Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 –
May 14, 1998) was an United States|American singer
who is considered one of the finest vocalists of
all time, renowned for his impeccable phrasing and
timing. At age 37, Sinatra launched a second
career as a film actor, and became admired for a
screen persona distinctly tougher than his smooth
singing style.

==Biography==
Born in Hoboken, New Jersey as the son of a quiet
father and a talented, tempestuous mother, Sinatra
decided to become a singer after hearing Bing
Crosby on the radio. He began singing in small
clubs in New Jersey and eventually attracted the
attention of trumpeter and band-leader Harry
James. 

After a brief stint with James, he joined the
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1940 where he rose to
fame as a singer. His vast appeal to the "bobby
soxers", as teenager|teenage girls were then
called, revealed a whole new audience for popular
music, which had appealed mainly to adults up to
that time. 

He later signed with Columbia Records as a solo
artist with some success, particularly during the
musicians' recording strike action|strikes.
Vocalists were not part of the musician union and
were allowed to record during the ban by using a
capella vocal backing.

Sinatra's singing career was in decline in the
late 1940s and early 1950s when he made a
spectacular comeback as an actor in From Here to
Eternity (1953), which won him a Best Supporting
Actor Academy Award.  He later appeared in many
films, the most noteworthy being The Man with the
Golden Arm, and The Manchurian Candidate. In 1954,
Sinatra played a crazed, coldblooded assassin
determined to kill the President in the thriller
Suddenly also starring Sterling Hayden. Critics
have found Sinatra's performance one of the most
chilling portrayals of a psychopath ever committed
to film. Sinatra, however, insisted the film be
removed from distribution after he learned that
Lee Harvey Oswald had watched it shortly before he
assassinated President Kennedy. 

Soon after his film debut, Sinatra's singing
career rebounded. During the 1950s, he signed with
Capitol Records, where he worked with many of the
finest arrangers of the era, most notably Nelson
Riddle and Billy May, and with whom he made a
series of highly regarded recordings. By the early
1960s, he was a big enough star to start his own
record label: Reprise Records.  His position with
the label earned him the long-lasting nickname
"The Chairman of the Board".

In the 1950s and 1960s, Sinatra was a popular
attraction in Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas. He was
friends with many other entertainers, including
Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. Together, along
with actor Peter Lawford and comedian Joey Bishop,
they formed the core of the Rat Pack, a loose
group of entertainers who were friends and
socialized together.

Sinatra played a major role in the desegregation
of Nevada hotels and casinos in the 1960s. Sinatra
led his fellow members of the Rat Pack in refusing
to patronize hotels and casinos that denied
service to Sammy Davis Jr., an African-American. 
As the Rat Pack became the subject of great media
attention due to the release of the film Ocean's
Eleven, many hotels and casinos, desiring the
attention that would come from the presence of
Sinatra and the Rat Pack in their properties,
relented on their policies of segregation.

On December 1, 1983 while playing Blackjack at the
Golden Nugget Atlantic City|Golden Nugget Casino
in Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City Sinatra
and fellow ratpacker Dean Martin had intimidated
the Blackjack dealer and several casino employees
into breaking New Jersey casino laws by making the
dealer deal the cards by hand instead of by a shoe
which is required by law. Although Sinatra and
Martin were implicated as the direct cause of the
violation neither were fined by the New Jersey
Casino Control Commission, The Golden Nugget on
the other hand received a $25,000.00 fine and four
employees including the dealer, a supervisor and
pit boss were suspended from their jobs without
pay. New Jersey Casino Control Commissioner Joel
Jacobsen called Sinatra "an obnoxious bully" with
a "bloated ego." This statement angered Sinatra
who vowed never to play in Atlantic City ever
again, However this threat was short lived because
a year later Sinatra returned to Atlantic City
performing at Bally's.

===Family life===
Sinatra was married to his childhood sweetheart
Nancy Barbato Sinatra|Nancy Barbato, in Jersey
City, New Jersey on February 4, 1939. They had
three children together: Nancy Sinatra (born June
8, 1940), Frank Sinatra, Jr. (born January 10,
1943), and Tina Sinatra |Christine "Tina" Sinatra
(born June 20, 1948). Although Sinatra did not
remain faithful to his wife, he was by many
accounts a devoted father. However, his affair
with Ava Gardner became public and the couple was
separated in 1950. They were divorce|divorced on
October 29, 1951. 

Sinatra married the actress Ava Gardner on
November 7, 1951, only ten days after his divorce
from his first wife became final. They were
separated on October 27, 1953 but were not
divorced until 1957.

Sinatra asked Lauren Bacall to marry him, but
changed his mind and left her confused and angry.

On December 8, 1963, Frank Sinatra, Jr. was List
of famous kidnappings|kidnapped. Sinatra paid the
kidnappers' $240,000 ransom demand (even offering
$1,000,000 if only his son would be returned,
though the kidnappers bizarrely turned this offer
down), and his son was released unharmed on
December 10.  Because the kidnappers demanded that
Sinatra call them only from payphones, Sinatra
carried a roll of dimes with him throughout the
ordeal, which became a lifetime habit, and he
supposedly was even buried with one, as mentioned
below.  The kidnappers were subsequently
apprehended and convicted and are widely regarded
as rather incompetent, amateurish chancers.

Sinatra married actress Mia Farrow, 30 years his
junior, in 1966. They were divorced two years
later.

Barbara Blakely Marx|Barbara Sinatra divorced her
husband Zeppo Marx to marry Sinatra. They were wed
in 1976. She remained his wife until his death.

===Death===
Sinatra's singing career continued into the 1990s,
most notably with his Duets albums on which he
sang with other stars such as U2 (band)|U2's Bono.
He continued to perform live until February 1995,
but the nearly 80-year-old singer often had to
rely on teleprompters for his lyrics, to
compensate for his failing memory.

In Japan, Frank Sinatra appeared in commercials
for All Nippon Airways. 

A frequent visitor, property owner and benefactor
in the Palm Springs, California area, Sinatra
wished to be buried in the desert he grew to love
so much. Sinatra died in 1998 of a heart attack in
Los Angeles, following a long illness from
coronary heart disease, kidney disease, bladder
cancer and senility. His funeral was held some 120
miles east at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Palm
Springs.  

Sinatra's last words were (according to his
daughter Nancy Sinatra, as told to Variety senior
columnist Army Archerd): "I'm losing."

Sinatra was buried a few miles due east of St.
Theresa next to his parents in Desert Memorial
Park in Cathedral City, a quiet, unassuming
cemetery near his famous compound in Rancho Mirage
which is located on the beautiful, tree-lined
thoroughfare that bears his name.  His longtime
friend Jilly Rizzo, who died in a Rancho Mirage
car crash in 1992, is buried nearby as is pop
star, former Palm Springs mayor and United States
House of Representatives|Congressman, Sonny Bono. 
Legend has it that Sinatra was buried with a flask
of Jack Daniel's whiskey, a roll of dimes (in
reference to the kidnapping of his son, see
above), a lighter (which some take to be a
reference to his mob connections) and a packet of
Camel cigarettes. The words "The Best is Yet to
Come" are imprinted on his tombstone.

==Recorded legacy==

Frank Sinatra's greatest contribution to Western
culture was, of course, in the field of
recordings.  Sinatra left a vast legacy of
recordings, from his very first sides with the
Harry James orchestra in 1939, the vast catalogs
at Columbia in the 1940s, Capitol in the 1950s,
and Reprise from the 1960s onwards, up to his 1994
album Duets II.
Some of his best known recordings are "My Way
(song)|My Way", "Theme from New York, New York|New
York, New York", "Night and Day (song)|Night and
Day", "You Make Me Feel So Young", "I've Got You
Under My Skin", "Strangers in the Night", and "Fly
Me To The Moon".
Of all his many albums,  At the Sands With Count
Basie, which was recorded live in Las Vegas,
Nevada|Las Vegas in 1966, with Sinatra in his
prime, backed by Count Basie's big band, remains
his most popular and is still a big seller.

==Discography (original LPs)==

* The Voice Of Frank Sinatra (Columbia, released
1946)
* Songs By Sinatra (Columbia, 1947)
* Frankly Sentimental (Columbia, 1949)
* Dedicated To You (Columbia, 1950)
* Sing And Dance With Frank Sinatra (Columbia,
1950)
* Songs For Young Lovers (Capitol, 1954)
* Swing Easy (Capitol, 1954)
* In The Wee Small Hours (Capitol, 1955)
* Songs For Swinging Lovers (Capitol, 1956)
* Close To You (Capitol, 1957)
* A Swingin’Affair (Capitol, 1957)
* Where Are You? (Capitol, 1957)
* Come Fly With Me (Capitol, 1958)
* Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely (Capitol,
1958)
* Come Dance With Me (Capitol, 1959)
* No One Cares (Capitol, 1959)
* Nice’n’Easy (Capitol, 1960)
* Sinatra’s Swingin’Session (Capitol, 1961)
* Ring-A-Ding-Ding (Reprise, 1961)
* Come Swing With Me (Capitol, 1961)
* Sinatra Swings (Reprise, 1961)
* I Remember Tommy (Reprise, 1961)
* Sinatra And Strings (Reprise, 1962)
* Point Of No Return (Capitol, 1962)
* Sinatra And Swingin’Brass (Reprise, 1962)
* Sinatra Sings Great Songs From Great Britain
(Reprise, 1962)
* All Alone (Reprise, 1962)
* Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First
(Reprise, 1963)
* The Concert Sinatra (Reprise, 1963)
* Sinatra’s Sinatra (Reprise, 1963)
* Sinatra Sings...Academy Award Winners (Reprise,
1964)
* Sinatra-Basie: It Might As Well Be Swing: A
Meeting Of Giants (Reprise, 1964)
* Softly As I Leave You (Reprise, 1964)
* Sinatra 65: The Singer Today (Reprise, 1965)
* September Of My Years (Reprise, 1965)
* My Kind Of Broadway (Reprise, 1965)
* Moonlight Sinatra (Reprise, 1966)
* Strangers In The Night (Reprise, 1966)
* Sinatra At The Sands (Live mit Count Basie,
Reprise, 1966)
* That’s Life (Reprise, 1966)
* Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
(Reprise, 1967
* The World We Knew (Reprise, 1967)
* Francis A. & Edward K. (with Duke Ellington,
Reprise, 1968)
* Cycles (Reprise, 1968)
* My Way (Reprise, 1969)
* A Man Alone (Reprise, 1969)
* Watertown (Reprise, 1970)
* Sinatra & Company (Reprise, 1971)
* Ol’Blue Eyes Is Back (Reprise, 1973)
* Some Nice Things I’ve Missed (Reprise, 1974)
* The Main Event – Live (Reprise, 1974)
* Trilogy: Past-Present-Future (Reprise, 1980)
* She Shot Me Down (Reprise, 1981)
* L.A. Is My Lady (QWest/Warner, 1984)
* Duets (Capitol, 1993)
* Duets II (Capitol, 1994)

==Filmography==

*Major Bowes Amateur Theatre of the Air (1935)
(short subject)
*Las Vegas Nights_(album)|Las Vegas Nights (1941)
*Ship Ahoy (1942)
*Reveille with Beverly (1943)
*Show Business at War (1943) (short subject)
*Upbeat in Music (1943) (short subject) (scenes
deleted)
*Higher and Higher (1944)
*Road to Victory (1944) (short subject)
*Step Lively (1944)
*The All-Star Bond Rally (1945) (short subject)
*Anchors Aweigh (1945)
*The House I Live In (1945) (short subject)
*MGM Christmas Trailer (1945) (short subject)
*Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
*It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
*Screen Snapshots: Out-of-This-World Series (1947)
(short subject)
*Lucky Strike Salesman's Movie 48-A (1948) (short
subject)
*The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
*The Kissing Bandit (1948)
*Take Me Out to the Ball Game (film)|Take Me Out
to the Ball Game (1949)
*On the Town (1949)
*Double Dynamite (1951)
*Meet Danny Wilson (1952)
*Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952)
(short subject)
*From Here to Eternity (1953)
*Suddenly (1954)
*Young at Heart (movie)|Young at Heart (1954)
*Not as a Stranger (1955)
*Finian's Rainbow (1955) (animated musical,
recorded songs with Louis Armstrong and Ella
Fitzgerald, film never completed)
*Guys and Dolls (1955)
*The Tender Trap (1955)
*The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
*Carousel (1956) (recorded several songs, shot
several scenes, walked off set and was replaced by
Gordon MacRae)
*Screen Snapshots: Playtime in Hollywood (1956)
(short subject)
*Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956) (cameo)
*High Society (1956)
*Johnny Concho (1956)
*Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
*The Pride and the Passion (1957)
*The Joker Is Wild (1957)
*Pal Joey (1957)
*Kings Go Forth (1958)
*Some Came Running (1958)
*Invitation to Monte Carlo (1959) (documentary)
*A Hole in the Head (1959)
*Premier Khrushchev in the USA (1959)
(documentary)
*Never So Few (1959)
*Can-Can (1960)
*Ocean's Eleven (1960)
*Pepe (1960) (cameo)
*The Devil at Four O'Clock (1961)
*Sinatra In Israel (1962) (short subject)
*Sergeants 3 (1962)
*The Road to Hong Kong (1962) (cameo)
*Advise and Consent (1962) (voice)
*The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
*The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) (cameo)
*Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
*4 for Texas (1963)
*Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
*A Tribute to the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital
(1965) (short subject)
*None But the Brave (1965) (also producer and
director)
*Von Ryan's Express (1965)
*Marriage on the Rocks (1965)
*The Oscar (1966)
*Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
*Assault on a Queen (1966)
*Think Twentieth (1967) (short subject)
*The Naked Runner (1967)
*Tony Rome (1967)
*The Detective (1968)
*Lady in Cement (1968)
*Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)
*That's Entertainment! (1974)
*Rene Simard in Japan (1974) (documentary)
*Contract on Cherry Street (1977) (TV Movie)
*The First Deadly Sin (1980)
*Cannonball Run II (1984)
*Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990)
(documentary)
*In Person (1993) (voice) (short subject)
*Young at Heart (1994) (Produced by Tina Sinatra)
(TV Short)
*Frank Sinatra 80 Years: My Way (1995) (television
special)

==Samples==
*Media:Saturday Night.ogg|Download sample of
"Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the
Week)"

==See also==
*List of popular music performers
*Frank Sinatra song list
*Sinatra Doctrine
*Best selling music artists

==External links==
Commons|Frank Sinatra
* http://www.sinatrafamily.com Sinatra family site
* http://www.sinatra-main-event.de Sinatra - The
Main Event
*
http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/RatPack/Sinatr
a/Frank.php Fun Sinatra Facts Learn to talk like
Sinatra
*imdb name|id=0000069|name=Frank Sinatra
* http://www.strictlysinatra.com Strictly Sinatra
-  a tribute To Frank Sinatra
* http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/sinatra.htm FBI's
Frank Sinatra file
* http://www.sinatraarchive.com/ref/songlist.htm
List of songs sung by Frank Sinatra
*
http://lyrics.rare-lyrics.com/F/Frank-Sinatra.html
Frank Sinatra Lyrics Collection
*
http://thisamericanlife.com/pages/descriptions/02/
205.html A radio show containing an interview with
Frank Sinatra, Junior's kidnapper