|
Frank Sinatra Biography
Who2 Biography:Frank Sinatra, Singer
/ Actor
- Born: 12 December 1915
- Birthplace: Hoboken, New Jersey
-
Died: 14 May 1998
(natural causes)
- Best Known As: Singer of New York, New York and
leader of the Rat Pack
Name at birth: Francis Albert Sinatra Frank Sinatra is
an icon of American musical cool. His official career was singing: he
began as a rail-thin crooner during World War II, and matured into the
most respected pop singer of his generation. He also took up acting,
winning an Academy Award for his performance in From Here To Eternity
(1953, with Burt
Lancaster). Along the way Sinatra developed a reputation as a
well-dressed, fast-living, fist-fighting swinger, with a top-dog swagger
that earned him the nickname "The Chairman of the Board." He was the
acknowledged leader of the Hollywood 'Rat Pack' of the early 1960s,
which included Dean
Martin, Sammy
Davis Jr. and others. Musically he was beloved as a stylish,
heartfelt singer of old-school standards like Come Fly With Me, New
York, New York, All the Way, Strangers in the Night
and One For My Baby (And One More For the Road). He ranks with Bing
Crosby, Elvis
Presley and The
Beatles as among the most influential pop musicians of the 20th
century.
Sinatra is also known as "Ol' Blue Eyes"... Sinatra was married four
times: to childhood sweetheart Nancy Barbato (1939-1951), actress Ava
Gardner (1951-57), actress Mia
Farrow (1966-68), and Barbara Blakeley Marx (1976 until his death
in 1998). Gardner previously had been married to jazzman Artie
Shaw, Marx had previously been married to Zeppo Marx (brother of Groucho
Marx), and Farrow was later married to Woody
Allen... Sinatra had three children, all from his first marriage:
Nancy (b. 1940), Frank, Jr. (b. 1944), and Christina (commonly known as
Tina, b. 1948)... Nancy Sinatra had her own pop music career and sang
the hit 1966 single "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." Frank and Nancy
sang a duet on the 1967 single "Somethin' Stupid"...
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:Frank
Sinatra
(born Dec. 12, 1915, Hoboken, N.J., U.S. — died May 14,
1998, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. singer and actor. Sinatra began his
singing career in the mid-1930s and was "discovered" by trumpeter Harry
James, who immediately recruited him. Sinatra achieved sweeping
national popularity in 1940 – 42 while singing with the Tommy
Dorsey Orchestra. He sang on the radio program Your Hit
Parade (1943 – 45), while becoming a favourite performer in theatres
and nightclubs. In the 1940s he co-starred in a number of musical films
with dancer Gene Kelly. His popularity suddenly declined about 1948,
but his performance in From Here to Eternity (1953,
Academy Award) revived his flagging career, and he later starred in many
acclaimed films, including musicals such as Guys and Dolls
(1955) and dramas such as The Manchurian Candidate
(1962). After 1953 he performed and recorded using arrangements by
Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins, reaching his peak in
albums such as Only the Lonely (1958). In 1961 he founded
Reprise Records. His masterly performances, alternately swinging and
affectingly melancholic, brought him a success unparalleled in the
history of American popular music.
For more information on Frank Sinatra, visit Britannica.com.
Music Encyclopedia:Frank Sinatra
(b Hoboken, nj, 12
Dec 1915). American popular singer and film actor. While singing with
Tommy Dorsey's band (1940-42) he was a celebrity among young people on a
scale matched only by Benny Goodman before him and later by Presley and
the Beatles. After leaving Dorsey he began a solo career. In the 1950s
Nelson Riddle's orchestral arrangements were particularly successful in
drawing out the many facets of Sinatra's musical personality. He
represents the consummation of the tradition of the American popular
singer.
Biography:Francis Albert Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (born 1915) may have been the most
popular singer in American history, in a career that spanned from the
1930s into the 1990s. Francis Albert Sinatra was born
in Hoboken,
New Jersey, on December 12, 1915. He was the only child of Martin and
Natalie "Dolly" Sinatra. He lived in a predominantly Italian-American
working class neighborhood. As a student at Demarest High School, he
became popular by exhibiting the traits he would carry with him
throughout his lifetime - those of a generous but pugnacious
individual. Early in his life Sinatra
knew he wanted to become a singer. His influences were Rudy Vallee and
his idol, Bing Crosby. After dropping out of high school he began to
sing at obscure clubs. He got his first big break with Major Bowes and
his "Amateur Hour" in 1935, singing in a group called the Hoboken Four.
Sinatra, by preference, continued to sing in various New Jersey
nightclubs, hoping to attract the attention of the bandleaders who led
America into the "Swing Era" on the many hundreds of radio stations that
were popping up all over the country. From the Rustic Cabin Club
in Alpine, New Jersey, Sinatra got his first radio play in 1939 on
station WNEW in New York City. He then signed with his first bandleader,
Harry James, for $75 per week. That same year he married his longtime sweetheart,
Nancy Barbato. They would eventually have three children. After
seven months with Harry James, Sinatra joined Tommy
Dorsey and his orchestra, causing his career to skyrocket. Dorsey's
orchestra was one of the most popular in the land and remained so with
Sinatra singing, from 1940 through 1942. During that time he performed
with the band in his first two movies - Las Vegas Nights (1941)
and Ship Ahoy (1942). He began his solo career at the end of 1942
and continued his meteoric rise. As the leading American singer
through the war era, he epitomized the evolution of American music with
its blends of music that included jazz and the classics. The idiom would
come to be known simply as American popular, or pop music. The Swing
Era lasted from 1935 through the end of World War II, and Sinatra was by
far its best known vocalist. His musical roots and education were that
of the Tin Pan Alley tradition, but he was a diligent
student of Italian opera as well. Most important to him throughout his
career would be his insistence on his own style and arrangements for
whatever music he sang. His unique phrasing of lyrics and his jazzy
syncopation of melody lines were delivered in a voice best described as
light baritone
with a sharp New York accent, resonating deep into his nasal cavities
to produce the classic crooning effect. His wide-shouldered suits
and his bow ties were imitated by many men, but his most ardent
followers were the teenaged girls, nicknamed the "bobby-soxers," who
swooned or screamed for "Frankie" when he sang. For the "Croon Prince of
Swing," his widespread appeal was further fueled by America's explosive
mass media growth in newspapers, magazines, films, record players, and
radio stations. Sinatra was the first to attract the kind of near hysteria
that would later accompany live appearances by Elvis Presley and the
Beatles. This type of excitement reached its peak in the famed Columbus
Day Riot of October 12, 1944, when thousands of his fans (mostly
female), denied entry into the already-packed Paramount Theater in New
York City, stormed the streets and vented their frustration by smashing
nearby shop windows. Though Sinatra was exempted from military
service in World War II because of a perforated
eardrum, he helped the war effort with his appearances in movies
and benefits for soldiers. He was an outspoken supporter of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and liberal viewpoints, including racial and religious
tolerance. His charitable appearances were consistent and numerous. Sinatra's
first and only major downfall in the public eye came in 1951 and lasted
for almost three years. His extramarital affairs led to his divorce,
and his subsequent well-publicized, tempestuous
marriage to actress Ava Gardner also ended in divorce in 1957. Rumors
of Mafia connections spread, mostly from his socializing with alleged
Mafia kingpins, and these rumors persisted, along with publicity about
his noted barroom
brawls. Musical tastes were changing as well, as "belters" like Eddie
Fisher and Frankie Laine were replacing the crooners in popularity. All
of these events, in addition to his failure to serve in the military,
combined to alienate him from an adoring but fickle
public, and especially from the press. The allegations of underworld
activity were never proven, and no indictments were ever made. His
comeback was secured with his appearance as the feisty Italian-American
soldier, Angelo Maggio, in the critically acclaimed film From Here to
Eternity (1954). The role won him an Academy Award for best
supporting actor, and he was back on the record charts as well with
"Young at Heart." Nelson Riddle, his arranger in the 1950s, helped
Sinatra stay on the competitive record charts throughout the rest of
the decade. In fact, Sinatra stayed on the charts steadily through 1967,
despite the sudden and overwhelming preeminence of Rock 'n' Roll music.
This durability was due in part to the advent of the long-playing
album, the LP, upon which Sinatra could surround a central theme with a
large collection of songs or ballads. From 1957 through 1966 he had 27
top ten albums without producing one top ten single. These albums were
led by Only the Lonely (1958), Come Fly With Me (1958),
and Come Dance With Me (1959). The bobby-soxers were now adults,
but Sinatra had shifted smoothly
to the role of the aging romantic bachelor. This was signified by the
image of him leaning alone against a lamppost,
raincoat in hand. His movie appearances multiplied
during this period, with nine in the span of just two years, including Guys
and Dolls (1955), Young At Heart (1955), The Tender Trap
(1955), The Man With the Golden Arm (1955), and High Society
(1956). His music came to be known as "middle of the road," but
his ever-present style put him in a class by himself because of his
ability to convey the heartfelt
romantic message. Additional hits of the 1960s included "It Was a Very
Good Year," from his Grammy Award winning album September of My Years
(1965), and "Strangers in the Night" (1966). He did reach the top of
the singles charts in a duet with his daughter Nancy, "Somethin'
Stupid," in 1967. A brief marriage to 20-year-old actress Mia
Farrow ended in divorce in 1968. He continued his movie roles,
including Tony Rome (1967) and Robin and the Seven Hoods
(1964), but they had declined in artistic merit. Critics saw these
movies as vehicles for reinforcement of his tough-guy image, as well as
his and his friends' answer to the great youth movement that was taking
place around them. These friends included entertainers Dean Martin,
Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, a clique
that came to be known as the "Rat Pack." After his famous
recording of "My Way" (1969), Sinatra made an ill-fated attempt to sing
some of the lighter tunes of modern rock composers. This led to a brief
retirement from entertainment (1971 through 1973), a time that was
accompanied by a shift in his politics from liberal to conservative. He
had become a close friend of Ronald Reagan's and helped Reagan in his
later successsful presidential campaigns. By this time Sinatra's
financial empire produced millions of dollars in earnings from
investments in films, records, gambling casinos, real estate, missile
parts, and general aviation. He came out of his retirement in 1974 with a
renewed interest in the middle of the road genre and older tunes. He
was married for the fourth time, in 1976, to Barbara Blakely. His return
to the limelight
was highlighted by his famous recording of "New York, New York" (1980)
as he entered his sixth decade of entertaining. In 1988, Sinatra
joined with Sammie Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin and embarked on a
cross-country tour. The tour lasted only one week. Sinatra later
organized another reunion tour with Shirley MacLaine in 1992 and it was a
resounding
success. By 1994, Sinatra was experiencing memory lapses but that did
not keep him from performing publicly. He merely added the use of a teleprompter
to remind
him of the lyrics. After celebrating his 80th birthday at a public
tribute and roast
at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium, new collector's packages of
recordings were released and became instant best-sellers. The
legions who grew up with him and his music were complemented by adoration
from younger generations, all of whom have made "Old Blue Eyes" the
pre-eminent popular singer of the 20th century. Further
Reading Sinatra had his detractors, as well a controversial man
may, but most of his biographers are reverent
of him. Two who are generally not reverent are Earl Wilson in Sinatra:
An Unauthorized Biography (1976), an in-depth study of the man and
the allegations that dogged him, and Kitty Kelly in her unsparing
portrait, His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra
(1986). Also recommended, though openly admiring of the man, are Sinatra:
An American Classic (1984), with its fine pictorial display, by
John Rockwell; Norm Goldstein's Frank Sinatra: Ol'Blue Eyes
(1982); and Frank Sinatra - My Father (1985) by his daughter
Nancy. Gene Ringgold and Clifford McCarty provide an excellent pictorial
account of his life in films in The Films of Frank Sinatra
(1971).
US History Companion:Sinatra, Frank
(1915- ), singer and actor. Sinatra,
probably the greatest singer of American popular music, was born in
working-class Hoboken,
New Jersey, the only child of Italian immigrants. His singing with Tommy
Dorsey's popular orchestra from 1940 to 1942 made him a star.
Sinatra's records of "All or Nothing at All" and "In the Blue of the
Evening" topped the charts in 1943. His fans in the World War II era,
dubbed "bobby-soxers," set a new standard for female hysteria
over pop stars, especially in 1944 when thirty thousand of them rioted
outside Manhattan's Paramount Theater. Sinatra quickly developed a
distinctive singing style. His voice, a supple
baritone, ranged from brash
arrogance to intimate tenderness. He could sing romantic ballads that
built to a dramatic climax and swinging up-tempo songs. In both, he
emphasized a personal interpretation of the lyrics through his subtle
phrasing and rhythmic variation.
The House I Live In, a short film made in 1945, featured
Sinatra speaking out against racial and religious discrimination; the
title song celebrated America's working people. Made at the peak of his
popularity, the film won Sinatra a special Academy Award in 1945 and
summed up his commitment to racial justice and progressive political
causes. But in the late forties, as McCarthyism
spread in the entertainment industry, he came under attack by
right-wing gossip
columnists who portrayed him as a communist sympathizer.
The charges succeeded in destroying his career; by 1950 he was a
has-been at thirty-four. In 1953 he made an extraordinary comeback
as a dramatic actor in From Here to Eternity, which won him the
Academy Award for best supporting actor. His thirty-one subsequent films
included comedies and musicals, notably Guys and Dolls (1955)
and Pal Joey (1957), and dramatic films, like The Man with the
Golden Arm (1955) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Sinatra
reached a new musical peak in the late fifties with what is regarded as
his best album, Only the Lonely (1958), composed of ravishing
and vulnerable ballads, and Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956),
which consists of up-tempo songs sung with a strong rhythmic punch. But
his new fame was accompanied by a stormy
personal life involving nightclub brawling, widely publicized
womanizing, and venomous
denunciations of rock 'n' roll. In 1960 his version of "High
Hopes" served as the official song of John F. Kennedy's presidential
campaign, and he starred in the inaugural gala.
September of My Years won the Grammy Award for best album in
1967. "My Way" (1969), his signature song, spoke of a man at the end of
his life looking back at his achievements. Sinatra announced his
retirement in 1971 and shifted his political affiliations from left to
right. President Richard M. Nixon invited him to perform at the White
House in 1973, and he presided at the 1981 inaugural festivities for
President Ronald Reagan. Bibliography: Kitty Kelley,
His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986);
John Rockwell, Sinatra: An American Classic (1984). Author:
Jon Wiener
Columbia Encyclopedia:Frank Sinatra
Sinatra, Frank (Francis Albert Sinatra),
1915-98, American singer and actor, b. Hoboken, N.J. During the late
1930s and early 40s he sang with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands,
causing teenage girls to shriek and swoon over his romantic, seemingly
casual renditions of such songs as "I'll Never Smile Again" and "This
Love of Mine." During his long career he became one of the most
successful pop music figures of the century, widely respected as a
"singer's singer" for his richly detailed readings of lyrics and his
versatile and nuanced musical style. Sinatra's sophisticated
musicianship was evident in his many recordings. He had a long-lived and
successful movie career, appearing in 58 films including On the Town
(1949), From Here to Eternity (1953, Academy Award), Guys and
Dolls (1955), Pal Joey (1957), The Manchurian Candidate
(1962), and The Detective (1968). He also directed and produced
several films. Sinatra retired from show business in 1971 but returned
in several concert tours.Bibliography See
A. I. Lonstein, The Compleat Sinatra (1970); G. Ringgold and C.
McCarthy, The Films of Frank Sinatra (1971); R. Peters, The
Frank Sinatra Scrapbook (1982); K. Kelley, His Way (1986); W.
Friedwald, Sinatra! The Song Is You (1995); S. Petkov and L.
Mustazza, ed., The Frank Sinatra Reader (1995); P. Hamill, Why
Sinatra Matters (1998). |
[ Featured Celebrity Web ]
Art Wallpapers 3d, art Painting Wallpapers
