Frank Sinatra: The "Voice"

 American singer and actor, with a long and successful career in the world of entertainment and listening, with sales exceeding 150 million records.

American singer and actor, with a long and successful career in the world of entertainment and listening, with sales exceeding 150 million records. He has been described as the most important American singer of the 20th century. For his fans, he still remains "The Voice". His great hits are the songs: "Strangers in the Night", "My Way", "That's Life", "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Theme From New York New York". Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Perhaps the most “significant” event in his life was his birth itself: as he was emerging from his mother’s womb, not only was his left earlobe severed, but his neck was also dangerously injured by the doctor’s forceps. Everyone thought the baby was stillborn – fortunately, his grandmother intervened in time: she put him under cold water and life returned immediately. He was the only son of Sicilian boxer and firefighter Antonino Martino Sinatra, and Italian nurse Natalina Garavenda, who immigrated to the United States at the end of the 19th century. The whole family spoiled little Frank with expensive gifts and clothes. However, he was a “tramp” and even acted as the leader of a gang of petty thieves for a while. Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey and his band in 1942 Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey and his band in 1942 He decided to become a singer when he first heard Big Crosby perform live in 1933. After winning a radio talent show, the young man with the pouty cheeks and high cheekbones got a job at a small New Jersey club, where he attracted the attention of trumpeter and bandleader Harry James. Shortly after, in 1940, he joined Tommy Dorsey's band and his career soon began to take off. The careful lyrics of his songs, erotic but less naive than usual, and the way he emphasized or "drowned" the words, were different from anything American youth had heard before. The places where he appeared were filled with girls on the verge of fainting, and a hysteria was created around his face that can only be compared to the later phenomena of Elvis Presley and the Beatles. His appearance on the big screen, performing his ballads in musicals, also contributed to this. He had made his film debut in 1941 in the film "Las Vegas Nights". His fans gave him the nickname that every listener would envy: The Voice. However, one night in 1952 at the fashionable Copacabana club in New York, his famous voice fell silent, as his vocal cords had bled. His record company pretended not to know him and everyone wrote him off. In 1953, he begged Columbia to give him a role in the film “From Here to Eternity,” with an insultingly low salary. He redeemed his decision with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and came back even tougher. His voice was now more mature, his songs exuded the experience of a man who had been through a lot and had overcome adversity. “Frankie” became the superstar of the music and film industry, one of the richest singers of the century. He loved working with his friends, making movies together, and then going to the best parties until the morning. Thus, in the early 1960s, the famous "Rat Pack" was formed, the historic male group of Sinatra and Dean Martin, Sammy-Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. In 1971, he announced his retirement, but he was unable to stay away from the microphone for more than two years. In the 1990s, he collaborated with various stars of the modern music scene, such as Bono of U2, and continued to sing until February 1995, when he began to face serious health problems. The "voice" was silenced forever on May 14, 1998, in Los Angeles. Frank Sinatra lived an intense life. He had any woman he wanted and was married four times: Nancy Barbato (1939–1951), Ava Gardner (1951–1957), Mia Farrow (1966–1968), and Barbara Marx (1976–1998), the former wife of Zeppo Marx. With his first wife, he had all three of his children, the famous singer Nancy Sinatra (b. 1940), the songwriter and conductor Frank Sinatra Jr. (b. 1944), and the theater and film producer Tina Sinatra (b. 1948). He was a close friend and supporter of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Many accused him of having connections with the Italian Mafia, and several of his associates' names were included in "suspicious" FBI files. This was the reason he lost his casino license in Las Vegas. However, the city recognized his contribution, naming a central avenue after him in 2001. The "blue-eyed" singer was excellent as a singer of the love ballad, thanks to his peculiar pauses and the delicate emotional tones of his baritone voice. His interpretation reached its heights when he sang about loneliness, unfulfilled loves and broken dreams. He handled the microphone with ease and stood on stage relaxed and not as if he had swallowed a stick, like many singers of his time.