May 14, 1998 – Frank Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915
American singer and actor; arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rival for the title being Elvis Presley. He began his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, he became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-40s, being the idol of the “bobby soxers.”
His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in From Here to Eternity. He signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums, In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice ‘n’ Easy.
He left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records, finding success with albums such as Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, he toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen.
At 50 in 1965, he recorded September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with “Strangers in the Night” and “My Way”, a song composed by Canadian crooner Paul Anka.
Among his awards he was the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also won many other awards for his film acting career.
He died from a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, following a long battle with coronary heart disease, kidney disease, bladder cancer, and dementia on May 14, 1998 at age 82.
In a 1957 Interview Sinatra said the following about Rock and Roll: “My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear – Naturally I refer to the bulk of rock ‘n’ roll. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd – in plain fact, dirty – lyrics, and as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth… this rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore.”
Maybe above words disqualify Sinatra to be getting a tribute page on this website. If not for Herman Brood’s interpretation of Sinatra’s biggest hit IMO, written by Paul Anka “My Way”, I would agree. Brood, who jump off the Amsterdam Hilton to his death lived the Rock and Roll lifestyle as few others.
