Frank Sinatra facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Frank Sinatra
Sinatra, c. 1957
Born	Francis Albert Sinatra (1915-12-12)December 12, 1915 Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	May 14, 1998(1998-05-14) (aged 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Burial place	Desert Memorial Park
Occupation	Singer actor producer
Years active	1935–1995
Spouse(s)	Nancy Barbato ​ ​ (m. 1939; div. 1951)​ Ava Gardner ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1957)​ Mia Farrow ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1968)​ Barbara Marx ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	Nancy Frank Jr. Tina
Parent(s)	Antonino Martino Sinatra Natalina Garaventa
Musical career
Genres	Traditional pop easy listening jazz swing big band
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	RCA Victor Columbia Capitol Reprise Warner Bros.

Francis Albert Sinatra (/sɪˈnɑːtrə/; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. He 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.

Sinatra received eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Early life

Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the only child of Italian immigrants Natalina "Dolly" Garaventa and Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra.

Sinatra's mother worked as a midwife, earning $50 for each delivery. She also had a gift for languages and served as a local interpreter.

Sinatra's illiterate father was a 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 for spare change. During the Great Depression, 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".

At a young age, Sinatra developed an interest in music, particularly big band jazz and listened to Gene Austin, Rudy Vallée, Russ Colombo, and Bob Eberly while idolizing Bing Crosby.

Education

Sinatra attended David E. Rue Jr. High School from 1928, and A. J. Demarest High School (since renamed as Hoboken High School) 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 in Jersey City.

Music career

Sinatra (far right) with the Hoboken Four on Major Bowes' Amateur Hour in 1935

Sinatra performing with Harry James at the Hollywood Canteen in 1943

Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey in Ship Ahoy (1942)

Sinatra with Alida Valli, c. 1940s

Sinatra (left) on the Armed Forces Radio in 1944 with Dinah Shore and Bing Crosby (right)

Sinatra in November 1950

The Desert Inn, Las Vegas, where Sinatra began performing in 1951

Nelson Riddle, Sinatra's album arranger for Capitol Records

Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. He became known as "Swoonatra" or "The Voice", and his fans "Sinatratics". He found success as a solo artist after signing with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers". They were known to write Sinatra's song titles on their clothing and bribe hotel maids for an opportunity to touch his bed.

Sinatra released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. In the early 1950s, Sinatra turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best-known residency performers and part of the famous Rat Pack. 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.

Sinatra then signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely (1958), No One Cares (1959), and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).

Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own record label, Reprise Records, and released a string of successful albums. In 1965, he recorded the retrospective album September of My Years and starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music. After releasing Sinatra at the Sands, recorded at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Vegas with frequent collaborator Count Basie in early 1966, the following year he recorded one of his most famous collaborations with Tom Jobim, the album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. It was followed by 1968's Francis A. & Edward K. with Duke Ellington. 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, and released "New York, New York" 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.

Artistry

Sinatra with Axel Stordahl at the Liederkrantz Hall in New York, c. 1947

Sinatra regularly swam and held his breath underwater, thinking of song lyrics to increase his breathing power. He was almost fanatically obsessed with perfection. 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.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sinatra would spend weeks thinking about the songs he wanted to record, and would keep an arranger in mind for each song.

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.

Film career

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's Reveille with Beverly (1943), making a brief appearance singing "Night and Day". Next, he was given leading roles in Higher and Higher and Step Lively (both 1944) for RKO.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cast Sinatra opposite Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson in the Technicolor musical 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, in which he sang "Ol' Man River".

His acting career was revived by the 1953 film From Here to Eternity, which earned Sinatra an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sinatra starred in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He also appeared in musicals such as On the Town (1949), Guys and Dolls (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 (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.

Sinatra and Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945)

Sinatra as Maggio in From Here to Eternity

Sinatra at the 26th Academy Awards

For his performance in From Here to Eternity (1953), Sinatra received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Personal life

Family portrait, 1949. Sinatra with (from left) Nancy, Tina, Nancy Barbato and Frank Jr.

Sinatra had three children, Nancy (born 1940), Frank Jr. (1944–2016) and Tina (born 1948), with his first wife, Nancy Sinatra (née Barbato, 1917–2018), to whom he was married from 1939 to 1951.

Sinatra was married to Hollywood actress Ava Gardner from 1951 to 1957. The couple formally announced their separation on October 29, 1953, but the divorce was not settled until 1957. Sinatra continued to feel very strongly for her, and they remained friends for life.

Sinatra reportedly broke off engagements to Lauren Bacall in 1958 and Juliet Prowse in 1962. He was also romantically linked to Pat Sheehan, Vikki Dougan, and Kipp Hamilton. He married Mia Farrow on July 19, 1966, a short marriage that ended with divorce in Mexico in August 1968. They remained close friends for life.

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.

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".

Sinatra in 1955

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.

Politics and activism

Sinatra, pictured with Eleanor Roosevelt in 1947, was an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party until the early 1970s.

Sinatra held varied political views throughout his life. 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.

Sinatra is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

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 Ronald Reagan for a second term as Governor of California in 1970. He officially changed allegiance in July 1972 when he supported Richard Nixon for re-election in the 1972 presidential election.

In the 1980 presidential election, Sinatra supported Ronald Reagan and donated $4 million 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, remarking, "His love of country, his generosity for those less fortunate ... make him one of our most remarkable and distinguished Americans."

Sinatra watching an IDF military parade during a visit to Israel, 1962

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.

Death and funeral

Sinatra's grave located at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California

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 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. 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 in Beverly Hills, California, on May 20, 1998, with 400 mourners in attendance and thousands of fans outside.

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.

Legacy and honors

Frank Sinatra Park on the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, 4th of July, 2010

Robert Christgau referred to Sinatra as "the greatest singer of the 20th century". His popularity is matched only by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson.

In Sinatra's native Hoboken, he was awarded the Key to the City of by 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 6-foot (1.8 m) tall bronze 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 and Palm Desert in California, a road in Las Vegas near the Las Vegas Strip is also a road named Frank Sinatra Drive in his honor.

Sinatra's three stars for recording, television, and motion pictures on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles

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 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, was aired by CBS in 1992. The series was directed by James Steven Sadwith, who won an Emmy Award for 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, 1998), James Russo (Stealing Sinatra, 2003), Dennis Hopper (The Night We Called It a Day, 2003), and Robert Knepper (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, 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.

In December 2020, it was announced that Creed singer Scott Stapp will portray Frank Sinatra in Reagan, a biopic of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Interesting facts about Frank Sinatra

• Sinatra never learned how to read music.
• At birth, he had to be delivered with the aid of forceps, which caused severe scarring to his left cheek, neck, and ear, and perforated his eardrum—remaining damaged for the rest of his life.
• At the beginning of his career, Sinatra found jobs singing for his supper or for cigarettes.
• To improve his speech, he began taking elocution lessons for a dollar each from vocal coach John Quinlan, who was one of the first people to notice his impressive vocal range.
• In his spare time, Sinatra 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 and liked painting, reading, and building model railways.
• Throughout his professional career, Sinatra recorded more than 1,300 songs and participated in more than fifty films.
• May 13 is considered "Frank Sinatra Day."
• Sinatra was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985.
• He did not serve in the military during World War II. He was officially classified not acceptable for military service because of a perforated eardrum.
• Sinatra was convinced that Johnny Fontane, a mob-associated singer in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather (1969), was based on his life.
• He has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in film and music.
• In 1995, to mark Sinatra's 80th birthday, the Empire State Building glowed blue.
• 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 USC's Frank Sinatra Hall in Los Angeles and also at Wynn Resort's Sinatra restaurant in Las Vegas.

Frank Sinatra quotes

• "Don’t hide your scars. They make you who you are."
• "You only live once, and the way I live, once is enough."
• "If you possess something but you can't give it away, then you don't possess it... it possesses you."
• "When I sing, I believe. I'm honest. If you want to get an audience with you, there's only one way. You have to reach out to them with total honesty and humility."
• "Fear is the enemy of logic. There is no more debilitating, crushing, self-defeating, sickening thing in the world--to an individual or to a nation."

Discography

Images for kids

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  Sinatra in 1957 publicity shot

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  Sinatra recording at Capitol Studios, c. 1955

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  Sinatra in Pal Joey (1957)
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  Sinatra with Dean Martin and Judy Garland in 1962

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  Sinatra with Jill St. John in Tony Rome (1967)

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  Caesars Palace in 1970, where Sinatra performed from 1967 to 1970 and 1973 onwards

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  Sinatra with President Richard Nixon and Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti in 1973

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  Sinatra signed a $16 million three-year deal with the Golden Nugget Las Vegas in 1982.

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  Brendan Grace and Sinatra in 1991

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  Sinatra with Grace Kelly on the set of High Society (1956)

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  Frank Sinatra leaving his signature in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on July 21, 1965

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  Sinatra on CBS Radio in 1944

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  Dean Martin with Frank Sinatra on The Dean Martin Show in 1958

See also

In Spanish: Frank Sinatra para niños

• Frank Sinatra bibliography
• Frank Sinatra's recorded legacy
• The Frank Sinatra Show (radio program)