He reached the top of the singles charts in a duet, "Somethin' Stupid," with his daughter Nancy in Sinatra continued to act in several movies in the s, including Ocean's 11 , The Manchurian Candidate , Robin and the Seven Hoods , and Tony Rome Many critics felt several of these films had declined in artistic merit.
Sinatra became known as part of a group of friends called the "Rat Pack. After Sinatra's famous recording of "My Way" , he made an ill-fated attempt to sing some of the lighter tunes of modern rock composers.
This led to a brief retirement from entertainment through At this time he also shifted his politics from liberal to conservative. He had become a close friend of Ronald Reagan — , helping him in his later successful presidential campaigns. 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 with a renewed interest in older tunes. His return to the limelight was highlighted by his famous recording of "New York, New York" as he entered his sixth decade of entertaining. In Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. The tour lasted only one week. Sinatra later organized another reunion tour with Shirley MacLaine — in and it was an undeniable success.
By Sinatra was experiencing memory lapses, but that did not keep him from performing publicly. He merely added the use of a prompter device that shows the words of a song to remind him of the lyrics. After celebrating his eightieth birthday at a public tribute, new packages of recordings were released and became instant best-sellers.
But Sinatra's health continued to deteriorate in the s. The audiences who grew up with him and his music were complemented by adoration from younger generations. They have all made "Old Blue Eyes" one of the most outstanding popular singers of the twentieth century. Friedwald, Will. New York: Scribner, 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.
He did reach the top of the singles charts in a duet with his daughter Nancy, "Somethin' Stupid," in A brief marriage to year-old actress Mia Farrow ended in divorce in He continued his movie roles, including Tony Rome and Robin and the Seven Hoods , 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.
After his famous recording of "My Way" , 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 through , 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 with a renewed interest in the middle of the road genre and older tunes. He was married for the fourth time, in , to Barbara Blakely. His return to the limelight was highlighted by his famous recording of "New York, New York" as he entered his sixth decade of entertaining. In , Sinatra joined with Sammie Davis, Jr. The tour lasted only one week.
Sinatra later organized another reunion tour with Shirley MacLaine in and it was a resounding success. By , 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. He was now able, like Dorsey, to execute long passages without a pause.
He was singing in a manner that had not been heard before, and he was now eager to step outside his role as a big-band vocalist and establish himself as a solo artist. At first, Goodman had no idea who Sinatra was. He ended up agreeing to the request, but he gave Sinatra last billing. By the time of the opening show, on December 30th, , a crowd of 5, was crammed into the Paramount Goodman and Sinatra performed several shows throughout the day.
The audience was mainly made up of teenage girls, known as bobby-soxers for the white socks they favored. When Sinatra walked onstage, the theater exploded with the shrieks of young women. What the hell was that? Goodman asked, looking at Sinatra. The sound was so deafening that even Sinatra was momentarily stunned.
Then he laughed, giddy at the thrill of it, stepped up to the microphone, wrapped his hands around the stand, leaned toward the crowd and moved into For Me and My Gal.
The pandemonium became so furious that, according to comedian Jack Benny, present that day, there were fears that the building might collapse. It was the first sizable moment of adolescent pop-culture fervor that America would see, and it became immediate news around the country. The big-band era was effectively finished, and a new era of pop-vocal heroes was fast on its way. That shift would have a tremendous impact that lingers to this day — and nobody made that transition more possible, or would imbue it with as much artistic potential, as Frank Sinatra.
T he s were an era full of big hopes and bigger perils. The nation had recovered from the long, devastating Depression of the s, but it was now enmeshed in a high-stakes world war in Europe and Asia. In the midst of these years of risk — in this time of possible ruin or rebirth — America found its favorite voice in a fragile-looking romantic balladeer. No doubt part of what Frank Sinatra offered to his audience was the allure of a pleasant diversion during dark nights of uncertainty.
Sinatra was a sign that America had a promising outlook: There were still great songs and exhilarating nights to come, and the last dance was a long way off. In , Sinatra was a guest at President Franklin D. In part the decline simply had to do with shifting musical tastes: In the elation of the postwar period, a new audience wanted more verve than the light-voiced Sinatra now seemed capable of. In addition, Sinatra alienated many of his remaining supporters in a matter of personal conduct.
In , Sinatra had married his longtime girlfriend, Nancy Barbato, and the couple would have three children: Nancy, Frank Jr. But Sinatra had an eager eye, and there were rumors that he saw numerous women during his roadshows. When Sinatra began a steamy public affair with actress Ava Gardner, the press was outraged, and so were many of his fans. Sinatra divorced Nancy and, in , married Gardner. After that, no record companies would take a chance on Sinatra.
He was back to the club circuit, trying to recapture the voice, confidence and following that had once come so readily. In , Capitol Records agreed to a one-year contract with Sinatra — if the artist was willing to pay his own studio costs. With his first few sessions for the label, Sinatra surprised both critics and former fans by flaunting a new voice, which seemed to carry more depth, more worldly insight and rhythmic invention, than the half-fragile tone he had brandished in the s.
In addition, Sinatra became one of the first pop artists to take advantage of the possibilities offered by the new format of long-playing records. LPs could hold more than forty-five minutes of music in near-continuous play, which meant that a performer could dwell on a mood until it might give up no other revelations. Or, if the artist chose, he might even use the extended format to construct a character study or share an ongoing story. He took supremely mellifluous material, like the title track, and sang it as if it were a hushed yet vital communication: a mournful confession shared with an understanding friend over a late-night shot of whiskey or, more likely, a painful rumination that the singer needed to proclaim to himself in order to work his way free of a bitter memory.
It was Ava who did that, who taught him how to sing a torch song, Nelson Riddle later told biographer Kitty Kelley. In , he won a special Academy Award for The House I Live In , a minute short made to promote racial and religious tolerance on the home front.
Sinatra's popularity began to slide in the postwar years, however, leading to a loss of his recording and film contracts in the early s. But in , he made a triumphant comeback, winning an Oscar for supporting actor for his portrayal of the Italian American soldier Maggio in the classic From Here to Eternity.
Although this was his first non-singing role, Sinatra quickly found a new vocal outlet when he received a recording contract with Capitol Records in the same year. The Sinatra of the s brought forth a more mature sound with jazzier inflections in his voice. Having regained stardom, Sinatra enjoyed continued success in both movies and music for years to come.
He received another Academy Award nomination for his work in The Man with the Golden Arm and earned critical acclaim for his performance in the original version of The Manchurian Candidate Meanwhile, he continued to be a formidable chart presence.
When his record sales began to dip by the end of the s, Sinatra left Capitol to establish his own record label, Reprise. In association with Warner Bros. By the mids, Sinatra was back on top again. This period also marked his Las Vegas debut, where he continued on for years as the main attraction at Caesars Palace. With his modern edge and timeless class, even radical youth of the day had to pay Sinatra his due. As Jim Morrison of the Doors once said, "No one can touch him.
Back in the world of music, Sinatra had a big hit in with the Billboard No. He also recorded the duet "Something Stupid" with his daughter Nancy , who'd previously made waves with the feminist anthem "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.
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