Frank Sinatra

I'm working on a  new book about the Chairman of the Board:   Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra had an absolutely amazing career that covered all the bases of show business. Writing about him will be both easy and difficult. It was always impossible to hold an interview with him during his later years. I met him several times while at NBC in New York; Once at a Martin and Lewis telethon, and again in my Broadcast Ticket office with RCA V.P Mannie Sacks. This book will be about the music, how he survived above all the competition, how he grew from one career to another, his singing voice always improving, expanding and finding a crescendo of great success.

Connie Haines, who sang shoulder to shoulder with Sinatra back during their Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big band days, told me she was uncomfortable authorizing CD issuance of her duets with him on songs like "Let's Get Away from It All," and "Snootie Little Cutie" on record labels because of the potential legal problems that would be invoked by the Sinatra clan, even though she knows the Sinatra daughters Tina and Nancy. When she was performing in Atlantic City with a "Sinatra" type get together songfest called "Ol' Blue Eyes," the FBI literally burst in and arrested the promoters and scared the hell out of a number of seniors who were attending. The promoter got off, but only after paying an attorney lots of bucks after standing before a judge.

I have always enjoyed the great Sinatra recordings, especially those he made with Dorsey, and subsequently, those he made at Capitol with Nelson Riddle, but I have never enjoyed reading about the disruptive parts of his life: the marriages, the fist fights, the underworld connections, and those never ending disputes with the press. None of that will be in this book. I have left all of that to others who have written before me. However, Sinatra tried to make up for all that negativity by anonymously contributing lots of money to worthy people in need, even if he never met them, and to causes including Sloan-Kettering Hospital, where there is a wing that bears his name, and the Barbara Sinatra hospital charities in California.


So, my book about Frank will be composed of tributes from others like Connie Haines, Harry James, Jo Stafford, Nelson Riddle, clarinetist Johnny Mince, William B. Williams of The Make Believe Ballroom radio show, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, and Frank Sinatra himself. It will tell of his early career when he had only hopes, but, as Jo Stafford once observed early on: "We knew he had something special."


You will especially enjoy the words from Connie Haines, whom we lost a year ago: "Frank and I didn't always get along in those days, but Frank showed his true colors one night - even though we were feuding when singing tunes like "Let's Get Away from It all," and "Oh! Look at Me Now" -when my dress suddenly caught fire because someone tossed a lit cigarette down from the balcony and it got snared in my gown netting. Tommy was still vamping, unaware of what was happening. But, Frank reacted quickly by throwing his suit jacket over me and flinging me to the ground, snuffing out the flames-probably saving my life. We talked about it a few years ago when I appeared with him on television for his 80th birthday. Yes, Frank was really a good man although his ego frequently got in the way. And he was the very best singer of all the singers. That is certainly clear by now."


That's Life. That's what all the people say.
You're riding high in April
Shot down in May
But I know I'm gonna change my tune
When I'm back on top in June
I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king,
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing
Each time I find myself flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race


Well, that's Frank Sinatra for sure.


Jerry Vale will write the introduction, as he was truly a friend of the Voice.  If anyone wants to put their two cents into the book (only about the singing) we would be happy to include it.  Contact Richard if you would like to add some comments or story about Frank's singing.