Frank Sinatra

  Frank Sintra, know for his astounding voice, and his fine acting.  Born in Hoboken  New Jersey he was the only child of Italian immigrants.  His book "Try and Stop Me" said that his father was a lightweight boxer.  Unfortunately Sinatra didn't graduate high school, because of his rowdy behavior he was expelled.
    Honestly this was a shock wo me when I first found out.
    He began singing for tips at the age of eight, standing on top of the bar at a local nightclub in Hoboken. Sinatra began singing professionally as a teenager in the 1930s, although he learned music by ear, he never learned how to read music. Sinatra got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group to let him join.  When he joined they became the Hoboken Four.  He didn't stay with the group for very long, late in 1935 he cam e back home and his mother found a job for him as a singing waiter.
    Ok, he went from the fame of the Hoboken Four, and traded in to be a singing waiter.  He stayed there until he recorded his first song "Our Love".  The band leader kept the record in a safe for nearly 60 years.  
    I found out that on January 26, 1940, Sinatra made his first public appearance with the Dorsey band at the Coronado Theater in Rockford, Illinois.   In his first year with Dorsey, Sinatra released more than forty songs, with "I'll Never Smile Again" topping the charts for twelve weeks beginning in mid-July.
    In May 1941, Sinatra was at the top of the male singer polls in the Billboard and Down Beat magazines.  Sinatra made a "legendary opening" at the Paramount Theater in New York on December 30th 1942.  Then 2 years later when he returned, 35,000 fans caused a near riot outside the venue because they weren't allowed in.  
    In 1945, Sinatra co-starred with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh. That same year, he was loaned out to RKO to star in a short film titled The House I Live In.  He also did many other acting jobs, but by the end of 1948, Sinatra felt that his career was stalling.  Something that was confirmed when he slipped to No. 4 on Down Beat's annual poll of most popular singers.  After two years' absence, Sinatra returned to the concert stage on January 12, 1950, in Hartford, Connecticut. His voice suffered and he experienced hemorrhaging of his vocal cords on stage at the Copacabana on April 26, 1950.  Sinatra's career and appeal to new teen audiences declined as he moved into his mid-30s.  
    A year later he appeared in Las Vegas, and performed at the Desert Inn.  Also a month later the second season of "The Frank Sinatra Show" began.  But he didn't get the publicity he wanted through television.  Then in 1953 he starred on NBC's radio program Rocky Fortune.  During the final months of the show, just before the 1954 Oscars, it became a running gag that Sinatra would manage to work the phrase "from here to eternity" into each episode, a reference to his Oscar-nominated performance.
Also in 1953 he signed a contract with Capitol Records, and recorded In the Wee Small Hours, Where 
are you?, Swing Easy, and Come Fly with Me.   
    I also found out that Sinatra used to criticize the new rock and roll music, because the rhythm and beat were so different than what he knew to be music.  Once the 60's rolled around he began where he left off in the 50's.  His first album of the decade was Nice 'n' Easy.  Sinatra once again grew discontented, and decided to form his own label, Reprise Records. His first album on the label, Ring-A-Ding Ding!, was a major success, peaking at #4 on Billboard and #8 in the UK.
    All through the 60's Sinatra performed on stage and in films.  He was also given the opportunity to work with many other famous people throughout his life.  Such as Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, The Beatles,  Martin Luther King Jr., and Dean Martin.  Working on into the 70's Sinatra finally announced his retirement in 1971 and the age of 55.  But 2 years later he came back out of retirement and started a television show and an album both called, "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back".  
    He traveled to Australia, and caused an uproar there by stating that the reporters and journalists were pursuing his every move and pushing for a press conference all the time.  The Australian unions that represented the workers, waiters, and journalists went on strike, demanding that Sinatra apologize for his remarks.  But good ol' Frank instead insisted that the journalists apologize for "fifteen years of abuse I have taken from the world press".  
    In 1979, in front of the Egyptian pyramids, Sinatra performed for Anwar Sadat. Back in Las Vegas, while celebrating 40 years in show business and his 64th birthday, he was awarded the Grammy Trustees Award during a party at Caesars Palace.  
    In 1990, Sinatra did a national tour, and was awarded the second "Ella Award" by the Los Angeles–based Society of Singers. At the award ceremony, he performed for the final time with Ella Fitzgerald.  Sinatra had three children, Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina, all with his first wife, Nancy Sinatra.  He was married three more times, to actresses Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow, and finally to Barbara Marx until his death.  Sinatra began to show signs of dementia in his last years. After a heart attack in February 1997, he made no further public appearances. After suffering another heart attack, he died at 10:50 p.m. on May 14, 1998, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with his wife, Barbara, by his side.  The official cause of death was listed as complications from dementia, heart and kidney disease, and bladder cancer.  He was 82 years old.  Thus ended the life of this incredibly talented man.  He will forever be in the hearts and minds of our grandparents and great grandparents.  Now hopefully he can be remembered by the future generations to come.