Allan Laing looks at the life of a hellraiser who took on the world.
ON a clear day, you can see the Manhattan Skyline from the blue-collar town of Hoboken, New Jersey. Way back in the Depression years, a local kid, skinny with big ears, would often wander down to the dockside, gaze across the Hudson River, and dream of what kind of future there might be for him over in the Big City and beyond. His name was Francis Albert Sinatra and he died yesterday in California with every dream fulfilled.
There will be no more comebacks for the greatest popular singer of the twentieth century. The legacy Frank Sinatra leaves behind is impossible to overstate. He was the most consummate of professionals. The perfect interpreter of any song he graced.
Yet, like every genius, he was a difficult man. He was tough, temperamental, and not the nicest person in the world (when you caught him on a bad day). He was a born hellraiser; a drinker and a fighter and a fully paid-up member of the legendary Hollywood Rat Pack.
He had a life-long loathing for the press and often ended up brawling with them. There were perpetual rumours about him being Mob connected. He had a vicious streak which served to prove that you could take the boy out of Hoboken but you couldn't take Hoboken out of the boy.
By the same token, he was the bosom buddy of presidents, a generous patron of the arts, and a man who donated millions to charity over the years. Above all else, he was a singer of unparalleled talent. For that, you can forgive the man all his faults.
Frank Sinatra was born to working class Italian parents on December 12, 1915. His father, Martin, was a fireman and semi-pro boxer. His mother, Dolly, was a nurse and active New Jersey politician - which probably explains her infamous bad language.
After flunking high school, he found a job as a copy boy on a local newspaper but, when his ambition to become a sportswriter ended in failure, he decided to concentrate on the one talent he knew he possessed - his voice.
Frank was 19 when he first saw Bing Crosby at New York's Loew's Theatre. Speaking years later, he said: ''Bing was the father of my career, the idol of my youth, and the dear, dear friend of my maturity.''
Determined to follow in his hero's footsteps, Sinatra joined a group called the Hoboken Four. On September 8, 1935, they appeared on the top-rated radio talent show, Major Bowes Amateur Hour, and won with the biggest vote ever.
In 1939, at the same time as he married his childhood sweetheart Nancy Barbato, Sinatra turned professional and joined the Harry James Band. The following year, he teamed up with Tommy Dorsey, for whom he had always wanted to sing. The move made him popular music's first teen idol and he had his own legion of screaming fans.
The singer's first recording contract came in 1943, when he signed with Columbia and released early classics like Someone To Watch Over Me and Ol' Man River to great success.
Sinatra developed his own intimate way of crooning. ''It occurred to me that the world didn't need another Crosby,'' he once said. ''I decided to experiment a little and come up with something different. What I finally hit on was more the bel canto Italian style of singing without making a point of it.''
In the 1940s, Sinatra turned to movie acting, his most notable appearance being alongside Gene Kelly in MGM's On The Town. However, by the early 1950s, his career had begun to slip and there were rumours of a suicide attempt. The downturn co-incided with a tempestuous love affair with Ava Gardner, whom he was later to marry.
It was only when Sinatra signed with Capital Records in 1953 that his career once again took off. This was possibly his finest recording period, teaming up with great bandleader/arrangers like Billy May and Nelson Riddle. His album of the time, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, is generally regarded as one of the great recordings of the century and the first ''concept'' album.
In 1954, Sinatra starred in the movie From Here To Eternity, a performance which earned him an Oscar. The following year, he played opposite Marlon Brando in Guys And Dolls and later film appearances included The Manchurian Candidate, The Man With The Golden Arm, The Detective, Tony Rome, and Von Ryan's Express.
In 1960, he became one of the first entertainers to form his own record company, Reprise, which released some of his biggest hits, including Strangers In The Night and (his duet with daughter Nancy) Somethin' Stupid. The 1960s also saw the release of the two songs with which he is probably most closely associated, New York, New York (which he always loved) and My Way (which he grew to hate). He was honoured with three Grammy awards.
Sinatra's stormy marriage to Ava Gardner lasted less than six years, during which they were mostly apart. In 1966, when he was 50, he married actress Mia Farrow, then 21. They separated the following year and were divorced in 1968. The singer's fourth wife, Barbara, a former model and dancer who had been married to Zeppo Marx, had a calming effect on her husband.
To celebrate his 75th birthday, Sinatra made his final European tour in 1990 which included an appearance at Ibrox Park, Glasgow. Although the concert itself was highly acclaimed, the organisation behind it turned into a fiasco, with marketing problems forcing a huge reduction in the seating capacity.
For Frank Sinatra, Ol' Blue Eyes to his army of fans, the end has been near since he became seriously ill in 1996. There were reports he was also being treated for pneumonia and heart problems. Two months later, he was again in hospital - this time, doctors said he suffered an ''uncomplicated'' heart attack. Since then, he had seldom been seen in public.
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