Frank Sinatra

Sinatra is the son of Italian immigrants who settled on the east coast of America at the turn of the century as children with their parents. His father was a native of Palermo, Sicily, and worked as a professional boxer, fireman and bartender. And his mother was from the northern Italian town of Lumarzo and served as the local chairman of the Democratic Party in Hoboken.

From an early age he was interested in music, and from 13 he worked part-time with his small musical rig and megaphone in the bars of his town. From 1932 Sinatra had small radio appearances; and since he saw his idol Bing Crosby at a concert in Jersey City in 1933, he chose the singing profession. In addition, he also worked as a sports reporter for a local newspaper during the Great Depression in the 1930s, after leaving college without a degree. Movies sparked his interest; his favorite actor was Edward G. Robinson, who was then primarily starring in gangster movies.

With the group "The Hoboken Four" Sinatra won in 1935 the young talent contest of the then popular radio show "Major Bowes Amateur Hour" ("Major Bowes Amateur Hour") and a short time later went with them on his first national tour. He then spent 18 months from 1937 working on a commitment as a showman in a New Jersey music restaurant, which was also frequented by stars such as Cole Porter, and together with his radio appearances laid the foundations for his professional career.
The main impetus for Sinatra's career takeoff came from his work in the famous swing jazz orchestras of trumpeter Harry James and trombonist Tommy Dorsey in 1939-42. In February 1939, Sinatra married his first love, Nancy Barbato.

In the late 1940s, Sinatra had a creative crisis of genre, coinciding with a tumultuous affair with actress Ava Gardner. 1949 was the most difficult year of Sinatra's career, when he was fired from radio, and six months later plans for concerts in New York were rudely disrupted, Nancy filed for divorce, and the affair with Gardner turned into a high-profile scandal. Moreover, Columbia Records denied him studio time. In 1950, his contract with MGM was terminated, and a new agent from MCA also turned his back on Sinatra. At the age of 34, Frank had become a man of the past, spoken of in the past tense. A big dot was put on him. In 1951, Sinatra married Ava Gardner, whom he divorced six years later. On top of all this, Sinatra lost his voice after a bad cold. All these misfortunes were so unexpected and severe that the singer decided to commit suicide.

The problems with his voice were temporary, and when he recovered, Sinatra started all over again. In 1953, he starred in the movie "From Now and Forever", receiving an Oscar for him as the best supporting actor. He was invited to various movie projects, the most successful of which were "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955), "Ocean's 11 Friends" (1960), "Detective" (1968).

Beginning in the late 1950s, Sinatra performed in Las Vegas with such pop stars as Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Joe Bishop, and Peter Lawford. Their company known as Rat Pack worked with John F. Kennedy during his presidential campaign in 1960. Very successful recordings and performances with the big bands of Count Basie, Billy May, the studio swing orchestras of Nelson Riddle and others, earned Sinatra fame as one of the masters of swing.

In 1966, Sinatra married actress Mia Farrow. He was 51 years old, and she was 21. The couple separated the following year. Ten years later, Sinatra married for the fourth time to Barbara Marks, with whom he lived until the end of his life.

In 1971, Sinatra announced that he was retiring, but continued to give rare concerts, which became a real sensation in the music world. In 1980, Sinatra recorded one of his masterpieces - the super-hit "New York, New York", becoming the only singer in history who managed to return to popularity and love of the public after fifty years. In 1988-1989 there was a farewell tour "Rat Pack", and Sinatra's last concert performance took place in 1994, when he was 78 years old.

On May 14, 1998, Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack at the age of 83.