's single-engine plane. On October 4, 1953, Sinatra made his first performance at the Sands Hotel and Casino, after an invitation by the manager
Jack Entratter
Jack Entratter (February 28, 1914 – March 11, 1971), nicknamed "Mr. Entertainment", was an American business executive. He is best known for management positions at the Copacabana (nightclub), Copacabana nightclub in New York City in the 1940s ...
, who had previously worked at the Copa in New York. Sinatra typically performed there three times a year, and later acquired a share in the hotel.
Sinatra's decline in popularity was evident at his concert appearances. At a brief run at the Paramount in New York he drew small audiences. At the Desert Inn in Las Vegas he performed to half-filled houses of wildcatters and ranchers. At a concert at
Chez Paree
The Chez Paree was a Chicago nightclub known for its glamorous atmosphere, elaborate dance numbers, and top entertainers. It operated from 1932 until 1960 in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago at 610 N. Fairbanks Court. The club was the ep ...
in Chicago, only 150 people in a 1,200-seat capacity venue turned up to see him. By April 1952 he was performing at the
Kauai County Fair Kauai County Fair or Kauai County Farm Fair is a fair held annually in Lihue, Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. ...
in Hawaii. Sinatra's relationship with Columbia Records was also disintegrating, with A&R executive
Mitch Miller
Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
claiming he "couldn't give away" the singer's records. Though several notable recordings were made during this time period, such as " If I Could Write a Book" in January 1952, which Granata sees as a "turning point", forecasting his later work with its sensitivity, Columbia and MCA dropped him later that year. His last studio recording for Columbia, "Why Try To Change Me Now", was recorded in New York on September 17, 1952, with orchestra arranged and conducted by
Percy Faith
Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian-American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listeni ...
. Journalist Burt Boyar observed, "Sinatra had had it. It was sad. From the top to the bottom in one horrible lesson."
Career revival and the Capitol years (1953–1962)
The release of the film ''
From Here to Eternity
''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...
'' in August 1953 marked the beginning of a remarkable career revival. Tom Santopietro notes that Sinatra began to bury himself in his work, with an "unparalleled frenetic schedule of recordings, movies and concerts", in what authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan describe as "a new and brilliant phase". On March 13, 1953, Sinatra met with Capitol Records vice president
Alan Livingston
Alan Wendell Livingston (born Alan Wendell Levison; October 15, 1917 – March 13, 2009) was an American businessman best known for his tenures at Capitol Records, first as a writer/producer best known for creating Bozo the Clown for a series ...
and signed a seven-year recording contract. His first session for Capitol took place at KHJ studios at Studio C, 5515 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, with Axel Stordahl conducting. The session produced four recordings, including "
I'm Walking Behind You
"I'm Walking Behind You" is a popular song which was written by Billy Reid and published in 1953. The recording by American singer Eddie Fisher was a No. 1 hit in both the US and UK Singles charts, but it had previously been recorded by Reid's f ...
", Sinatra's first Capitol single. After spending two weeks on location in Hawaii filming ''From Here to Eternity'', Sinatra returned to KHJ on April 30 for his first recording session with Nelson Riddle, an established arranger and conductor at Capitol who was Nat King Cole's musical director. After recording the first song, "
I've Got the World on a String
"I've Got The World on a String" is a 1932 popular jazz song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It was written for the twenty-first edition of the Cotton Club series which opened on October 23, 1932, the first of th ...
", Sinatra offered Riddle a rare expression of praise, "Beautiful!", and after listening to the playbacks, he could not hide his enthusiasm, exclaiming, "I'm back, baby, I'm back!"
In subsequent sessions in May and November 1953, Sinatra and Riddle developed and refined their musical collaboration, with Sinatra providing specific guidance on the arrangements. Sinatra's first album for Capitol, ''
Songs for Young Lovers
''Songs for Young Lovers'' is the seventh studio album by Frank Sinatra and his first on Capitol Records. It was issued as an 8-song, 10" album (Capitol H-488) and as a 45rpm EP set, but it was the first Sinatra "album" not to have a 78rpm mu ...
'', was released on January 4, 1954, and included "
A Foggy Day
"A Foggy Day" is a popular song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film '' A Damsel in Distress''. It was originally titled "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" in reference t ...
", "
I Get a Kick Out of You
"I Get a Kick Out of You" is a song by Cole Porter, which was first sung in the 1934 Broadway musical '' Anything Goes'', and then in the 1936 film version. Originally sung by Ethel Merman, it has been covered by dozens of prominent performers, ...
Violets for Your Furs
"Violets for Your Furs" is a 1941 song written by Matt Dennis with words by Tom Adair, and first recorded in that year by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra with vocals by Frank Sinatra.
The song describes the wearing of violets with furs on an evening in ...
" and "
They Can't Take That Away from Me
"They Can't Take That Away from Me" is a 1937 popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film ''Shall We Dance'' and gained huge success.
Overview
The song is performed b ...
", songs which became staples of his later concerts. That same month, Sinatra released the single " Young at Heart", which reached No. 2 and was awarded Song of the Year. In March, he recorded and released the single " Three Coins in the Fountain", a "powerful ballad" that reached No. 4. Sinatra's second album with Riddle, '' Swing Easy!'', which reflected his "love for the jazz idiom" according to Granata, was released on August 2 of that year and included " Just One of Those Things", "
Taking a Chance on Love
"Taking a Chance on Love" is a popular song from the 1940 Broadway musical '' Cabin in the Sky''. It was introduced by Ethel Waters playing the role of Petunia Jackson both on Broadway and later in the 1943 MGM musical Cabin in the Sky (film). ...
", " Get Happy", and " All of Me". ''Swing Easy!'' was named Album of the Year by ''Billboard'', and he was also named "Favorite Male Vocalist" by ''Billboard'', ''DownBeat'', and ''
Metronome
A metronome, from ancient Greek μέτρον (''métron'', "measure") and νομός (nomós, "custom", "melody") is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a regular interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats pe ...
'' that year. Sinatra came to consider Riddle "the greatest arranger in the world", and Riddle, who considered Sinatra "a perfectionist", offered equal praise of the singer, observing, "It's not only that his intuitions as to tempo, phrasing, and even configuration are amazingly right, but his taste is so impeccable... there is still no one who can approach him."
In 1955 Sinatra released '' In the Wee Small Hours'', his first 12" LP, featuring songs such as "
In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
"In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" is a 1955 popular song composed by David Mann, with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was introduced as the title track of Frank Sinatra's 1955 album '' In the Wee Small Hours''.
Background
Mann and Hilliard wr ...
Glad to Be Unhappy
"Glad to Be Unhappy" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was introduced in their 1936 musical '' On Your Toes'', sung by Doris Carson and David Morris, although it was not popular at the time, as there wa ...
" and "
When Your Lover Has Gone
When may refer to:
* When?, one of the Five Ws, questions used in journalism
* WHEN (AM), an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station in Syracuse, New York
* WHEN-TV, the former call letters of TV station WTVH in Syracuse, New York
Music
* When (b ...
". According to Granata it was the first
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...
of his to make a "single persuasive statement", with an extended program and "melancholy mood". Sinatra embarked on his first tour of Australia the same year. Another collaboration with Riddle resulted in the development of '' Songs for Swingin' Lovers!'', sometimes seen as one of his best albums, which was released in March 1956. It features a recording of "
I've Got You Under My Skin
"I've Got You Under My Skin" is a song written by American composer Cole Porter in 1936. It was introduced that year in the Eleanor Powell musical film ''Born to Dance'' in which it was performed by Virginia Bruce. It was nominated for the Aca ...
" by Cole Porter, something which Sinatra paid meticulous care to, taking a reported 22 takes to perfect.
His February 1956 recording sessions inaugurated the studios at the
Capitol Records Building
The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of the city's landmarks. Construction began soon aft ...
, complete with a 56-piece symphonic orchestra. According to Granata his recordings of "Night and Day", "Oh! Look at Me Now" and " From This Moment On" revealed "powerful sexual overtones, stunningly achieved through the mounting tension and release of Sinatra's best-teasing vocal lines", while his recording of "River, Stay 'Way from My Door" in April demonstrated his "brilliance as a syncopational improviser". Riddle said that Sinatra took "particular delight" in singing "The Lady is a Tramp", commenting that he "always sang that song with a certain amount of salaciousness", making "cue tricks" with the lyrics. His penchant for conducting was displayed again in 1956's ''
Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color
''Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color'' is a 1956 album of short tone poems by eight notable mid-20th century Hollywood composers.
The album was conducted by Sinatra and marked the first musical collaboration between Sinatra and Gordon J ...
'', an instrumental album that has been interpreted to be a catharsis to his failed relationship with Gardner. Also that year, Sinatra sang at the Democratic National Convention, and performed with
The Dorsey Brothers
The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio dance band, led by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records.
History
The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels (Banner, Cameo, Domino, Jewel, Oriole, ...
for a week soon afterwards at the Paramount Theatre.
In 1957, Sinatra released '' Close to You'', ''
A Swingin' Affair!
''A Swingin' Affair!'' is the twelfth studio album by Frank Sinatra. It is sometimes mentioned as the sequel to ''Songs for Swingin' Lovers''.
" The Lady Is a Tramp" was bumped from the original album and replaced with "No One Ever Tells You ...
'' and '' Where Are You?''—his first album in stereo, with
Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Lo ...
. Granata considers "Close to You" to have been thematically his closest concept album to perfection during the "golden" era, and Nelson Riddle's finest work, which was "extremely progressive" by the standards of the day. It is structured like a three-act play, each commencing with the songs "
With Every Breath I Take
''Close to You'' is the eleventh studio album by American musician Frank Sinatra, accompanied by the Hollywood String Quartet.
The album was recorded over a period of eight months and five different sessions, and was arranged by Nelson Riddle.
...
", "
Blame It on My Youth
"Blame It on My Youth" is a jazz standard written by Oscar Levant (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics) in 1934.
Recorded versions
*1934: The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (vocal by Bob Crosby) - recorded for Decca Records (catalog 320) on November ...
" and " It Could Happen to You". For Granata, Sinatra's ''A Swingin' Affair!'' and swing music predecessor ''Songs for Swingin' Lovers!'' solidified "Sinatra's image as a 'swinger', from both a musical and visual standpoint".
Buddy Collette
William Marcel "Buddy" Collette (August 6, 1921 – September 19, 2010) was an American jazz flutist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet.
Early life
William Marcel Collette was born in L ...
considered the swing albums to have been heavily influenced by
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
, and stated that when he worked with Sinatra in the mid-1960s he approached a song much differently than he had done in the early 1950s. On June 9, 1957, he performed in a 62-minute concert conducted by Riddle at the Seattle Civic Auditorium, his first appearance in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
since 1945.''Sinatra '57 in Concert'' (1999),
Artanis Entertainment Group
Artanis Entertainment Group is an American media group specialising in reissues of archival material. The company was founded by Frank Sinatra and Warner Bros. Records to make films and the name comes from Sinatra's surname spelled backwards. Th ...
. The recording was first released as a bootleg, but in 1999
Artanis Entertainment Group
Artanis Entertainment Group is an American media group specialising in reissues of archival material. The company was founded by Frank Sinatra and Warner Bros. Records to make films and the name comes from Sinatra's surname spelled backwards. Th ...
officially released it as the ''
Sinatra '57 in Concert
''Sinatra '57 in Concert'' is a 1999 live album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It is a complete recording of a concert performed at the Seattle Civic Auditorium on June 9, 1957. Arranger Nelson Riddle conducted the 26-piece orchestra ...
'' live album, after Sinatra's death. In 1958 Sinatra released the concept album '' Come Fly with Me'' with Billy May, designed as a musical world tour. It reached the top spot on the Billboard album chart in its second week, remaining at the top for five weeks, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the inaugural Grammy Awards. The title song, " Come Fly With Me", written especially for him, would become one of his best known standards. On May 29 he recorded seven songs in a single session, more than double the usual yield of a recording session, and an eighth, " Lush Life", was abandoned as Sinatra found it too technically demanding. In September, Sinatra released ''
Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely
''Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely'' (1958, also known as ''Sings for Only the Lonely'' or simply ''Only the Lonely'') is an album by Frank Sinatra.
The album consists of a collection of torch songs, following a formula similar to Sinatra' ...
'', a stark collection of introspective saloon songs and blues-tinged ballads which proved a huge commercial success, spending 120 weeks on Billboards album chart and peaking at No.1. Cuts from this LP, such as " Angel Eyes" and "
One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
"One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" is a hit song written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the movie musical '' The Sky's the Limit'' (1943) and first performed in the film by Fred Astaire.
Background
Harold Arlen described the so ...
", would remain staples of the "saloon song" segments of Sinatra's concerts.
In 1959, Sinatra released '' Come Dance with Me!'', a highly successful, critically acclaimed album which stayed on Billboard's Pop album chart for 140 weeks, peaking at No. 2. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, as well as Best Vocal Performance, Male and Best Arrangement for Billy May. He also released '' No One Cares'' in the same year, a collection of "brooding, lonely" torch songs, which critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine thought was "nearly as good as its predecessor ''Where Are You?'', but lacked the "lush" arrangements of it and the "grandiose melancholy" of ''Only the Lonely''.
In the words of Kelley, by 1959, Sinatra was "not simply the leader of the Rat Pack" but had "assumed the position of ''il padrone'' in Hollywood". He was asked by 20th Century Fox to be the master of ceremonies at a luncheon attended by Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
on September 19, 1959. ''
Nice 'n' Easy
''Nice 'n' Easy'' is a 1960 album by Frank Sinatra.
All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The title song was a last-minute substitute for the originall ...
'', a collection of ballads, topped the ''Billboard'' chart in October 1960 and remained in the charts for 86 weeks, winning critical plaudits. Granata noted the "lifelike ambient sound" quality of ''Nice and Easy'', the perfection in the stereo balance, and the "bold, bright and snappy" sound of the band. He highlighted the "close, warm and sharp" feel of Sinatra's voice, particularly on the songs "
September in the Rain
"September in the Rain" is a popular song about nostalgia by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, published in 1937. The song was introduced by James Melton in the film '' Melody for Two''. It has become a standard, having been recorded by many artists ...
", "
I Concentrate on You
"I Concentrate on You" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1940 film '' Broadway Melody of 1940'', where it was introduced by Douglas McPhail.
Notable recordings
* Franck Amsallem - ''Amsallem Sings'' (2009)
* Fred Astaire - ''The Astaire St ...
Sinatra grew discontented at Capitol, and fell into a feud with
Alan Livingston
Alan Wendell Livingston (born Alan Wendell Levison; October 15, 1917 – March 13, 2009) was an American businessman best known for his tenures at Capitol Records, first as a writer/producer best known for creating Bozo the Clown for a series ...
, which lasted over six months. His first attempt at owning his own label was with his pursuit of buying declining jazz label,
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...
, which ended once an initial agreement with Verve founder,
Norman Granz
Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impres ...
, "failed to materialize." He decided to form his own label,
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
and, in an effort to assert his new direction, temporarily parted with Riddle, May and Jenkins, working with other arrangers such as
Neil Hefti
Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for '' The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the '' Batman'' TV series.
He began arranging professionally in ...
,
Don Costa
Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including ''Sinatra and Strings'' and '' My Way''.
...
, and
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
. Sinatra built the appeal of Reprise Records as one in which artists were promised creative control over their music, as well as a guarantee that they would eventually gain "complete ownership of their work, including publishing rights." Under Sinatra the company developed into a music industry "powerhouse", and he later sold it for an estimated $80million. His first album on the label, ''
Ring-a-Ding-Ding!
''Ring-a-Ding-Ding!'' is a 1961 album by Frank Sinatra. It was the inaugural record on Sinatra's Reprise label and, as the initial concept was "an album without ballads", it consisted only of uptempo swing numbers.
The title track was written ...
'' (1961), was a major success, peaking at No.4 on ''Billboard''. The album was released in February 1961, the same month that Reprise Records released
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
Career Early life and career
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
's ''The Wham of Sam'', Mavis River's ''Mavis'' and
Joe E. Lewis
Joe E. Lewis (born Joseph Klewan; January 12, 1902 – June 4, 1971) was an American comedian, actor and singer.Obituary ''Variety'', June 9, 1971, page 54.
Early life
Lewis was born was born into a family of Russian immigrants on Januar ...
's ''It is Now Post Time''. During the initial years of Reprise, Sinatra was still under contract to record for Capitol, completing his contractual commitment with the release of ''
Point of No Return
The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...
,'' recorded over a two-day period on September 11 and 12, 1961.
In 1962, Sinatra released '' Sinatra and Strings'', a set of standard ballads arranged by Don Costa, which became one of the most critically acclaimed works of Sinatra's entire Reprise period. Frank Jr., who was present during the recording, noted the "huge orchestra", which Nancy Sinatra stated "opened a whole new era" in pop music, with orchestras getting bigger, embracing a "lush string sound". Sinatra and
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
collaborated for the album '' Sinatra-Basie'' the same year, a popular and successful release which prompted them to rejoin two years later for the follow-up ''
It Might as Well Be Swing
''It Might as Well Be Swing'' is a 1964 studio album by Frank Sinatra, accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra. It was Sinatra's first studio recording arranged by Quincy Jones.
The recording of " Fly Me to the Moon" which appears on thi ...
'', arranged by Quincy Jones. The two became frequent performers together, and appeared at the
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...
in 1965. Also in 1962, as the owner of his own record label, Sinatra was able to step on the podium as conductor again, releasing his third instrumental album '' Frank Sinatra Conducts Music from Pictures and Plays''.
In 1963, Sinatra reunited with Nelson Riddle for ''
The Concert Sinatra
''The Concert Sinatra'' is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra that was released in 1963. It consists of showtunes performed in a 'semi-classical' concert style. Marking a reunion between Sinatra and his frequent collaborator, arranger ...
'', an ambitious album featuring a 73-piece symphony orchestra arranged and conducted by Riddle. The concert was recorded on a motion picture scoring soundstage with the use of multiple synchronized recording machines that employed an optical signal onto 35mm film designed for movie soundtracks. Granata considers the album to have been "impeachable" ic "one of the very best of the Sinatra-Riddle ballad albums", in which Sinatra displayed his vocal range, particularly in " Ol' Man River", in which he darkened the hue.
In 1964 the song " My Kind of Town" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Sinatra released '' Softly, as I Leave You'', and collaborated with Bing Crosby and
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...
on '' America, I Hear You Singing'', a collection of patriotic songs recorded as a tribute to the assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Sinatra increasingly became involved in charitable pursuits in this period. In 1961 and 1962 he went to Mexico, with the sole purpose of putting on performances for Mexican charities, and in July 1964 he was present for the dedication of the Frank Sinatra International Youth Center for Arab and Jewish children in Nazareth.
Sinatra's phenomenal success in 1965, coinciding with his 50th birthday, prompted ''Billboard'' to proclaim that he may have reached the "peak of his eminence". In June 1965, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin played live in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
to benefit Dismas House, a prisoner rehabilitation and training center with nationwide programs that in particular helped serve African Americans. The Rat Pack concert, called The Frank Sinatra Spectacular, was broadcast live via satellite to numerous movie theaters across America. The album ''
September of My Years
''September of My Years'' is a 1965 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released on Reprise Records in August 1965 on LP and October 1986 on CD. The orchestral arrangements are by Gordon Jenkins, their fifth album collaboration. ...
'' was released September 1965, and went on to win the Grammy Award for best album of the year. Granata considers the album to have been one of the finest of his Reprise years, "a reflective throwback to the concept records of the 1950s, and more than any of those collections, distills everything that Frank Sinatra had ever learned or experienced as a vocalist". One of the album's singles, "
It Was a Very Good Year
"It Was a Very Good Year" is a song composed by Ervin Drake in 1961 and originally recorded by Bob Shane with the Kingston Trio. It was made famous by Frank Sinatra's version in D minor, which won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance ...
", won the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male. A career anthology, ''
A Man and His Music
''A Man and His Music'' is a 1965 double album by Frank Sinatra. It provides a brief retrospective of Sinatra's musical career. The album won the 1967 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Instead of using the original recordings, which were made f ...
'', followed in November, winning Album of the Year at the Grammys the following year.
In 1966 Sinatra released '' That's Life'', with both the single of " That's Life" and album becoming Top Ten hits in the US on ''Billboard''s pop charts. ''
Strangers in the Night
"Strangers in the Night" is a song composed by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Kaempfert originally used it under the title "Beddy Bye" as part of the instrumental score for the movie ''A Man Could Get ...
'' went on to top the ''Billboard'' and UK pop singles charts, winning the award for Record of the Year at the Grammys. Sinatra's first live album, ''
Sinatra at the Sands
''Sinatra at the Sands'' is a live album by Frank Sinatra accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra, and conducted and arranged by Quincy Jones, recorded live in the Copa Room of the former Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1966.
It ...
'', was recorded during January and February 1966 at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Sinatra was backed by the Count Basie Orchestra, with Quincy Jones conducting. Sinatra pulled out from the Sands the following year, when he was driven out by its new owner
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
, after a fight.
Sinatra started 1967 with a series of recording sessions with
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian mu ...
. He recorded one of his collaborations with Jobim, the Grammy-nominated album ''
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim
''Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim'' is a 1967 album by Frank Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The tracks were arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman, accompanied by a studio orchestra. Along with Jobim's original compositions, t ...
'', which was one of the best-selling albums of the year, behind the Beatles's '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. According to Santopietro the album "consists of an extraordinarily effective blend of bossa nova and slightly swinging jazz vocals, and succeeds in creating an unbroken mood of romance and regret". Writer
Stan Cornyn
Carl Stanley Cornyn (July 8, 1933 – May 11, 2015) was an American record label executive and the author of ''Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes, and Hustlers of the Warner Music Group'' (). He also wrote three privately published family ge ...
wrote that Sinatra sang so softly on the album that it was comparable to the time that he suffered from a vocal hemorrhage in 1950.
Sinatra also released the album ''
The World We Knew
''The World We Knew'', also known as ''Frank Sinatra'', is a 1967 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra.
The album's title track reached No. 30 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Easy Listening chart in 1967. Its second ...
'', which features a chart-topping duet of "
Somethin' Stupid
"Somethin' Stupid", or "Something Stupid", is a song written by C. Carson Parks. It was originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as Carson and Gaile. A 1967 version by Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy Sinatra became ...
" with daughter Nancy. In December, Sinatra collaborated with
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...
Indian Summer
An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...
" on the album was a favorite of Riddle's, noting the "contemplative mood
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
is heightened by a
Johnny Hodges
Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano ...
alto sax solo that will bring a tear to your eye". With Sinatra in mind, singer-songwriter
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...
wrote the song "
My Way
"My Way" is a song popularized in 1969 by Frank Sinatra set to the music of the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed by Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François and first performed in 1967 by Claude François. Its E ...
", using the melody of the French "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual"), composed by
Claude François
Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (c ...
and
Jacques Revaux
Jacques Abel Jules Revaud (; born 11 July 1940), known as Jacques Revaux (), is a French songwriter, most famous for his 1968 writing collaboration with singer Claude François on the song "Comme d'habitude", whose text was reworked by Canadian si ...
. Sinatra recorded it in one take, just after Christmas 1968. "My Way", Sinatra's best-known song on the Reprise label, was not an instant success, charting at No. 27 in the US and No. 5 in the UK, but it remained in the UK charts for 122 weeks, including 75 non-consecutive weeks in the
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...
, between April 1969 and September 1971, which was still a record in 2015. Sinatra told songwriter
Ervin Drake
Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman; April 3, 1919 – January 15, 2015) was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as " I Believe" and "It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variety of styles and his w ...
in the 1970s that he "detested" singing the song, because he believed audiences would think it was a "self-aggrandizing tribute", professing that he "hated boastfulness in others". According to NPR, My Way has become one the most requested songs at funerals.
In an effort to maintain his commercial viability in the late 1960s, Sinatra would record works by Paul Simon ("
Mrs. Robinson
"Mrs. Robinson" is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fourth studio album, '' Bookends'' (1968). Written specifically for the 1967 film ''The Graduate'', the song was released as a single on April 5, 1968, by Columbia Re ...
"),
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
Both Sides, Now
"Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''Clouds'', and became one of ...
") in 1969.
"Retirement" and return (1970–1981)
In 1970, Sinatra released ''
Watertown Watertown may refer to:
Places in China
In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways.
Places in the United States
*Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town
**Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...
'', a critically acclaimed concept album, with music by Bob Gaudio (of the Four Seasons) and lyrics by
Jake Holmes
Jake Holmes (born December 28, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and jingle writer who began a recording career in the 1960s.
Holmes is the author of the song " Dazed and Confused", later reworked by Led Zeppelin. Holmes also composed the ...
. However, it sold a mere 30,000 copies that year and reached a peak chart position of 101. He left Caesars Palace in September that year after an incident in which executive Sanford Waterman pulled a gun on him. He performed several charity concerts with Count Basie at the Royal Festival Hall in London. On November 2, 1970, Sinatra recorded the last songs for Reprise Records before his self-imposed retirement, announced the following June at a concert in Hollywood to raise money for the Motion Picture and TV Relief Fund. He gave a "rousing" performance of "That's Life", and finished the concert with a Matt Dennis and Earl Brent song, "Angel Eyes" which he had recorded on the Only The Lonely album in 1958. He sang the last line."'Scuse me while I disappear." The spotlight went dark and he left the stage. He told ''LIFE'' journalist Thomas Thompson that "I've got things to do, like the first thing is not to do at all for eight months... maybe a year", while Barbara Sinatra later said that Sinatra had grown "tired of entertaining people, especially when all they really wanted were the same old tunes he had long ago become bored by". While he was in retirement, President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
asked him to perform at a Young Voters Rally in anticipation of the upcoming campaign. Sinatra obliged and chose to sing "My Kind of Town" for the rally held in Chicago on October 20, 1972.
In 1973, Sinatra came out of his short-lived retirement with a television special and album. The album, entitled ''
Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back
''Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back'' is a 1973 album by the American singer Frank Sinatra.
Sinatra returned from his brief retirement with the appropriately titled ''Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back''. Released amidst a whirlwind of publicity, the album was a com ...
'', arranged by Gordon Jenkins and
Don Costa
Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including ''Sinatra and Strings'' and '' My Way''.
...
, was a success, reaching number 13 on ''Billboard'' and number 12 in the UK. The television special, ''
Magnavox Presents Frank Sinatra
''Magnavox Presents Frank Sinatra'' (or ''Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back'') was an NBC musical television special starring Frank Sinatra broadcast on November 18, 1973. The special was written by Fred Ebb, directed by Marty Pasetta, and produced by Howa ...
'', reunited Sinatra with Gene Kelly. He initially developed problems with his vocal cords during the comeback due to a prolonged period without singing. That Christmas he performed at the
Sahara Hotel
Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...
in Las Vegas, and returned to Caesars Palace the following month in January 1974, despite previously vowing to perform there again ic He began what Barbara Sinatra describes as a "massive comeback tour of the United States, Europe, the Far East and Australia". In July, while on a second tour of Australia, he caused an uproar by describing journalists there– who were aggressively pursuing his every move and pushing for a press conference– as "bums, parasites, fags, and buck-and-a-half hookers". After he was pressured to apologize, Sinatra instead insisted that the journalists apologize for "fifteen years of abuse I have taken from the world press". Union actions cancelled concerts and grounded Sinatra's plane, essentially trapping him in Australia. In the end, Sinatra's lawyer, Mickey Rudin, arranged for Sinatra to issue a written conciliatory note and a final concert that was televised to the nation. In October 1974 he appeared at New York City's Madison Square Garden in a televised concert that was later released as an album under the title '' The Main Event – Live''. Backing him was bandleader
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...
and the Young Thundering Herd, who accompanied Sinatra on a European tour later that month.
In 1975, Sinatra performed in concerts in New York with Count Basie and
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
, and at the
London Palladium
The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 a ...
with Basie and Sarah Vaughan, and in Tehran at Aryamehr Stadium, giving 140 performances in 105 days. In August he held several consecutive concerts at Lake Tahoe together with the newly-risen singer John Denver, who became a frequent collaborator. Sinatra had recorded Denver's "
Leaving on a Jet Plane
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter John Denver in 1966, originally included on his debut demo recording ''John Denver Sings'' as "Babe I Hate To Go". He made several copies and gave them out as presents f ...
" and "My Sweet Lady" for ''Sinatra & Company'' (1971), and according to Denver, his song "A Baby Just Like You" was written at Sinatra's request for his new grandchild, Angela. During the Labor Day weekend held in 1976, Sinatra was responsible for reuniting old friends and comedy partners Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis for the first time in nearly twenty years, when they performed at the "Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon". That year, the New York Friars Club, Friars Club selected him as the "Top Box Office Name of the Century", and he was given the Scopus Award by the American Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Nevada.
Sinatra continued to perform at Caesars Palace in the late 1970s, and was performing there in January 1977 when his mother Dolly died in a plane crash on the way to see him. He cancelled two weeks of shows and spent time recovering from the shock in Barbados. In March, he performed in front of Princess Margaret at the Royal Albert Hall in London, raising money for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. On March 14, he recorded with Nelson Riddle for the last time, recording the songs "Linda", "Sweet Loraine", and "Barbara". The two men had a major falling out, and later patched up their differences in January 1985 at a dinner organized for Ronald Reagan, when Sinatra asked Riddle to make another album with him. Riddle was ill at the time, and died that October, before they had a chance to record.
In 1978, Sinatra filed a $1million lawsuit against a land developer for using his name in the "Frank Sinatra Drive Center" in West Los Angeles. During a party at Caesars in 1979, he was awarded the Grammy Trustees Award, while celebrating 40 years in show business and his 64th birthday. That year, former President Gerald Ford awarded Sinatra the American Biographical Institute, International Man of the Year Award, and he performed in front of the Egyptian pyramids for Anwar Sadat, which raised more than $500,000 for Jehan Sadat, Sadat's wife's charities.
In 1980, Sinatra's first album in six years was released, ''Trilogy: Past Present Future'', a highly ambitious triple album that features an array of songs from both the pre-rock era and rock era. It was the first studio album of Sinatra's to feature his touring pianist at the time, Vinnie Falcone, and was based on an idea by Sonny Burke. The album garnered six Grammy nominations– winning for best liner notes– and peaked at number 17 on Billboard's album chart, and spawned yet another song that would become a signature tune, "Theme from New York, New York". That year, as part of the Concert of the Americas, he performed in the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which broke records for the "largest live paid audience ever recorded for a solo performer". The following year, Sinatra built on the success of ''Trilogy'' with ''She Shot Me Down'', an album that was praised for embodying the dark tone of his Capitol years."[ ''She Shot Me Down'']. AllMusic. Retrieved November 28, 2006. Also in 1981, Sinatra was embroiled in controversy when he worked a ten-day engagement for $2million in Sun City, North West, Sun City, in the internationally unrecognized Bophuthatswana, breaking a cultural boycott against apartheid-era South Africa. President Lucas Mangope awarded Sinatra with the highest honor, the Order of the Leopard, and made him an honorary tribal chief.
Later career and final projects (1982–1998)
Santopietro stated that by the early 1980s, Sinatra's voice had "coarsened, losing much of its power and flexibility, but audiences didn't care". In 1982, he signed a $16million three-year deal with the Golden Nugget Las Vegas, Golden Nugget of Las Vegas. Kelley notes that by this period Sinatra's voice had grown "darker, tougher and loamier", but he "continued to captivate audiences with his immutable magic". She added that his baritone voice "sometimes cracked, but the gliding intonations still aroused the same raptures of delight as they had at the Paramount Theater". That year he made a reported further $1.3million from the Showtime television rights to his "Concert of the Americas" in the Dominican Republic, $1.6million for a concert series at Carnegie Hall, and $250,000 in just one evening at the Chicago Fest. He donated a lot of his earnings to charity. He put on a performance at the White House for the Italian prime minister, and performed at the Radio City Music Hall with Luciano Pavarotti and George Shearing.
Sinatra was honored at 1983
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five hono ...
, alongside Katherine Dunham, James Stewart, Elia Kazan, and Virgil Thomson. Quoting Henry James, President Reagan said in honoring his old friend that "art was the shadow of humanity" and that Sinatra had "spent his life casting a magnificent and powerful shadow". On September 21, 1983, Sinatra filed a $2million court case against
Kitty Kelley
Katherine Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American journalist and author of best-selling unauthorized biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and O ...
, suing her for punitive damages, before her unofficial biography, ''His Way'', was even published. The book became a best-seller for "all the wrong reasons" and "the most eye-opening celebrity biographer, celebrity biography of our time", according to William Safire of ''The New York Times''. Sinatra was always adamant that such a book would be written on his terms, and he himself would "set the record straight" in details of his life. According to Kelley, the family detested her and the book, which took its toll on Sinatra's health. Kelley says that Tina Sinatra blamed her for her father's colon surgery in 1986. He was forced to drop the case on September 19, 1984, with several leading newspapers expressing concerns about his views on censorship.
In 1984, Sinatra worked with Quincy Jones for the first time in nearly two decades on the album, ''L.A. Is My Lady'', which was well received critically. The album was a substitute for another Jones project, an album of duets with Lena Horne, which had to be abandoned. In 1986, Sinatra collapsed on stage while performing in Atlantic City and was hospitalized for diverticulitis, which left him looking frail. Two years later, Sinatra reunited with Martin and Davis and went on the Rat Pack Reunion Tour, during which they played many large arenas. When Martin dropped out of the tour early on, a rift developed between them and the two never spoke again.
On June 6, 1988, Sinatra made his last recordings with Reprise for an album which was not released. He recorded "My Foolish Heart (song), My Foolish Heart", "Cry Me a River (1953 song), Cry Me a River", and other songs. Sinatra never completed the project, but take number 18 of "My Foolish Heart" may be heard in ''The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings'' (1995).
In 1990, Sinatra was awarded the second "Ella Award" by the Los Angeles-based Society of Singers, and performed for a final time with Ella Fitzgerald at the award ceremony. Sinatra maintained an active touring schedule in the early 1990s, performing 65 concerts in 1990, 73 in 1991 and 84 in 1992 in seventeen different countries.
In 1993, Sinatra returned to Capitol Records and the recording studio for ''Duets (Frank Sinatra album), Duets'', which became his best-selling album. The album and its sequel, ''Duets II (Frank Sinatra album), Duets II'', released the following year, would see Sinatra remake his classic recordings with popular contemporary performers, who added their vocals to a pre-recorded tape.
During his tours in the early 1990s, his memory failed him at times during concerts, and he fainted onstage in Richmond, Virginia, in March 1994. His final public concerts were held in Fukuoka Dome in Japan on December 19–20, 1994. The following year, Sinatra sang for the last time on February 25, 1995, before a live audience of 1200 select guests at the Palm Desert Marriott Ballroom, on the closing night of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament. ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'' reported of the show that Sinatra was "clear, tough, on the money" and "in absolute control". Sinatra was awarded the Grammy Legend Award, Legend Award at the 1994 Grammy Awards, where he was introduced by Bono, who said of him, "Frank's the chairman of the bad attitude... Rock 'n roll plays at being tough, but this guy is the boss– the chairman of boss... I'm not going to mess with him, are you?"
In 1995, to mark Sinatra's 80th birthday, the Empire State Building glowed blue. A star-studded birthday tribute, ''Sinatra: 80 Years My Way'', was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, featuring performers such as Ray Charles, Little Richard, Natalie Cole and Salt-N-Pepa singing his songs. At the end of the program Sinatra performed on stage for the last time to sing the final notes of the "Theme from New York, New York" with an ensemble. In recognition of his many years of association with Las Vegas, Sinatra was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.
Artistry
While Sinatra never learned how to read music well, he had a fine, natural understanding of it, and he worked very hard from a young age to improve his abilities in all aspects of music. He could follow a lead sheet (simplified sheet music showing a song's basic structure) during a performance by "carefully following the patterns and groupings of notes arranged on the page" and made his own notations to the music, using his ear to detect semitonal differences. Granata states that some of the most accomplished classically trained musicians soon noticed his musical understanding, and remarked that Sinatra had a "sixth sense", which "demonstrated unusual proficiency when it came to detecting incorrect notes and sounds within the orchestra". Sinatra was an aficionado of classical music, and would often request classical strains in his music, inspired by composers such as Puccini and Impressionism in music, Impressionist masters. His personal favorite was Ralph Vaughan Williams. He would insist on always recording live with the band because it gave him a "certain feeling" to perform live surrounded by musicians.
By the mid 1940s, such was his understanding of music that after hearing an air check of some compositions by Alec Wilder which were for strings and woodwinds, he became the conductor at Columbia Records for six of Wilder's compositions: "Air for Oboe", "Air for English Horn", "Air for Flute", "Air for Bassoon", "Slow Dance" and "Theme and Variations". The works, which combine elements of jazz and classical music, were considered by Wilder to have been among the finest renditions and recordings of his compositions, past or present. At one recording session with arranger Claus Ogerman and an orchestra, Sinatra heard "a couple of little strangers" in the string section, prompting Ogerman to make corrections to what were thought to be copyist's errors. Critic Gene Lees, a lyricist and the author of the words to the Jobim melody "This Happy Madness", expressed amazement when he heard Sinatra's recording of it on ''Sinatra & Company'' (1971), considering him to have delivered the lyrics to perfection.
Voice coach John Quinlan was impressed by Sinatra's vocal range, remarking, "He has far more voice than people think he has. He can vocalize to a B-flat on top in full voice, and he doesn't need a mic either". As a singer, early on he was primarily influenced by Bing Crosby, but later believed that Tony Bennett was "the best singer in the business". Bennett also praised Sinatra himself, claiming that as a performer, he had "perfected the art of intimacy." According to Nelson Riddle, Sinatra had a "fairly rangy voice", remarking that "His voice has a very strident, insistent sound in the top register, a smooth lyrical sound in the middle register, and a very tender sound in the low. His voice is built on infinite taste, with an overall inflection of sex. He points everything he does from a sexual standpoint". Despite his heavy New Jersey accent, according to Richard Schuller, when Sinatra sang his accent was barely detectable, with his diction becoming "precise" and articulation "meticulous". His timing was impeccable, allowing him, according to Charles L. Granata, to "toy with the rhythm of a melody, bringing tremendous excitement to his reading of a lyric". Tommy Dorsey observed that Sinatra would "take a musical phrase and play it all the way through seemingly without breathing for eight, ten, maybe sixteen bars". Dorsey was a considerable influence on Sinatra's techniques for his vocal phrasing with his own exceptional breath control on the trombone, and Sinatra regularly swam and held his breath underwater, thinking of song lyrics to increase his breathing power.
Arrangers such as Nelson Riddle and Anthony Fanzo found Sinatra to be a perfectionist who constantly drove himself and others around him, stating that his collaborators approached him with a sense of uneasiness because of his unpredictable and often volatile temperament. Granata comments that Sinatra was almost fanatically obsessed with perfection to the point that people began wondering if he was genuinely concerned about the music or showing off his power over others. On days when he felt that his voice was not right, he would know after only a few notes and would postpone the recording session until the following day, yet still pay his musicians. After a period of performing, Sinatra tired of singing a certain set of songs and was always looking for talented new songwriters and composers to work with. Once he found ones that he liked, he actively sought to work with them as often as he could, and made friends with many of them. He once told Sammy Cahn, who wrote songs for ''Anchors Aweigh'', "if you're not there Monday, I'm not there Monday". Over the years he recorded 87 of Cahn's songs, of which 24 were composed by Jule Styne, and 43 by Jimmy Van Heusen. The Cahn-Styne partnership lasted from 1942 until 1954, when Van Heusen succeeded him as Sinatra's main composer.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sinatra insisted upon direct input regarding arrangements and tempos for his recordings. He would spend weeks thinking about the songs he wanted to record, and would keep an arranger in mind for each song. If it was a mellow love song, he would ask for Gordon Jenkins. If it was a "rhythm" number, he would think of Billy May, or perhaps Neil Hefti or some other favored arranger. Jenkins considered Sinatra's musical sense to be unerring. His changes to Riddle's charts would frustrate Riddle, yet he would usually concede that Sinatra's ideas were superior. Barbara Sinatra notes that Sinatra would almost always credit the songwriter at the end of each number, and would often make comments to the audience, such as "Isn't that a pretty ballad" or "Don't you think that's the most marvelous love song", delivered with "childlike delight". She states that after each show, Sinatra would be "in a buoyant, electrically charged mood, a post-show high that would take him hours to come down from as he quietly relived every note of the performance he'd just given".
Sinatra's split with Gardner in the fall of 1953 had a profound impact on the types of songs he sang and on his voice. He began to console himself in songs with a "brooding melancholy", such as "I'm a Fool to Want You", "Don't Worry 'Bout Me", "My One and Only Love" and "There Will Never Be Another You", which Riddle believed was the direct influence of Ava Gardner. Lahr comments that the new Sinatra was "not the gentle boy balladeer of the forties. Fragility had gone from his voice, to be replaced by a virile adult's sense of happiness and hurt". Author Granata considered Sinatra a "master of the art of recording", noting that his work in the studio "set him apart from other gifted vocalists". During his career he made over 1000 recordings. Recording sessions would typically last three hours, though Sinatra would always prepare for them by spending at least an hour by the piano beforehand to vocalize, followed by a short rehearsal with the orchestra to ensure the balance of sound. During his Columbia years Sinatra used an RCA 44 microphone, which Granata describes as "the 'old-fashioned' microphone which is closely associated with Sinatra's crooner image of the 1940s", though when performing on talk shows later he used a bullet-shaped RCA Type 77-DX microphone, RCA 77. At Capitol he used a Neumann U47, an "ultra-sensitive" microphone which better captured the timbre and tone of his voice.
In the 1950s, Sinatra's career was facilitated by developments in technology. Up to sixteen songs could now be held by the twelve-inch L.P., and this allowed Sinatra to use song in a novelistic way, turning each track in a kind of chapter, which built and counterpointed moods to illuminate a larger theme". Santopietro writes that through the 1950s and well into the 1960s, "Every Sinatra LP was a masterpiece of one sort of another, whether uptempo, torch song, or swingin' affairs. Track after track, the brilliant concept albums redefined the nature of pop vocal art".
Film career
Debut, musical films, and career slump (1941–1952)
Sinatra attempted to pursue an acting career in Hollywood in the early 1940s. While films appealed to him, being exceptionally self-confident, he was rarely enthusiastic about his own acting, once remarking that "pictures stink". Sinatra made his film debut performing in an uncredited sequence in ''Las Vegas Nights'' (1941), singing "I'll Never Smile Again" with Tommy Dorsey's Pied Pipers. He had a cameo role along with Duke Ellington and Count Basie in Charles Barton (director), Charles Barton's ''Reveille with Beverly'' (1943), making a brief appearance singing " Night and Day". Next, he was given leading roles in ''Higher and Higher (film), Higher and Higher'' and ''Step Lively (1944 film), Step Lively'' (both 1944) for RKO Pictures, RKO.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cast Sinatra opposite Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson in the Technicolor musical ''Anchors Aweigh (film), Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), in which he played a sailor on leave in Hollywood for four days. A major success, it garnered several Academy Award wins and nominations, and the song "I Fall in Love Too Easily", sung by Sinatra in the film, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He briefly appeared at the end of Richard Whorf's commercially successful ''Till the Clouds Roll By'' (1946), a Technicolor musical biopic of
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...
, in which he sang " Ol' Man River".
Sinatra co-starred again with Gene Kelly in the Technicolor musical ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game (film), Take Me Out to the Ball Game'' (1949), in which Sinatra and Kelly play baseball players who are part-time vaudevillians. He teamed up with Kelly for a third time in '' On the Town'' (also 1949), playing a sailor on leave in New York City. The film remains rated very highly by critics, and in 2006 it ranked No. 19 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years of Musicals, list of best musicals. Both ''Double Dynamite'' (1951), an RKO Irving Cummings comedy produced by
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
, and Joseph Pevney's ''Meet Danny Wilson (film), Meet Danny Wilson'' (1952) failed to make an impression. The ''New York World-Telegram, New York World Telegram and Sun'' ran the headline "Gone on Frankie in '42; Gone in '52".
Career comeback and prime (1953–1959)
Fred Zinnemann's ''
From Here to Eternity
''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...
'' (1953) deals with the tribulations of three soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Sinatra, stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sinatra had long been desperate to find a film role which would bring him back into the spotlight, and Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn had been inundated by appeals from people across Hollywood to give Sinatra a chance to star as "Maggio" in the film. During production, Montgomery Clift became a close friend, and Sinatra later professed that he "learned more about acting from him than anybody I ever knew before". After several years of critical and commercial decline, his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor win helped him regain his position as the top recording artist in the world. His performance also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. The ''Los Angeles Examiner'' wrote that Sinatra is "simply superb, comical, pitiful, childishly brave, pathetically defiant", commenting that his death scene is "one of the best ever photographed".
Sinatra starred opposite Doris Day in the musical film ''Young at Heart (1954 film), Young at Heart'' (1954), and earned critical praise for his performance as a psychopathic killer posing as an FBI agent opposite Sterling Hayden in the film noir ''Suddenly (1954 film), Suddenly'' (also 1954).
Sinatra was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role as a heroin addict in '' The Man with the Golden Arm'' (1955). After roles in ''
Guys and Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...
'', and ''The Tender Trap (film), The Tender Trap'' (both 1955), Sinatra was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role as a medical student in Stanley Kramer's directorial début, ''Not as a Stranger'' (also 1955). During production, Sinatra got drunk with Robert Mitchum and Broderick Crawford and trashed Kramer's dressing room. Kramer vowed at the time to never hire Sinatra again, and later regretted casting him as a Spanish guerrilla leader in ''The Pride and the Passion'' (1957).
Sinatra featured alongside
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
and Grace Kelly in '' High Society'' (1956) for MGM, earning a reported $250,000 for the picture. The public rushed to the cinemas to see Sinatra and Crosby together on-screen, and it ended up earning over $13million at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing pictures of its year. He starred opposite Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak in George Sidney's '' Pal Joey'' (1957), Sinatra, for which he won for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Santopietro considers the scene in which Sinatra sings "The Lady Is a Tramp" to Hayworth to have been the finest moment of his film career. He next portrayed comedian
Joe E. Lewis
Joe E. Lewis (born Joseph Klewan; January 12, 1902 – June 4, 1971) was an American comedian, actor and singer.Obituary ''Variety'', June 9, 1971, page 54.
Early life
Lewis was born was born into a family of Russian immigrants on Januar ...
in ''The Joker Is Wild'' (also 1957); the song "All the Way (Frank Sinatra song), All the Way" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. By 1958, Sinatra was one of the ten biggest box office draws in the United States, appearing with Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine in Vincente Minnelli's ''Some Came Running (film), Some Came Running'' and ''Kings Go Forth'' (both 1958) with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. "High Hopes (1959 song), High Hopes", sung by Sinatra in the Frank Capra comedy, ''A Hole in the Head'' (1959), won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and became a chart hit, lasting on the Hot 100 for 17 weeks.
Later career (1960–1980)
Due to an obligation he owed to 20th Century Fox for walking off the set of Henry King (director), Henry King's ''Carousel (film), Carousel'' (1956), Sinatra starred opposite Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan in ''Can-Can (film), Can-Can'' (1960). He earned $200,000 and 25% of the profits for the performance. Around the same time, he starred in the Las Vegas-set ''Ocean's 11'' (also 1960), the first film to feature the Rat Pack together and the start of a "new era of screen cool" for Santopietro. Sinatra personally financed the film, and paid Martin and Davis fees of $150,000 and $125,000 respectively, sums considered exorbitant for the period. He had a leading role opposite Laurence Harvey in '' The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962), which he considered to be the role he was most excited about and the high point of his film career. Vincent Canby, writing for the magazine ''Variety'', found the portrayal of Sinatra's character to be "a wide-awake pro creating a straight, quietly humorous character of some sensitivity." He appeared with the Rat Pack in the western ''Sergeants 3'' (also 1962), following it with ''4 for Texas'' (1963). For his performance in ''Come Blow Your Horn (film), Come Blow Your Horn'' (also 1963) adapted from the Neil Simon play, he was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
for Best Actor– Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Sinatra directed ''None but the Brave'' (1965), and ''Von Ryan's Express'' (1965) was a major success, However, in the mid 1960s, Brad Dexter wanted to "breathe new life" into Sinatra's film career by helping him display the same professional pride in his films as he did his recordings. On one occasion, he gave Sinatra Anthony Burgess's novel ''A Clockwork Orange (novel), A Clockwork Orange'' (1962) to read, with the idea of making a film, but Sinatra thought it had no potential and did not understand a word.
In the late 1960s, Sinatra became known for playing detectives, including Tony Rome in ''
Tony Rome
''Tony Rome'' is a 1967 American neo-noir mystery crime thriller film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Sinatra in the title role, alongside Jill St. John, Sue Lyon and Gena Rowlands. It was adapted from Marvin H. Albert's novel ' ...
'' (1967) and its sequel ''Lady in Cement'' (1968). He also played a similar role in ''The Detective (1968 film), The Detective'' (1968).
Sinatra starred opposite George Kennedy in the western ''Dirty Dingus Magee'' (1970), an "abysmal" affair according to Santopietro, which was panned by the critics. The following year, Sinatra received a Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and had intended to play Detective Harry Callahan (character), Harry Callahan in ''Dirty Harry'' (1971), but had to turn the role down due to developing Dupuytren's contracture in his hand. Sinatra's last major film role was opposite Faye Dunaway in Brian G. Hutton's ''The First Deadly Sin'' (1980). Santopietro said that as a troubled New York City homicide cop, Sinatra gave an "extraordinarily rich", heavily layered characterization, one which "made for one terrific farewell" to his film career.
Television and radio career
After beginning on the ''
Major Bowes Amateur Hour
The ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' was an American radio talent show broadcast in the 1930s and 1940s, created and hosted by Edward Bowes (1874–1946). Selected performers from the program participated in touring vaudeville performances, under ...
'' radio show with the Hoboken Four in 1935, and later WNEW and WAAT in Jersey City, Sinatra became the star of radio shows of his own on NBC and CBS from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s. In 1942, Sinatra hired arranger Axel Stordahl away from Tommy Dorsey before he began his first radio program that year, keeping Stordahl with him for all of his radio work. By the end of 1942, he was named the "Most Popular Male Vocalist on Radio" in a ''DownBeat'' poll. Early on he frequently worked with The Andrews Sisters on radio, and they would appear as guests on each other's shows, as well as on many USO shows broadcast to troops via the
Armed Forces Radio Service
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which ...
(AFRS). He appeared as a special guest in the sisters' ABC ''Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch'' series, while the trio in turn guested on his ''
Songs by Sinatra
''Songs by Sinatra, Volume 1'' is the second studio album by Frank Sinatra. The tracks were arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl and his orchestra. It is a collection of eight recordings from six different sessions. It was originally released ...
'' series on CBS. Sinatra had two stints as a regular member of cast of ''
Your Hit Parade
''Your Hit Parade'' was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year ru ...
''; his first was from 1943 to 1945, and second was from 1946 to May 28, 1949, during which he was paired with the then-new girl singer, Doris Day. Starting in September 1949, the BBDO, BBD&O advertising agency produced a radio series starring Sinatra for Lucky Strike called ''Light Up Time''– some 176 15-minute shows which featured Frank and Dorothy Kirsten singing– which lasted through to May 1950.
In October 1951, the second season of ''The Frank Sinatra Show (CBS TV series), The Frank Sinatra Show'' began on CBS Television. Ultimately, Sinatra did not find the success on television for which he had hoped. Santopietro writes that Sinatra "simply never appeared fully at ease on his own television series, his edgy, impatient personality conveying a pent up energy on the verge of exploding". In 1953, Sinatra starred in the NBC radio program ''Rocky Fortune'', portraying Rocco Fortunato (a.k.a. Rocky Fortune), a "footloose and fancy free" temporary worker for the Gridley Employment Agency who stumbles into crime-solving. The series aired on NBC radio Tuesday nights from October 1953 to March 1954.
In 1957, Sinatra formed a three-year $3million contract with ABC to launch ''The Frank Sinatra Show (ABC), The Frank Sinatra Show'', featuring himself and guests in 36 half-hour shows. ABC agreed to allow Sinatra's Hobart Productions to keep 60% of the residuals, and bought stock in Sinatra's film production unit, Kent Productions, guaranteeing him $7million. Though an initial critical success upon its debut on October 18, 1957, it soon attracted negative reviews from ''Variety'' and ''The New Republic'', and ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' thought that Sinatra and frequent guest Dean Martin "performed like a pair of adult delinquents", "sharing the same cigarette and leering at girls". In return, Sinatra later made numerous appearances on ''The Dean Martin Show'' and Martin's TV specials.
Sinatra's fourth and final Timex Group USA, Timex TV special, ''The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, Welcome Home Elvis'', was broadcast in March 1960, earning massive viewing figures. During the show, he performed a duet with Presley, who sang Sinatra's 1957 hit "Witchcraft (1957 song), Witchcraft" with the host performing the 1956 Presley classic "Love Me Tender (song), Love Me Tender". Sinatra had previously been highly critical of Elvis Presley and rock and roll in the 1950s, describing it as a "deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac" which "fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people." A CBS News special about the singer's 50th birthday, '' Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music'', was broadcast on November 16, 1965, and garnered both an Emmy award and a Peabody Award.
According his musical collaboration with Jobim and
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
in 1967, Sinatra appeared in the TV special, ''A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim'', which was broadcast on CBS on November 13. When Sinatra came out of retirement in 1973, he released both an album and appeared in a TV special named ''Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back''. The TV special was highlighted by a dramatic reading of "Send in the Clowns" and a song-and-dance sequence with former co-star Gene Kelly. In the late 1970s, John Denver appeared as a guest in the ''Sinatra and Friends'' ABC-TV Special, singing "September Song" as a duet.
Sinatra starred as a detective in ''Contract on Cherry Street'' (1977), cited as his "one starring role in a dramatic television film". Ten years later, he made a guest appearance opposite Tom Selleck in ''Magnum, P.I.'', playing a retired policeman who teams up with Selleck to find his granddaughter's murderer. Shot in January 1987, the episode aired on CBS on February 25.
Personal life
Sinatra had three children, Nancy (born 1940), Frank Sinatra Jr., Frank Jr. (1944–2016) and Tina Sinatra, Tina (born 1948), with his first wife, Nancy Sinatra (née Barbato, 1917–2018), to whom he was married from 1939 to 1951.
Sinatra had met Barbato in Long Branch, New Jersey in the summer of 1934, while working as a lifeguard. He agreed to marry her after an incident at "The Rustic Cabin" which led to his arrest. Sinatra had numerous extramarital affairs, and gossip magazines published details of affairs with women including Marilyn Maxwell, Lana Turner, and Joi Lansing.
Sinatra was married to Hollywood actress
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
from 1951 to 1957. It was a turbulent marriage with many well-publicized fights and altercations. The couple formally announced their separation on October 29, 1953, through MGM. Gardner filed for divorce in June 1954, at a time when she was dating matador Luis Miguel Dominguín, but the divorce was not settled until 1957. Sinatra continued to feel very strongly for her, and they remained friends for life. He was still dealing with her finances in 1976.
Sinatra reportedly broke off engagements to Lauren Bacall in 1958 and Juliet Prowse in 1962. He was also romantically linked to Pat Sheehan (model), Pat Sheehan, Vikki Dougan, and Kipp Hamilton. He married
Mia Farrow
Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...
on July 19, 1966, a short marriage that ended with divorce in Mexico in August 1968. They remained close friends for life, and in a 2013 interview Farrow said that Sinatra might be the father of her son Ronan Farrow (born 1987). In a 2015 ''CBS Sunday Morning'' interview, Nancy Sinatra dismissed the claim as "nonsense".
Sinatra was married to Barbara Marx from 1976 until his death. The couple married on July 11, 1976, at Sunnylands, in Rancho Mirage, California, the estate of media magnate Walter Annenberg.
Sinatra was close friends with Jilly Rizzo, songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen, golfer Ken Venturi, comedian Pat Henry (comedian), Pat Henry and baseball manager Leo Durocher. In his spare time, he enjoyed listening to classical music and attended concerts when he could. He swam daily in the Pacific Ocean, finding it to be therapeutic and giving him much-needed solitude. He often played golf with Venturi at the course in Palm Springs, where he lived, and liked painting, reading, and building model railways.
Though Sinatra was critical of the Church on numerous occasions and had a Albert Einstein's religious views, pantheistic, Einstein-like view of God in his earlier life, he was inducted into the Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1976, and he turned to Catholic Church, Catholicism for healing after his mother died in a plane crash in 1977. He died as a practicing Catholic and had a Catholic burial.
Style and personality
Sinatra was known for his immaculate sense of style. He spent lavishly on expensive custom-tailored tuxedos and stylish pin-striped suits, which made him feel wealthy and important, and that he was giving his very best to the audience. He was also obsessed with cleanliness—while with the Tommy Dorsey band he developed the nickname "Lady Macbeth", because of frequent showering and switching his outfits. His deep blue eyes earned him the popular nickname "Ol' Blue Eyes".
For Santopietro, Sinatra was the personification of America in the 1950s: "cocky, eye on the main chance, optimistic, and full of the sense of possibility". Barbara Sinatra wrote, "A big part of Frank's thrill was the sense of danger that he exuded, an underlying, ever-present tension only those closest to him knew could be defused with humor". Cary Grant, a friend of Sinatra, stated that Sinatra was the "most honest person he'd ever met", who spoke "a simple truth, without artifice which scared people", and was often moved to tears by his performances. Jo-Caroll Dennison commented that he possessed "great inner strength", and that his energy and drive were "enormous". A workaholic, he reportedly only slept four hours a night on average. Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings and bouts of mild to severe Depression (mood), depression, stating to an interviewer in the 1950s that "I have an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as elation". Barbara Sinatra stated that he would "snap at anyone for the slightest misdemeanor", while Van Heusen said that when Sinatra got drunk it was "best to disappear".
Sinatra's mood swings often developed into violence, directed at people he felt had crossed him, particularly journalists who gave him scathing reviews, publicists, and photographers. According to Rojek he was "capable of deeply offensive behavior that smacked of a persecution complex". He received negative press for fights with Lee Mortimer in 1947, photographer Eddie Schisser in Houston in 1950, Judy Garland's publicist Jim Byron on the Sunset Strip in 1954, and for a confrontation with ''Washington Post'' journalist Maxine Cheshire in 1973, in which he implied that she was a cheap prostitute.
His feud with then-''Chicago Sun Times'' columnist Mike Royko began when Royko wrote a column questioning why Chicago police offered free protection to Sinatra when the singer had his own security. Sinatra fired off an angry letter in response calling Royko a "pimp", and threatening to "punch you in the mouth" for speculating that he wore a toupée. Royko auctioned the letter, the proceeds going to the Salvation Army. The winner of the auction was Vie Carlson, mother of Bun E. Carlos of the rock group Cheap Trick. After appearing on ''Antiques Roadshow (American TV program), Antiques Roadshow'', Carlson consigned the letter to Freeman's Auctioneers & Appraisers, which auctioned it in 2010.
Sinatra was also known for his generosity, particularly after his comeback. Kelley notes that when Lee J. Cobb nearly died from a heart attack in June 1955, Sinatra flooded him with "books, flowers, delicacies", paid his hospital bills, and visited him daily, telling him that his "finest acting" was yet to come. In another instance, after an argument with manager Bobby Burns, rather than apologize, Sinatra bought him a brand new Cadillac.
Alleged organized-crime links and Cal Neva Lodge
Sinatra became the stereotype of the "tough working-class Italian American," something which he embraced. He said that if it had not been for his interest in music, he would have likely ended up in a life of crime.
Willie Moretti
Guarino "Willie" Moretti (February 24, 1894 – October 4, 1951), also known as Willie Moore, was a notorious underboss of the Genovese crime family and a cousin of the family boss Frank Costello.
Criminal career
Born Guarino Moretti in Bari ...
was Sinatra's godfather and the notorious underboss of the Genovese crime family, and he helped Sinatra in exchange for kickbacks and was reported to have intervened in releasing Sinatra from his contract with Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra was present at the Mafia Havana Conference in 1946, and the press learned of his being there with Lucky Luciano. One newspaper published the headline "Shame, Sinatra". He was reported to be a good friend of mobster Sam Giancana, and the two men were seen playing golf together. Kelley quotes Jo-Carrol Silvers that Sinatra "adored" Bugsy Siegel, and boasted to friends about him and how many people Siegel had killed. Kelley says that Sinatra and mobster Joseph Fischetti had been good friends from 1938 onward, and acted like "Sicilian brothers". She also states that Sinatra and Hank Sanicola were financial partners with Mickey Cohen in the gossip magazine ''Hollywood Night Life''.
The FBI kept records amounting to 2,403 pages on Sinatra, who was a natural target with his alleged Mafia ties, his ardent New Deal politics, and his friendship with John F. Kennedy. The FBI kept him under surveillance for almost five decades beginning in the 1940s. The documents include accounts of Sinatra as the target of death threats and extortion schemes. The FBI documented that Sinatra was losing esteem with the Mafia as he grew closer to President Kennedy, whose younger brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was leading a crackdown on organized crime. Sinatra said he was not involved: "Any report that I fraternized with goons or racketeers is a vicious lie".
In 1960, Sinatra bought a share in the Cal Neva Lodge & Casino, a casino hotel that straddles the California-Nevada state line on the north shores of Lake Tahoe. Sinatra built the Celebrity Room theater which attracted his show business friends Red Skelton, Marilyn Monroe, Victor Borge,
Joe E. Lewis
Joe E. Lewis (born Joseph Klewan; January 12, 1902 – June 4, 1971) was an American comedian, actor and singer.Obituary ''Variety'', June 9, 1971, page 54.
Early life
Lewis was born was born into a family of Russian immigrants on Januar ...
, Lucille Ball, Lena Horne, Juliet Prowse, the McGuire Sisters, and others. By 1962, he reportedly held a 50-percent share in the hotel. Sinatra's gambling license was temporarily stripped by the Nevada Gaming Control Board in 1963 after Giancana was spotted on the premises. Due to ongoing pressure from the FBI and Nevada Gaming Commission on mobster control of casinos, Sinatra agreed to give up his share in Cal Neva and the Sands. That year, his son Frank Sinatra Jr.#Kidnapping, Frank Jr. was kidnapped but was eventually released unharmed. Sinatra's gambling license was restored in February 1981, following support from
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
.
Politics and activism
Sinatra held varied political views throughout his life. His mother, Dolly Sinatra (1896–1977), was a Democratic Party ward leader, and after meeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, he subsequently heavily campaigned for the Democrats in the 1944 United States presidential election, 1944 presidential election. According to Jo Carroll Silvers, in his younger years Sinatra had "ardent liberal" sympathies, and was "so concerned about poor people that he was always quoting Henry A. Wallace, Henry Wallace". He was outspoken against racism, particularly toward black people and Italians, from a young age. In the early 1950s, he was among those who campaigned to combine the racially segregated musicians unions in Los Angeles. In November 1945 Sinatra was invited by the mayor of Gary, Indiana, to try to settle a strike by white students of Froebel High School against the "Pro-Negro" policies of the new principal. His comments, while praised by liberal publications, led to accusations by some that he was a Communism, Communist, which he said were not true. In the 1948 United States presidential election, 1948 presidential election, Sinatra actively campaigned for President Harry S. Truman. In 1952 and 1956, he also campaigned for Adlai Stevenson II, Adlai Stevenson.
Of all the U.S. presidents he associated with during his career, he was closest to John F. Kennedy. Sinatra often invited Kennedy to Hollywood and Las Vegas, and the two would womanize and enjoy parties together. In January 1961, Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized the United States presidential inaugural balls, Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C., held on the evening before President Kennedy was sworn into office. After taking office, Kennedy distanced himself from Sinatra, due in part to the singer's ties with the Mafia. His brother Robert Kennedy, Robert, who was serving as Attorney General and was known for urging FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to conduct more crackdowns on the Mafia, was distrustful of Sinatra.
In 1962, Sinatra was snubbed by the President during his visit to his Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs home when Kennedy stayed with the Republican Bing Crosby instead, citing FBI concerns about Sinatra's alleged connections to organized crime. Crosby's affiliations with the mafia were less publicly known; however, Sinatra spared no expense upgrading the facilities at his home in anticipation of the President's visit, fitting it with a heliport, which he later smashed with a sledgehammer upon being rejected. Despite the snub, when he learned of Kennedy's assassination he reportedly sobbed in his bedroom for three days.
Sinatra worked with Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968, and remained a supporter of the Democratic Party until the early 1970s. Although still a registered Democrat, Sinatra endorsed Republican Party (United States), Republican
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
for a second term as Governor of California in 1970. He officially changed allegiance in July 1972 when he supported
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
for re-election in the 1972 United States presidential election, 1972 presidential election.
In the 1980 United States presidential election, 1980 presidential election, Sinatra supported Ronald Reagan and donated $4million to Reagan's campaign. Sinatra arranged Reagan's Presidential gala, as he had done for Kennedy 20 years previously. In 1985, Reagan presented Sinatra with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
, remarking, "His love of country, his generosity for those less fortunate... make him one of our most remarkable and distinguished Americans."
Santopietro notes that Sinatra was a "lifelong sympathizer with Frank Sinatra and Jewish activism, Jewish causes". He was awarded the Hollzer Memorial Award by the History of the Jews in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Jewish Community in 1949. He gave a series of concerts in Israel in 1962, and donated his entire $50,000 fee for appearing in a cameo role in ''Cast a Giant Shadow'' (1966) to the Youth Center in Jerusalem. On November 1, 1972, he raised $6.5million in bond pledges for Israel, and was given the Medallion of Valor for his efforts. The Frank Sinatra Student Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was dedicated in his name in 1978. He owned a Jewish skullcap, known as a kippah or yarmulkah, which was sold as part of his wife's estate many years after his death.
From his youth, Sinatra displayed sympathy for African Americans and worked both publicly and privately all his life to help the struggle for equal rights. He blamed racial prejudice on the parents of children. Sinatra played a major role in the desegregation of Nevada hotels and casinos in the 1950s and 1960s. At the Sands in 1955, Sinatra went against policy by inviting
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
into the dining room, and in 1961, after an incident where an African-American couple entered the lobby of the hotel and were blocked by the security guard, Sinatra and Davis forced the hotel management to begin hiring black waiters and busboys. On January 27, 1961, Sinatra played a benefit show at Carnegie Hall for Martin Luther King Jr. and led his fellow Rat Pack members and Reprise label mates in boycotting hotels and casinos that refused entry to black patrons and performers. According to his son, Frank Jr., King sat weeping in the audience at one of his father's concerts in 1963 as Sinatra sang " Ol' Man River", a song from the musical ''Show Boat'' that is sung by an African-American stevedore. When he changed his political affiliations in 1970, Sinatra became less outspoken on racial issues. Though he did much towards civil rights causes, it did not stop the occasional racial jibe from him and the other Rat Pack members toward Davis at concerts.
Death and funeral
Sinatra died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 14, 1998, aged 82, with his wife at his side after suffering two Myocardial infarction, heart attacks. Sinatra was in ill health during the last few years of his life, and was frequently hospitalized for heart and breathing problems, high blood pressure, pneumonia and bladder cancer. He also suffered from dementia-like symptoms due to his usage of antidepressants. He had made no public appearances following a heart attack in February 1997. Sinatra's wife encouraged him to "fight" while attempts were made to stabilize him, and reported that his final words were, "I'm losing." Sinatra's daughter, Tina, later wrote that she and her siblings (Frank Jr. and Nancy) had not been notified of their father's final hospitalization, and it was her belief that "the omission was deliberate. Barbara would be the grieving widow ''alone'' at her husband's side." The night after Sinatra's death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City were turned blue, the lights at the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor, and the casinos stopped spinning for one minute.
Sinatra's funeral was held at the Church of the Good Shepherd (Beverly Hills, California), Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California, on May 20, 1998, with 400 mourners in attendance and thousands of fans outside. Gregory Peck, Tony Bennett, and Sinatra's son, Frank Jr., addressed the mourners, who included many notable people from film and entertainment. Sinatra was buried in a blue business suit and his grave was adorned with mementos from family members—cherry-flavored Life Savers, Tootsie Rolls, a bottle of Jack Daniel's, a pack of Camel (cigarette), Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, stuffed toys, a dog biscuit, and a roll of dimes that he always carried—next to his parents in section B-8 of Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.
His close friends Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen are buried nearby. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come", plus "Beloved Husband & Father" were imprinted on Sinatra's original grave marker. Sinatra's gravestone was changed under mysterious circumstances according to the magazine Palm Springs Life. The grave currently reads "Sleep Warm Poppa". Significant increases in recording sales worldwide were reported by ''Billboard'' in the month of his death.
Influence and popularity
Sinatra was called the Chairman of the Board. Frank Sinatra was responsible for awakening a fan phenomenon made up of hysterical teenage girls called "Bobby Soxers". Throughout his professional career, Sinatra recorded more than 1,300 songs and participated in more than fifty films. Sinatra once said, "
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
is the best singer in the world". The bobby soxers were portrayed as very enthusiastic to the point of hysteria. Newspapers at the time highlighted the bobby soxers' great fanaticism and passion for Sinatra; they experienced hunger, fatigue, and dizziness while waiting in line to see him.
The United States Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp honoring Sinatra in May 2008, commemorating the tenth anniversary of his death. May 13 is considered "Frank Sinatra Day."
In Frank Sinatra Park, a 6-foot (1.80-meter) tall bronze statue honoring Sinatra was erected in the year 2021 on December 12. There are also several streets and highways in the US named after Sinatra.
Legacy and honors
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
referred to Sinatra as "the greatest singer of the 20th century". His popularity is matched only by
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson. For Santopietro, Sinatra was the "greatest male pop singer in the history of America", who amassed "unprecedented power onscreen and off", and "seemed to exemplify the common man, an ethnic twentieth-century American male who reached the 'top of the heap', yet never forgot his roots". Santopietro argues that Sinatra created his own world, which he was able to dominate—his career was centred around power, perfecting the ability to capture an audience. Encyclopædia Britannica referred to Sinatra as "often hailed as the greatest American singer of 20th-century popular music....Through his life and his art, he transcended the status of mere icon to become one of the most recognizable symbols of American culture."
Gus Levene commented that Sinatra's strength was that when it came to lyrics, telling a story musically, Sinatra displayed a "genius" ability and feeling, which with the "rare combination of voice and showmanship" made him the "original singer" which others who followed most tried to emulate. George Roberts (trombonist), George Roberts, a trombonist in Sinatra's band, remarked that Sinatra had a "charisma, or whatever it is about him, that no one else had". Biographer Arnold Shaw considered that "If Las Vegas had not existed, Sinatra could have invented it". He quoted reporter James Bacon (author), James Bacon in saying that Sinatra was the "swinging image on which the town is built", adding that no other entertainer quite "embodied the glamour" associated with Las Vegas as him. Sinatra continues to be seen as one of the icons of the 20th century,
and has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in film and music. There are stars on east and west sides of the 1600 block of Vine Street respectively, and one on the south side of the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard for his work in television.
In Sinatra's native Hoboken, New Jersey, Hoboken, he was awarded the Freedom of the City, Key to the City of by Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, Mayor Fred M. De Sapio on October 30, 1947. In 2003 the city's main post office was rededicated in his honor. A bronze plaque, place two years before Sinatra's death in 1998, marks the site of the house where he was born. There is also a marker in front of Hoboken Historical Museum, which has artifacts from his life and conducts Sinatra walking tours through the city. Frank Sinatra Drive runs parallel to the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. On the waterfront is Frank Sinatra Park, where a bronze plaque was placed in 1989 upon its opening. In the Frank Sinatra Park, a tall bronze statue of Frank Sinatra, statue of Sinatra was dedicated in 2021 on December 12, the date of Sinatra's birthday in 1915.
A residence hall at Montclair State University in New Jersey was named in his honor. Other buildings named for Sinatra include the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, the Frank Sinatra International Student Center at Israel's Hebrew University in Jerusalem dedicated in 1978, and the Frank Sinatra Hall at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, California, dedicated in 2002. Wynn Resorts' Encore Las Vegas resort features a restaurant dedicated to Sinatra which opened in 2008.
There are several streets and roads named in honor of Frank Sinatra in several states of the U.S., such as the road named Frank Sinatra Drive connecting Cathedral City, California, Cathedral City and Palm Desert in California, a road in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
near the Las Vegas Strip is also a road named Frank Sinatra Drive in his honor.
Various items of memorabilia from Sinatra's life and career, such as Frank Sinatra's awards, gold records, and various personal items are displayed at University of Southern California, USC's Frank Sinatra Hall in Los Angeles and also at Wynn Resort's Sinatra restaurant in Las Vegas.
The United States Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Sinatra in May 2008, commemorating the tenth anniversary of his death.
The United States Congress passed a resolution introduced by United States House of Representatives, Representative Mary Bono Mack on May 20, 2008, designating May 13 as Frank Sinatra Day to honor his contributions to American culture.
Sinatra received three Honorary Degrees during his lifetime. In May 1976, he was invited to speak at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) graduation commencement held at Sam Boyd Stadium. It was at this commencement that he was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate litterarum humanarum by the university. During his speech, Sinatra stated that his education had come from "the school of hard knocks" and was suitably touched by the award. He went on to describe that "this is the first educational degree I have ever held in my hand. I will never forget what you have done for me today". A few years later in 1984 and 1985, Sinatra also received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Loyola Marymount University as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Film and television portrayals
Sinatra has also been portrayed on numerous occasions in film and television. A television miniseries based on Sinatra's life, titled ''Sinatra (miniseries), Sinatra'', was aired by CBS in 1992. The series was directed by James Steven Sadwith, who won an Emmy Award for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special, and starred Philip Casnoff as Sinatra. ''Sinatra'' was written by Abby Mann and Philip Mastrosimone, and produced by Sinatra's daughter, Tina.
Sinatra has subsequently been portrayed on screen by Ray Liotta (''The Rat Pack (film), The Rat Pack'', 1998), James Russo (''Stealing Sinatra'', 2003), Dennis Hopper (''The Night We Called It a Day (film), The Night We Called It a Day'', 2003), and Robert Knepper (''My Way (2012 film), My Way'', 2012), and spoofed by Joe Piscopo and Phil Hartman on ''Saturday Night Live''. A biographical film directed by Martin Scorsese has long been planned. A 1998 episode of the BBC documentary series ''Arena (UK TV series), Arena'', ''The Voice of the Century'', focused on Sinatra. Alex Gibney directed a four-part biographical series on Sinatra, ''All or Nothing at All'', for HBO in 2015. A musical tribute was aired on CBS television in December 2015 to mark Sinatra's centenary. Sinatra was also portrayed by Rico Simonini in the 2018 feature film ''Frank & Ava'', which is based on a play by Willard Manus.
Sinatra was convinced that Johnny Fontane, a mob-associated singer in Mario Puzo's novel ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' (1969), was based on his life. Puzo wrote in 1972 that when the author and singer met in Chasen's, Sinatra "started to shout abuse", calling Puzo a "pimp" and threatening physical violence. This was recreated in the miniseries ''The Offer'' with Sinatra portrayed by Frank John Hughes. Francis Ford Coppola, director of the The Godfather, film adaptation, said in the audio commentary that "Obviously Johnny Fontane was inspired by a kind of Frank Sinatra character".
In December 2020, it was announced that Creed (band), Creed singer Scott Stapp will portray Frank Sinatra in ''Reagan (2022 film), Reagan,'' a biopic of U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
Songs by Sinatra
''Songs by Sinatra, Volume 1'' is the second studio album by Frank Sinatra. The tracks were arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl and his orchestra. It is a collection of eight recordings from six different sessions. It was originally released ...
'' (1947)
* ''
Christmas Songs by Sinatra
''Christmas Songs by Sinatra'' is the name of the third studio album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released in 1948 as a 78 rpm album set and a 10" LP record (CL 6019) featuring a collection of eight holiday songs. A compilation a ...
'' (1948)
* ''
Frankly Sentimental
''Frankly Sentimental'' is the fourth studio album by Frank Sinatra, released on June 20, 1949 as a set of four 78 rpm records and a 10" LP album.
The tracks were arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl and his orchestra.
The album is composed ...
'' (1949)
* '' Dedicated to You'' (1950)
* ''Swing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra'' (1950)
* ''
Songs for Young Lovers
''Songs for Young Lovers'' is the seventh studio album by Frank Sinatra and his first on Capitol Records. It was issued as an 8-song, 10" album (Capitol H-488) and as a 45rpm EP set, but it was the first Sinatra "album" not to have a 78rpm mu ...
A Swingin' Affair!
''A Swingin' Affair!'' is the twelfth studio album by Frank Sinatra. It is sometimes mentioned as the sequel to ''Songs for Swingin' Lovers''.
" The Lady Is a Tramp" was bumped from the original album and replaced with "No One Ever Tells You ...
'' (1957)
* '' Where Are You?'' (1957)
* ''A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra'' (1957)
* '' Come Fly with Me'' (1958)
* ''
Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely
''Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely'' (1958, also known as ''Sings for Only the Lonely'' or simply ''Only the Lonely'') is an album by Frank Sinatra.
The album consists of a collection of torch songs, following a formula similar to Sinatra' ...
Nice 'n' Easy
''Nice 'n' Easy'' is a 1960 album by Frank Sinatra.
All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The title song was a last-minute substitute for the originall ...
'' (1960)
* ''
Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!
''Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!'' is a 1961 album by Frank Sinatra.
Six of the tracks on the album are re-recordings of a batch of songs that Sinatra had previously recorded on the Columbia album, ''Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra''.
It was ...
'' (1961)
* ''
Ring-a-Ding-Ding!
''Ring-a-Ding-Ding!'' is a 1961 album by Frank Sinatra. It was the inaugural record on Sinatra's Reprise label and, as the initial concept was "an album without ballads", it consisted only of uptempo swing numbers.
The title track was written ...
'' (1961)
* ''Come Swing with Me!'' (1961)
* ''Sinatra Swings, Swing Along With Me'' (1961)
* ''I Remember Tommy'' (1961)
* '' Sinatra and Strings'' (1962)
* ''
Point of No Return
The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...
'' (1962)
* ''Sinatra and Swingin' Brass'' (1962)
* ''All Alone (Frank Sinatra album), All Alone'' (1962)
* ''Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain'' (1962)
* ''Sinatra–Basie: An Historic Musical First'' with Count Basie (1962)
* ''
The Concert Sinatra
''The Concert Sinatra'' is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra that was released in 1963. It consists of showtunes performed in a 'semi-classical' concert style. Marking a reunion between Sinatra and his frequent collaborator, arranger ...
'' (1963)
* ''Sinatra's Sinatra'' (1963)
* ''Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners'' (1964)
* '' America, I Hear You Singing'' with Bing Crosby and Fred Waring (1964)
* ''
It Might as Well Be Swing
''It Might as Well Be Swing'' is a 1964 studio album by Frank Sinatra, accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra. It was Sinatra's first studio recording arranged by Quincy Jones.
The recording of " Fly Me to the Moon" which appears on thi ...
'' with Count Basie (1964)
* ''12 Songs of Christmas (Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Fred Waring album), 12 Songs of Christmas'' with Bing Crosby and Fred Waring (1964)
* '' Softly, as I Leave You'' (1964)
* ''
September of My Years
''September of My Years'' is a 1965 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released on Reprise Records in August 1965 on LP and October 1986 on CD. The orchestral arrangements are by Gordon Jenkins, their fifth album collaboration. ...
A Man and His Music
''A Man and His Music'' is a 1965 double album by Frank Sinatra. It provides a brief retrospective of Sinatra's musical career. The album won the 1967 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Instead of using the original recordings, which were made f ...
'' (1965)
* ''Moonlight Sinatra'' (1966)
* ''Strangers in the Night (Frank Sinatra album), Strangers in the Night'' (1966)
* '' That's Life'' (1966)
* '' Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim'' with Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967)
* ''
The World We Knew
''The World We Knew'', also known as ''Frank Sinatra'', is a 1967 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra.
The album's title track reached No. 30 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Easy Listening chart in 1967. Its second ...
'' (1967)
* '' Francis A. & Edward K.'' with Duke Ellington (1968)
* ''The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas'' with Frank Sinatra Jr., Nancy Sinatra and Tina Sinatra (1968)
* ''Cycles (Frank Sinatra album), Cycles'' (1968)
* ''My Way (Frank Sinatra album), My Way'' (1969)
* ''A Man Alone (album), A Man Alone'' (1969)
* ''
Watertown Watertown may refer to:
Places in China
In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways.
Places in the United States
*Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town
**Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...
'' (1970)
* ''Sinatra & Company'' with Antonio Carlos Jobim (1971)
* ''
Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back
''Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back'' is a 1973 album by the American singer Frank Sinatra.
Sinatra returned from his brief retirement with the appropriately titled ''Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back''. Released amidst a whirlwind of publicity, the album was a com ...
'' (1973)
* ''Some Nice Things I've Missed'' (1974)
* ''Trilogy: Past Present Future'' (1980)
* ''She Shot Me Down'' (1981)
* ''L.A. Is My Lady'' (1984)
* ''Duets (Frank Sinatra album), Duets'' (1993)
* ''Duets II (Frank Sinatra album), Duets II'' (1994)
See also
* Frank Sinatra bibliography
* Frank Sinatra's recorded legacy
* The Frank Sinatra Show (radio program), ''The Frank Sinatra Show'' (radio program)
* Freedland, Michael (1998). ''All the Way: A Biography of Frank Sinatra''. St. Martin's Press.
* Kaplan, James (2015). ''Sinatra: The chairman''. New York: Doubleday.
* Pickard, Roy (1994). ''Frank Sinatra at the Movies''. Hale.
Frank Sinatra at Curlie
Frank Sinatra webradio *
*
Sinatra at the New Jersey Hall of Fame
*
*
Frank Sinatra at FBI Records: The Vault
''The Sinatra Report'', a special section of Billboard's November 20, 1965, issue – beginning immediately after page 34 "Sinatra in Retrospective, Parts 1 and 2," WXXI Public Broadcasting, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinatra, Frank
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