THE Chairman of the Board has stepped down after a lifetime of taking care of business. Frank Sinatra, the skinny kid from Hoboken, New Jersey, who rose to become the world's greatest entertainer, is dead. He was 82.
The ol' blue eyes closed for the last time on Thursday night in the emergency room of Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles. His wife, Barbara, was at his bedside when he passed away from a heart attack. The rest of his family arrived soon after.
Sadly it appears his wife and three children are set for a huge squabble over his #124m fortune.
The four-times married star made more than 200 albums in a career which spanned 60 years, became the most influential vocalist on the planet, had a string of worldwide hits and is probably best remembered - in Scotland at least - for My Way.
As plans for a private funeral were being prepared yesterday, tributes flowed in.
Friend and contemporary Mel Torme said: ''He held the patent, the original blueprint on singing popular song.''
Ernest Borgnine, who played opposite Sinatra in From Here To Eternity, said: ''The world has now lost one of its most precious commodities.''
Elton John, in Boston during his current world tour, said Sinatra ''was simply the best. No-one else even comes close.''
The praise was not confined to the entertainment world.
President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair, together at the G8 summit in Birmingham, also paid their tributes. Mr Clinton said he was an enormous admirer of the entertainer. ''I think every American would have to smile and say he really did do it his way.''
Mr Blair described Sinatra as one of the greatest performers of the century. ''I have grown up with Frank Sinatra and he will be deeply missed.''
News of the star's death cast a shadow over the Cannes Film Festival, director Martin Scorsese said: ''He was an idol of mine and millions, a great Italian-American, a great American, and a great actor by the way. I'm very, very upset.''
q The top of the Empire State Building will be bathed in blue light for the next three days in a symbolic ''thank you'' to the singer, who enjoyed a long association with New York, and will be best remembered among its denizens for praising it twice.
The legend Pages 4 and 5
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