Frank Sinatra | Artist

Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer born 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Sinatra began singing professionally as a teenager, even though he never learned to read music, he learned by ear. He got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group to let him join. Renamed "The Hoboken Four" they passed an audition and appeared on the Edward Bowes Amateur Hour TV show. He later became feature vocalist for two of the leading "swing" bands of the time, the Harry James band, and later the Tommy Dorsey band. Dorsey was a major influence on Sinatra and became a father figure. In his first year with Dorsey, Sinatra recorded more than forty songs. His first vocal hit was the song "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" in April 1940. By May 1941, Sinatra topped the male singer polls in Billboard and DownBeat magazines. His appeal to bobby soxers, as teenage girls of that time were called, revealed a new audience for popular music, which had previously been recorded mainly for adults. Sinatra's blend of Pop/Jazz vocals and arrangement was extremely innovative for its time and he was a strong advocate of black music and black musicians at a time of segregation and persecution of African Americans. Over the course of his career Sinatra released 67 studio albums, 18 live albums, and countless Singles. Outstanding albums include In The Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956), A Swingin' Affair! (1957), Frank Sinatra Sings for Only The Lonely (1958), No One Cares (1959), September of my Years (1965), and Watertown (1970). The 1966 live album Sinatra at the Sands with Count Basie and Quincy Jones, is also highly recommended. Sinatra's rise to international stardom was an example of "The American Dream", the stereotype of the tough working-class Italian American. Born in a crowded low-rent tenement in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants Natalina Garaventa and Antonino Martino Sinatra. Sinatra's illiterate father was a bantamweight boxer who later worked worked his way up to captain at the Hoboken Fire Department, and his mother worked as a midwife, who ran an illegal abortion service that catered to Italian Catholic girls. Sinatra became one the world's best-selling music artists, with an estimated 150 million record sales globally. He was the founder of the Reprise record label, a major stakeholder in casino-hotels in Lake Tahoe, and owner of his music catalogue. At the time of his death at the age of 82, it was estimated he had net wealth of $200 Million, which passed to his daughter Nancy, who was also a popular singer in the '60s, often working in collaboration with Lee Hazlewood.

Artist Website: wikipedia/Frank_Sinatra

Featured Albums: Frank Sinatra

Related Artists: Count Basie, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Duke Ellington, Nancy Sinatra

Collections: Music Visionaries