April 2008 MGA 401

MUSIC HISTORY
ASSIGNMENT

Historical and Artistic insight

into

FRANK SINATRA

Lecturer: Rudi Bower

Research and opinions by:

Lyndi Green 20508356
Content
1. Introduction

2. Beginnings

3. No talent, no style

4. A new era: the vocalist arrives

5. ‘Tommy Dorsey’ banding

6. Solo

7. And of love…

8. Older

9. Retirement

10. “I’m back”

11. The slaves of Sinatra

12. Frankly speaking

13. Consertising Sinatra

14. Frank Sinatra, the Actor

15. The Frank Favourites

16. The Controversy of Frank Sinatra

17. Conclusion

18. References
THE LIFE OF FRANK SINATRA

Francis Albert Sinatra. The Voice. Born at 415 Monroe Street. Hoboken. December 19, 1915.

Introduction

Frank Sinatra has earned his world-wide popularity not just as a singer but as an incredible
recording artist, a concert entertainer of unparalleled drawing power, an Oscar-winning film star,
and a humanitarian of great dedication and generosity. He was a complex man, a driven man, and
a totally unique human being. Those who have been in his company talk of the charisma that
surrounded him: his stylish and immaculate appearance, his courtesy, his craggy, unmistakable
face and his eyes – direct, sharp blue eyes, which gave him the nick-name ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’. The
American broadcaster, William B. Williams, has called him, ‘the most imitated, most listened-to,
most recognized voice of the second half of the twentieth century, and the number one favourite of
the other pop singers.’ And the columnist Earl Wilson has added, ‘Music has been his life. He was
born to it without any hereditary justification, he has the gift, he is naturally musical. His life is a
series of flashbacks pointing to this undenable talent. He is worshipped for it by his followers, and
he no longer finds it curious that they revere him.’ (Kelly; 1986)

Frank Sinatra was born into an unsure America; loneliness was not unknown and to the small man,
America was becoming a violent neighbourhood with no real leaders: there seemed no one to look
up to, no one to vote for. The greatest loneliness is in disillusionment, which is one reason why we
need art. Sinatra has been fighting against disillusionment his whole life.

He brought to his struggle whatever he had from his backround; having no apparent talent at all, he
drove himself to become a singer, and in the end he interpreted the songs so that his struggle
became that of his generation. Humphrey Bogart (Munn; 2003) described Sinatra as a kind of Don
Quixote, ‘tilting at windmills, fighting people who don’t want to fight’. He fought with himself and
chose friends who were unworthy of him. And his honesty and vulnerability came out in his songs.
As the chivalric fool Don Quixote was the center of one of the best loved novels written, so Sinatra
has reflected the anxiety of our century, and perhaps resolved some of it in his music. This is a
man who became part of the soundtrack of our lives. Actress Deborah Kerr, seeing him through a
woman’s eyes, puts it this way: ‘There’s a curioysly tender and vulnerable quality about Frank.
That’s what touches the audience- and it wants to touch back.’ (Clarke; 1997)

There were two Sinatra’s: one that behaved badly, and one that sang the music. He became
perhaps the most famous man of the century because this great singer and troublemaker were the
same man. Sinatra became an American hero because he was the single greatest interpreter of
America’s best songs. The English music critic Benny Green has said, ‘He is folk hero to some and
a double-dyed villain to others. And there is no middle view; you’re supposed to either worship him
or detest him. Is he the man whose morals are a scandal, or the artist whose dedication is
legendary? I’ve found him an acutely understanding man with a marvelous sense of
professionalism.’ (Clarke; 1997)

Beginnings

In those days American cities were run by political gangs, a corrupt system where the poor were
looked after in exchange for their votes and the most successful wheeler-dealers could get rich
through political influence. Frank Sinatra, who was born into this community, was just an Italian-
American kid, and if he hadn’t decided to be a singer we might never have heard of him. Later in
life he is to reflect, ‘There are several things I think I would have done if I had the chance again. I
would have been a little more patient about getting out into the world. I would have seen to it that I
had a more formal education. I would have become an accomplished musician, in the sense that I
would have studied formally, even if I never used it.’ (Randall Taraborrelli; 1997)

When Sinatra was nine years old, broadcasting was already flourishing. As a teenager, during the
Depression, radio became more important because it was ‘free’ entertainment (if you could afford a
radio). Broadcasting transformed pop singing, because it was no longer necessary to have the
lungs of an opera singer. As Clarke (1997:18) wrote one could sing intimately, as if to each
individual listener. A good singer had to learn to use the microphone in interpreting a song,
sometimes leaning in and singing softly for intimacy, sometimes rearing back to pour out the
passion. Words and phrases had to be tailored to the mike, and each song had its different
requirements (Clarke: 1997). Frank probably listened to the radio the way children today watch
television. Fame would be a kind of cure for the loneliness of an only child, and Frank dreamed of
his moment on stage, pleasing an audience, a relationship in which he was safe, giving and taking
affection without much risk. Frank’s need to communicate, an arrogance and vulnerability at the
center of it, would be what made him the biggest star of all. He began singing in public and almost
immediately showed signs of being ahead of his time – he not only seemed to know what he
wanted, he also knew how to get it. He had a superficial confidence in himself, a shield between
himself and failure. According to Clarke (1997:21) Frank was a sharp dresser and did not look like
a high-school dropout, and he knew how to turn on the charm. He understood the importance of
radio exposure, and would sing over the air for no or little payment.

No talent, no style

In 1938, The Rustic Cabin hired Frank as a singing waiter. Here he was exposed to the biggest
names of the Swing Era as well as get himself heard by them. Musicians didn’t think he sang very
well, and thought he also had no talent or style whatsoever. His voice was described as ‘high’ and
‘tight’. Frank began taking singing lessons with an ex-opera singer from Australia, John Quinlan. It
was during this time that he also learned how to use the microphone. The real instrument was not
that voice, he came to learn, but the mike. It could hear your voice better than you could hear it
yourself, and Frank was shown how to play it like a saxophone. On February 1939, Frank Sinatra
made his first record, a demo with the Frank Manne Orchestra, the song was ‘Our Love’. Frank’s
treatment of his songs was way ahead of what most pop singers were doing at the time: he sang
the songs as if he cared about it.

A new era: the vocalist arrives

The music business started changing. Ballroom dancing had been nationally popular since he was
born. But from 1935, the jazz-orientated dance band was at the center of American music. The
Swing Era, or Big Band Era began with the huge success of Benny Goodman. Bing Crosby was
virtually the only famous solo singer. The way to fame, it seemed to Frank, was to sing with one of
the swing bands. The role of the vocalist in the 1930s was changing. Originally the vocalist was an
extra added attraction, singing a chorus and then sitting down and smiling while the band played
on, but now the singer became a central attraction, singing the songs all the way through. Between
July and November 1939 Frank recorded ten arrangements with the Harry James band, and nearly
all of them sound like they were designed to feature the vocalist.
In 1971 James said, ‘When Frank joined the band, he was always thinking of the lyrics. The
melody was secondary. If it was a delicate or a pretty word, he would try to phrase it with a prettier
softer type of voice. The feeling he has for words is just beautiful.’ (Clarke; 1997)
His phrasing was unique: he was singing, not chanting or talking the words, yet the rhythm of the
words was easy and conversational. Although in the late 1930’s Frank’s voice was on the light side,
he sang the words as though they meant something, which was new and modern to recorded
singing at the time. The passion that came through in his singing was understated; it was the
passion in his life transmuted into music. His passions had a lot of constraints on them, but there
was another kind of confidence that was genuine: he transferred his frustrations into his work.
Some say he could make a song seem to be a better song than it was.

‘ Tommy Dorsey’ banding

In January 1940, Sinatra made his debut with the Tommy Dorsey band. Tommy Dorsey was a
volatile boss and said to be a tough businessman. Few people ever got the best of Dorsey. He
would sometimes lose his temper and fire his whole band, only to hire them back the next day.
Tommy Dorsey was getting the best dance-band gigs in the country and Frank wanted to be apart
of his team. The Pipers, a singing quartet joined Dorsey two weeks before Sinatra did, and became
an important part of the Dorsey sound. Their kind of cool ‘modern’ close-harmony singing was soon
taken for granted by the fans in the Swing Era, but was musically technically very difficult to pull off
well.

It is said that nobody was more arrogant than Frank Sinatra, but it is also true that nobody was
more willing to learn from people who knew more than he did. Tommy Dorsey became his greatest
teacher. Tommy could hear Sinatra was becoming a great singer. Tommy could hear that one of the
things that set Frank apart was his phrasing, and as an ace horn player he knew that the ability to
phrase as one pleased was about legato, the ability to make phrases as long as one wanted. It was
this legato ability that Sinatra learned from Dorsey’s smooth breathing style on the horn. Dorsey
also helped Sinatra develop the knack for finding the right songs to sing. (It is interesting to note
that Sinatra would return again and again to the early numbers he’d sung over his recording career,
and each new version was a new insight, redone with evidence of new artistic interpretation and
growth.)

It was the records that Frank Sinatra made with Tommy Dorsey in 1940-1942 that is said to have
defined the new era of pop music; the era of the dominance of the pop singer. Sinatra began to
reveal something in his music that he could not reveal in any other way, and his audience was
beginning to respond in a way that would soon make headlines and bring in a new era in popular
music. What he did with a song that made him different from his competitors depended on being
able to sing eight bars or more without a breathing break. He is said to have stated that he couldn’t
express his ideas in the lines if he broke them up into bits. What made Dorsey’s band one of the
best was the seamless way they played each arrangement and song. In May 1941 Billboard
magazine named Sinatra top male band singer, and by the end of the year he eclipsed Bing
Crosby out of the top spot in the Down Beat poll. Sinatra made things difficult for other singers:
after Sinatra, if you sounded like him you were imitating, but if you didn’t, you sounded like you
were doing it wrong.
It was now time for Frank to go solo.

Solo

1942 was a new chapter in Frank Sinatra’s path to fame: he got his own recording session. At the
same time, he decided that if he was to be the biggest singing star in the world, he may as well be
a movie star too. At last, from September 1942, not yet twenty-seven years old, Sinatra was his
own boss. Sinatra’s solo career took a few months to get started, and his booking agency, GAC,
was not too impressed with its new star at first. He sang one song in a film called ‘ Reveille with
Beverly’, and he guested on radio programs, but he was not setting the world on fire.
It was both a blessing and a curse for him that he believed in romantic love and in living happily
ever after, in spite of his own inability to live up to any sort of recognizable ideal. He himself was at
once the ultimate romantic and the archetypal rebel, and able to sing the songs well enough to
drive the teenagers crazy, and that is how he eventually overshot Bing Crosby as the nation’s
favourite singer. Sinatra’s passion may have been unreliable, even dangerous, but it had an
admission of vulnerability in it, so that we could love the art, if not the artist. When Sinatramania
began, commentators made fun of the fans and their swooning. Sinatra sang respectable songs.
Influenced by the European operetta style, their structure musically sound; the lyrics and rhyme
schemes were intelligent, written by people who had grown up listening to advertising jingles. His
ability to interpret a song, and often to make a song sound better than it deserved, was always
more for the reason that he exposed his vulnerability while singing, rather than coming from the
quality of the song itself.

During 1943 Sinatra sang with symphony orchestras, raising money for them when the war had
made the takings poor. Albums were rare in those days because they were expensive. ‘ The Voice’
was not only his first album, it was virtually the first concept album. Major record labels were happy
to sell ‘singles’. But eight grand songs by Sinatra were irresistible. He made use of only nine
musicians: four strings and a rhythm section, and a flute and oboe for solo sections. Randall
Taraborrelli (1997: 71) mentions that no singer before Sinatra had understood the potential of a
record album as something more than just a collection of unrelated songs. Sinatra realized that the
tunes could relate to one another and be sequenced in a way that would tell a complete, emotional
story. He would actually sit down and plan an album song by song before recording it. This process
could take weeks, but to Sinatra and his fans, it was worth it. Alan Livingstone who worked with
Frank at Capitol records said, ‘If he was looking at songs, the lyric would be his first consideration.
Frank wanted to know what that song said and whether it appealed to him or not. He said, “I’ll
leave the music to somebody else. I pick the lyrics.” ‘ (Sinatra; 2000) . Sinatra always knew which
orchestrater worked best on which kind of song, and so he selected songs with the orchestrater in
mind. His favourite collaborators were Axel Stordahl and Nelson Riddle.
In a way, the whole of America was becoming studio-bound, and live music needed musicians like
Sinatra to struggle against the rising tide of conformity. In December 1948 Columbia began
marketing seven-inch 33 singles – the first one was a Sinatra record – and continued releasing
them for two years. In 1949 the seven-inch 33 was replaced by the 45rpm record. Then all the
major studios converted over to tape recording, which made overdubbing and editing easier.
Sinatra did not like this type of manipulating of his songs, because he saw himself as a singer, not
switches or buttons on a studio console.

Frank Sinatra was a hard worker. It was calculated that at one point in 1946 Sinatra had been
doing as many as forty-five shows a week, singing 80 to 100 songs a day; and this was a singer
who admitted that he smoked and drank too much and never slept enough. In 1950 he was doing
three shows a night at the Copacabana (where his voice gave out completely, almost the only time
in his career when he had to stop and rest whether he liked it or not), plus five radio shows a week,
as well as recording sessions and the occasional benefit. Sinatra had continued singing to a live
audience, so that he could somehow get to sing to each person present. In the last stage of his
career, despite a few albums of not the best quality, he remained the biggest live act in the world.
In less than a month in 1975 he performed in eleven American cities; in a two-week period he sang
in nine European capitals. By the end of the year, his press office said that in 105 days he had
given 140 performances to more than half a million listeners. While performing in Sydney, Australia,
the Sydney Daily Mirror wrote: ‘Too much booze, too many smokes, too many long, long nights
have taken the glow from his voice, but no one gave a damn… For Sinatra still has the phrasing
which cannot be surpassed, the timing, the splendid arrogance of remarkable talent.’

The British musician and journalist Benny Green (Peters; 1982) made a point of saying that Sinatra
was not simply the successor to Al Jolson and Bing Crosby, ‘but the culminating point in an
evolutionary process which has refined the art of interpreting words set to music. Nor is there even
the remotest possibility that he will have a successor. Sinatra was the result of … a set of historical
circumstances which can never be repeated.’

In the late 1940s Sinatra had pushed his luck and his confidence as far as he could, spending
money as fast as he earned it, making too many records, often behaving like a fool, and soon there
was trouble in paradise. He always liked to have his own circle of acolytes – the Varsity, the Rat
Pack, the Clan, whatever – and if he admired mobsters because they were more powerful than he
was, this was the legacy of his mother’s values, of politics, and of American history. And you did not
get to be one of the biggest names in American show business, appealing in places where liquor is
sold and later becoming the biggest headliner in Las Vegas itself, without associating with the kind
of people who were allowed to run these places.

In the years 1943 and 1946, in addition to making films at MGM, Frank Sinatra recorded some of
his best and most memorable songs. Much of the material recorded during this time would become
Sinatra classics. In 1945 he recorded more than forty songs. An example is the Oscar
Hammerstein-Richard Rogers song ‘If I loved you’. Here Sinatra is said to be at his yearning best,
his voice sounds full-bodied and vibrant.

And of love…

Frank Sinatra’s recording and film career may have been taking backseat in the early 1950, but a
volatile affair with the unpredictable, controversial film star Ava Gardner kept him in the public eye.
Ava and Frank married on 7 November 1951. Their union was stormy and didn’t last long, although
Frank is said to have loved her for the rest of his life. (Sinatra; 2000)
In March 1954 he was named ‘Most popular Vocalist of the Year’ by a Downbeat poll. He was also
named ‘Top male vocalist’ by Billboard, Downbeat and Metronome. Frank’s comeback was
completed when he won an Academy award for his part in the movie ‘From Here to Eternity’. When
Sinatra’s win was announced, the ovation was one of the longest of the evening, because there’s
nothing Hollywood likes better than a comeback. And he had truly been down and out and suffered
a slump in his career. Frank was back. In 1958 Sinatra albums on Capitol spent a total of ten
weeks at number one each staying in the charts over 100 weeks. Sinatra was reckoned to be the
biggest-selling album artist of all by a wide margin during 1955-1959, and for the entire decade of
the 1960s he was beaten only by the Beatles. Albums were a lot more expensive then, and they
were not impulse buys like today, so music that was made for listeners had to be of more lasting
value. Sinatra was making records for grownups, people who bought records carefully and kept
them and continued playing them for many years, and replaced then when they wore out.
Older

Among the many ways in which Sinatra had got older along with his fans, changing as they had
changed, was that his voice had deepened and darkened. It had always been an attractive and
distinctive voice, but it had now become even more so, the instantly recognizable Sinatra familiar
now for so many years. Along with the greater emotional understanding and experience, some
might conclude that there was a slight falling off of the technical mastery: but was there? During the
1940s his youthful intonation had seemed perfect; now the point was no longer to sing the songs
perfectly, if it ever was. The more mature Sinatra was an even greater interpreter. In general, the
richer and more powerful Sinatra became the worse his movies got. Each film has to begin with an
idea, a proposal from someone; Sinatra’s knack of picking good ideas of his own did not outlast the
1950s. His best films were from the early black and white movies.

Sinatra appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1957 as the highest-paid entertainer in the
history of show business, said to be earning 4 million dollars a year. The 1950s had been a
fantastic decade for Sinatra, and there would be more good music and more partying to come, but
the real glory had peaked. The kid from Hoboken was full of passion, but, away from the songs, the
passion was just foolish fury. (Sinatra; 2000)

By 1960, no entertainer was more controversial or more popular than forty-four-year-old Frank
Sinatra. Even with the blossoming of rock and roll as well as British popular music, he still
managed to be on top. Sinatra seemed to be winning all the games and his friend John Kennedy
was elected President of the United States.
His Reprise record label was immediately successful. As a label boss Sinatra was true to himself,
first freeing Reprise artists from the treatment he had received from the record industry: musicians
kept the ownership of their master recordings and owned shares in the company, they could run
their own recording sessions, and they could record with other labels if they wanted to.

It was 1965, the year of ‘Motown’ and of ‘the Beatles’ – rhythm and blues and the Liverpool sound
– as well as youthful, folk protest songs by artists such as Bob Dylan. Music had changed, but
Frank always had an audience, especially in Las Vegas. Sinatra still semmed to have his place as
an American icon with an older audience. His record buyers had grown older with him, and they
were still loyal and supportive of everything he did: recordings, films and concerts.

Frank began 1966 by booking another successful gig at ‘The Sands’ in Las Vegas with Count
Basie and Quincy Jones. These shows were recorded and were to be released later in the year as
a live album, ‘Sinatra at the Sands’. This album was loved by his fans because it was raw and
captured him like he really was without the touch-ups done on studio recordings.

He had started out in 1915 very nearly dead from a difficult birth; he came from nowhere to be the
sensation of the 1940s, and then knew what it was like to go back down to the bottom. He knew
that he owed something, somebody, somewhere, for his power and his stardom, and for his ability
to reveal his vulnerability in a song, which is where the power ultimately came from; he had a duty
to give something back. Much of his generosity, such as his twelve or fifteen benefit concerts a
year for various causes, was a kind of karmic offering to life who had brought him so low that he
lost weight he could not afford to lose, lost his voice, and even attempted suicide. He described
himself as a manic-depressive, and in his life, as in his art, there was, as quoted by Arnold Shaw,
the constant counterpoint of toughness and tenderness.” (Peters; 1982). Henry Pleasants who
wrote much on Sinatra’s art, wrote ‘fastidious taste, a different upbringing or a successful
psychanalysis would have destroyed him as an artist.’ What we can say about Sinatra is that he
was consistent in his confusion, trying to deal with the world without compromise, taking cues from
no one; he often did it badly, but he did it his way, and many people admired that because they
were just as confused as he was. Sinatra needed to struggle against any constraint yet also
wanted to cling to orderly ways, to the extent of compulsively straightening the ashtrays on the
table.

Retirement

March 21, 1971. Frank was now 55 years old. He announced his retirement. He said he was
seeking ‘breather time’ for reflecting, reading, writing and ‘perhaps even teaching.’ From his home
in Palm Spring, California he made a short statement, ‘It has been a fruitful, loose, sometimes
boisterous, occasionally sad, but always exciting three decades.’ The New York Daily News said:
‘In a sense, Sinatra goes out in a blaze of glory, still very much in demand, still turning down movie
scripts, recording dates, TV shows, night club engagements and magazine interviews. He retires
as a champion whose name and voice are known in every corner of the world.’ (Peters; 1982)

“ I’m back.”

In November 1973, during a one hour TV special called ‘Ol’Blue Eyes Is Back’, Frank announced
his retirement from retirement. In April 1974, Sinatra sang at Carnegie Hall to raise funds for the
‘Variety Club International’, and such is the demand for tickets that some sold for more than $1000.
Variety newspaper wrote: ‘It was a phenomenon, a ritual, a mob ceremony. They shook, yelled,
stomped, clapped together, stood up at least five times.’

By the time the 1980s came around, Frank was in his sixties and more active on the concert trails
than many other entertainers half his age. In January 1980 he began the year by performing at
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. In March he began filming the movie The First Deadly Sin, with Faye
Dunaway. Despite his advancing age, his schedual never slowed down; for Sinatra, it would seem
there was always more to do, more to experience. Throughout the year, he performed at benefits
for hospitals, research centers and childrens’ homes. Yet by the mid-1980s his voice was tired,
ravaged not only by age but by his careless lifestyle. His audiences no longer came to his shows to
hear his great voice, but rather came to experience a lost part of their pasts, the part that was
Sinatra. His presence was still overwhelming; he had such great command of the stage. His self-
confidence never seemed to waver even if his voice often did. He triumphed over his condition,
shaping his songs not with voice so much as with sheer force of intention. He still heard the music
in his head, he just couldn’t always carry it successfully to his voice. He was trying to demonstrate
that there was nothing wrong with ageing. He would not stop working. To stop, he believed, would
mean a sure death.

At the end of 1990, Dean Martin, Franks close friend died at the age of 78 of emphysema. After
Dean’s death, Frank sank into a deep depression. For him, it was as if many of the key players in
his life were being toppled one by one: Ava Gardner, Sammy Davis, and now Dean. ‘I’m next,’ he
told friends at Matteo’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. ‘I ain’t scared, either. How can I be? Everybody I
ever knew is already over there.’ (Sinatra; 2000)

In 1993 came Duets, Sinatra’s first album in a decade, singing with Bono, Tony Bennett, Aretha
Franklin, Barbara Streisand, Luther Vandross, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estafan, Julio Iglesias and a
number of other top singing celebrities of the time. In March 1994 he was given a lifetime-
achievement award at the Grammy ceremonies in New York, and his acceptance speech was cut
off for a television commercial. A few days later he slowly collapsed while singing ‘My Way’ in
Richmond, Virginia. In November 1994, Duets II was released with Gladys Knight, Jon Secada,
Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Neil Diamond, Frank Jr and others. Sinatra had become an artifact,
an icon, no longer belonging to himself; at the very end of his career he was the willing victim of the
Hollywood values he had spent much of his career struggling against. And yet, maybe the
important thing was never the records, but the audience; not posterity, but the sea of upturned
faces in front of him, to whom he could expose his heart without being threatened.

Tina Sinatra (2000:211) said in 1993, ‘As much as we would like to see Dad not work so hard, we
also know that singing is his life force. For him to stop before he’s ready might kill him.’ Without the
adulation and approval Sinatra craved to feed his soul, it began to wither. Without his music, he lost
the will to go on. His body began to break down. While he was one a young man trapped in an old
man’s body, by the end of 1996, at the age of eighty-one, he was simply feeling old. Still, he would
not give up. When his daughter Nancy asked him what he wanted for his eighty-first birthday,
Sinatra said succinctly, ‘Another birthday’. During his life, it had always been ‘all or nothing at all’ for
Frank Sinatra. This also seemed to apply to the character of his illnesses. A pinched nerve. A heart
attack. Cancer. Kidney problems. Bladder ailments. A touch of Alzheimer’s, even. Frank had all of
them. He could never have died in an anticlimactic way. He continued to work and lead a
productive, artistic life far beyond the point at which most ordinary mortals stop trying.

In 1965, Walter Cronkite asked Frank Sinatra, who was about to turn fifty years old, how he would
like to be remembered. Sinatra answered: ‘I think I would like to be remembered as a man who
brought an innovation to popular singing, a peculiar, unique fashion that I wish one of these days
somebody would learn to do so it doesn’t die where it is. I would like to be remembered as a man
who had a wonderful time living his life and who had good friends, a fine family, and I don’t think I
could ask for anything more than that, actually. I think that would do it.’ (Clarke; 1997)

The American novelist and critic Cynthia Ozick wrote, ‘The great voices of Art never mean only Art;
they also mean Life, they always mean Life.’ His way was according to the rules of the society in
which he lived: it was just that some of the rules were written and some unwritten. In order to
establish anything like Sinatra’s kind of longevity you have to hang on to your audience. To be
successful in the popular business, you have to offer something that the public wants. Frank
Sinatra has done that longer and more successfully than anybody else in history. Sinatra may have
been doomed to permanent loneliness, but he lit the corners of dark rooms for those who had to
keep searching.

The Slaves of Sinatra

‘Most of his fans are plain, lonely girls from lower-middle-class homes,’wrote E. J. Jahn of the New
Yorker. ‘They are dazzled by the life Sinatra leads and wish they could share it. They insist that
they love him, but they do not use the verb in its ordinary sense. As they apply it to him, it is
synonymous with “worship” …’

Frank Sinatra had an extremely pleasant voice, but often his fans, so overcome by the sight of him
would scream so loud they would drown out his own singing. This was not the first time women
over-reacted to the sight of their favourite male musician: when Frans Liszt played the piano,
women would faint. Women kissed the seams of Johann Strauss’ coat and cried tears of emotion
at the sight of Paderewski’s red hair. Because it was 1943 that Frank came to fame in this way, his
popularity has often been said to be a product of the war, the idea that women turned to him as
compensation for the absence of their young men. Sinatra was skilled at giving each listener the
impression that she was the articular inspiration for the emotions he was singing about. While
singing to an audience he would fix his gaze intensely into the eyes of one trembling disciple after
another. A magazine article headed ‘Swoon Crooner’ called Sinatra’s popularity a mystery. ‘All he
does is close his eyes and croon softly into a microphone. But girls all over America love it. His
voice is weak; he makes every song sound like the last one, but he’s evidently got what it takes, for
his fans have formed clubs like ‘The Slaves of Sinatra’ or ‘Sighing Society of Swooners’.’ Most of
the prominent entertainers who appealed to young people have one or two fan clubs; Sinatra had
two thousand. Some fans belonged to several dozen clubs.

Frankly Speaking

‘I’m not copping a plea for sympathy, but you know, there’s no one I can turn to except myself. Take
a fellow who works in business, makes a product. I’m my product. Every time I go on a sound
stage or into a recording session, I’ve got nothing working for me except myself. I get sick, I’m out
of business. I cut a few bad records, I’m out of business. And after going it alone all day I have to
go it alone afterwards. Loneliness is pretty much forced on me. I can’t walk into a restaurant and
order dinner and sit by myself – I’d never get to finish. People feel I belong to belong to them. I
have to eat dinner in my hotel room or at home. I just can’t go some place without it being a public
appearance.’ ( To Richard Gehman, 1961.)

‘People think when they see a singer stand up there that he just opens his mouth and out it comes.
I wanted a certain type of voice phrasing without taking breath at the end of a line or phrase. I
studied the violin playing of Heifetz to see how he moved his bow over the fiddle and back again
without seeming to pause. I applied it to singing. When I joined Tommy Dorsey I watched how he
took his breath when he played. He never seemed to open his mouth to draw breath at all. I
learned to control my breath by swimming the length of an Olympic pool under water. I increased
my lung power by pacing myself on a running track every day. It was hard work, but the hardest
thing, when I could sing, was to pick the songs that meant something. I had to learn to read every
song the right way and make a contract with the audience.’ (To David Lewin, 1964.)

On success: ‘You must pace yourself even when you feel strong… Concentrate on the music, on
the people around you. Every song holds a special meaning for someone and you can’t think of
yourself.’ (To Earl Wilson, 1976.)

On luck: ‘People often remark that I’m pretty lucky. Luck is only important so far as getting the
chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you’ve got to have the talent and know how
to use it.’ (to Tom Pryor, 1968.)
On money: ‘It doesn’t thrill me. Never has. You gotta spend it. Move it around.’ (to Fergus Cashin,
1970.)

On happiness: ‘As I’ve told audiences all over the world, I have more than my share of all the good
things and I only wish the same for everyone.’ (The Main Event Concert, 1978.)

Concertising Sinatra

‘As a singer of songs, we all know he has brought happiness to people all over the world. Not only
because of his light, charming voice and his incomparable technique, but because when he sings
he sings from the heart.’ Sir Noel Coward, introducing Frank Sinatra at a special charity concert in
Monte Carlo, 1958.

From a purely vocal standpoint, what is Sinatra’s uniqueness – what is that precious quality that
sets him apart from his contemporaries?
Firstly, it is no exaggeration to say he has an especially distinctive vocal timbre, one that registers
with immediacy, is instantly identifiable. Yet, other great singers have that quality like Bessie Smith
and Louis Armstrong. Even after exhaustive exposure to his singing, there seems to be no
explanation other than that the Sinatra timbre is different. From the earliest part of his singing
career, when he hustled so hard for jobs, Sinatra was interested in how other singers of the period
handled themselves onstage. He noticed their attributes, and made sure he didn’t repeat their
mistakes and deficiencies. Sinatra’s personal charisma makes him not only one of the most
visually exciting performer but also one who easily communicates with every kind of audience.
Sinatra’s live performances have demonstrated just how deeply immersed he is in his music.
Whatever happiness he has found through the years in other areas of his full life, he probably didn’t
get the kind of fulfillment he got when singing in front of a band in front of an appreciative audience.

Frank Sinatra the Actor

‘I always try to remember three things as a movie actor. First, you must know why you are in the
movie, understand all the reactions of the man you are playing, figure out why he’s doing what he
is doing. Secondly, you must know the script. You must know how the scenes fit into the picture as
a whole. Thirdly, you must learn to listen to the lines of others.’ (Frank Sinatra, quoted in “His Way”,
Kelly; 1986)

These are a list of the most important movies he acted in:

Anchors A Weigh (1945)
The house I live in (1945)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Suddenly (1954)
Young at Heart (1955)
Not as a stranger (1955)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
The man with the golden arm (1955)
High Society (1956)
The pride and the passion (1957)
Pal Joey (1957
Kings go forth (1958)
Some came running (1958)
A hole in the Head (1959)
Never so few (1959)
Can-Can (1960)
Oceans Eleven (1960)
Sergeants 3 (1962)
4 for Texas (1964)
Robin and the seven Hoods (1964)
The Devil at four o’clock (1961)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
None but the brave (1965)
Marriage on the rocks (1965)
Tony Rome (1967)
Lady in cement (1968)
Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)
That’s Entertainment (1974)
Contract on Cherry Street (1977)
The First Deadly Sin (1980)

The Frank Favourites

1. ‘I’ve got you under my skin’(January 12, 1956)

2. ‘The lady is a tramp’ (November 26, 1956)
3. ‘Chicago’ (August 13, 1957)
4. ‘My Way’ (December 30, 1968)
5. ‘Send in the clowns’ (June 22, 1973)
6. ‘Nancy’ (August 22, 1945)
7. ‘Here’s that rainy day’ (March 25, 1959)
8. ‘All the way’ (August 13, 1957)
9. ‘It was a very good year’ (April 22, 1965)
10. ‘Night and day’ (November 26, 1956)
11. ‘Come fly with me’ (October 8, 1957)
12. ‘I get a kick out of you’ (November 6, 1956)
13. ‘All or nothing at all’ (August 31, 1939)
14. ‘Angel eyes’ (May 29, 1958)
15. Witchcraft’(May 20, 1957)

The Controversy of Frank Sinatra

Michael Munn (2003) wrote an untold story about Frank Sinatra based on the conversations he had
had with the actress and ex-Mrs Sinatra, Eva Gardner. He introduced the book by explaining that
he wanted to reveal a secret part of Sinatra’s life that would give his readers an insight into why he
did what he did, how he did it, and why, in the end, he could never come clean and, in his lifetime,
do away with all that innuendo, speculation and rumour. I have had the opportunity to watch the
magic of Frank Sinatra the entertainer on old television clips of him performing, and it is obvious
why he became such a legend. To know Sinatra is to avoid the contradictions that have created the
many myths about the man, and to lay out all that he was simply, purely and without judgement.

Sinatra was capable of loving more than one woman at a time. He married four times in his lifetime.
He was a man who had lived in the shadow of the Mafia all his life, and some of his closest
business associates were among the most prominent men in the Mob. He seemed to think he was
somehow invincible because of that. Publicly, Sinatra always denied any involvement with the
Mafia. He was never what you would call ‘a member’ of the Mafia. Yet he was involved as an
entertainer and as a business associate in legitimate enterprises. There was no doubt Sinatra was
generous, yet to those who got on the wrong side of him, he was a demon and for them none of
the charitable acts he did could ever turn him into a saint. Frank Sinatra was no great mystery as
some would like to believe – he was just a product of his environment and of his genes. Frank’s
parents were part and parcel of the bootleg trade run by the Mafia of the Little Italy, Hoboken.
Frank therefore grew up in a family environment where the Mafia was an unavoidable part of
everyday life. The weak were victims of violence on the streets. There were only three ways a kid
from this neighbourhood could get ahead: you could become a prizefighter, go into show business,
or go into crime. He became an entertainer. It was a fact that any entertainer who wanted to work
in the clubs in the area had to do business with the Mafia, whether they liked it or not. Sinatra
would become a business associate of the Mob, despite many denials. With the Mob backing him,
Frank felt he was invincible. He didn’t realize that being forever in the Mob’s debt could be a bad
thing. Sammy Davis told Mann (2003: 88) that you couldn’t have unlimited access to Las Vegas in
those days without the authorization of the mob, and if you wanted to say Frank had associations
with the Mob, it was so he could do the work he wanted to do. Any entertainer who worked in Las
Vegas was associated with the Mob. That was just the way it worked.

Ava told Michael Mann (2003: 105) that Frank had a very generous nature. The only problem was
that anyone he helped generally found themselves in debt to him. That was simply his way,
because it was the Mafia’s way. You had to learn how to treat him, and then he was your friend. But
it was hard work to gain his trust and get on the right side of him. He pushed either into loving or
hating him.
We are left with the image of a man who was caring, who could be a good friend, but who also
could be a fearful enemy. He was the classic man of the Mafia, and that was the cause of his
breeding and backround. His salvation was his ability as an actor. He could lie convincingly, which
is why he always managed to wriggle out of the numerous tight spots he found himself in when
being questioned about his Mafia associations. He also lied to members of the Mob, keeping up
the act of being their friend and associate, while always looking for an opportunity to bring them
down. The mid-sixties saw Sinatra in a time of transition, from the little tough guy in bed with the
Mob, to the Chairman of the board who called the shots ‘his way’. He worked closely with the FBI
to bring in members of the Mob. He was able to supply information to the police that allowed them
to indict twenty-four members of ‘the Outfit’ (a subgroup of the Mafia) in 1967. As far as Frank
knew, no one from the Mob suspected him as causing their downfall, otherwise he would not have
lived into old age. With Franks help, information gathered pointed to the Mob being behind the
assassination of John F. Kennedy as well as the supposed ‘suicide’ of Marilyn Monroe.

Frank Sinatra is seen by too many people as an entertainer who wanted to be a hood. That may
have been true, but when he realized that there were some mistakes he could try to rectify, he
certainly did. Justice is what Frank Sinatra wanted, having been brought up in an era when justice
was more important to certain types than the law. Mann (2003: 217) ends by saying that in his
eyes, despite all Frank’s arrogance and temperament, especially in his earlier years, he was, in the
end, a flawed hero who beat the Mafia at their own game, and turned his life around for the good.

Conclusion

What is it about this man that transformed him from what he was – just a child with a voice and a
dream from an Italian neighbourhood in Hoboken, New Jersey – to what he became: the man with
the voice, living the American dream as an international star and probably one of the most
important cultural figures of the twentieth century? What was behind it all? What can be pinpointed
as the driving force? This is a man who has truly lived his life; just about everything he did, he did
with passion. For the sake of passion. In search of it. In the heat of it. In the moment of it. All of it.
For Sinatra, excess was never enough. A slave to his passions, he always wanted more, more,
more. His was a life always in constant pursuit of the next thrill, the wild ride that has been Frank
Sinatra’s life history.

The key to Sinatra’s success was that he understood his audience and what was expected of him.
His music had to reflect the common human experience – pain, joy, heartbreak and loss. And it
was one thing to feel emotion about a song. It was quite another to make the audience feel that
emotion. Sinatra understood how to take what he was feeling and make it believable in his voice.
The ability to bring all your talent together at a certain moment depends on technique,
craftsmanship. You get a little tear in your voice and you put it there if the lyrics call for it.

References

Clarke, D. 1997. All or nothing at all. Mackays of Chatham, Kent.

Kelly, K. 1986. His Way. Bantam books, London.

Munn, M. 2003. Sinatra: The untold story. Robson Books, London.

Peters, R. 1982. The Frank Sinatra Scrapbook: His life and Times in Words and Pictures. Pop
Universal/ Souvenir Press, London.

Randall Taraborrelli, J. 1997. Sinatra, the man behind the myth. Butler & Tanner Ltd, Edinburgh.

Sinatra, T. 2000. My Father’s Daughter. Simon & Schuster, New York.