Frank Sinatra
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Born: December 12, 1915 Died: May 14, 1998 Real name: Francis Albert Sinatra Decided to become a singer after attending a Bing Crosby concert in Jersey City in 1935 +++ Participated on the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour" radio show, also in 1935, where, instead of performing solo, he was grouped together with 3 other singers as "The Hoboken Four" +++ After winning the contest, the group performed, mainly in radio shows, for 3 years, before splitting up +++ Singing in restaurants and night clubs, Frank was "discovered" by Harry James, who was just forming his first own orchestra, in 1939 and signed for 2 years +++ He left, however, already a year later, to join Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra +++ Was voted Best Male Vocalist in 1941, dethroning none else than Bing Crosby, who had held the title from 1937 to 1940 +++ Decided to quit Tommy Dorsey's orchestra in 1942 and started a solo career as a singer and actor +++ Since 1943 until the early 80's, "The Voice" had virtually dozens of hits, incl. "All or nothing at all", "Young at heart", "Three coins in the fountain", "Love and marriage", "All the way", "Strangers in the night", "That's life", "Somethin' stupid" (duet with daughter Nancy Sinatra) and, of course, "My way" and "Theme from New York, New York" +++ "Ol' Blue Eyes" also appeared in several movies and in 1953 won an Oscar for his performance in "From Here To Eternity" +++ In 1965, he received a Grammy for "Lifetime Achievement" +++ Retired for the first time in 1970, but had several comebacks and was still performing and recording in the early 90s - his CD "Duets" sold several million copies +++ Considered to be, together with Bing Crosby, the most important "crooner" of the century, Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack on May 14, 1998 +++ |
