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 Sinatra,
Frank (1915-1998), American singer and motion-picture actor, one of
the most famous American singers of his generation. Born Francis Albert
Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey, he sang with the big bands of Harry
James and Tommy Dorsey in the 1930s (see� Jazz: The Big Band Era).
Influenced by American singers Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, Sinatra
anticipated the decline of big-band instrumental jazz music and helped
establish an enthusiastic climate for popular singers. In the 1940s
Sinatra embarked on a solo career and became the idol of so-called
bobby-soxers, teenage girls who swooned over his crooning, soft-voiced
singing. He appeared in such film musicals as Anchors Aweigh (1945),
Till the Clouds Roll By (1947), and On the Town (1949). In 1953 he
won an Academy Award for his nonsinging performance in From Here to
Eternity. His performances in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and
The Detective (1968) were also highly regarded. During the 1950s and
1960s Sinatra teamed with a number of talented jazz arrangers, including
Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones, and Billy May, and produced
a number of albums, now regarded as classic recordings, including
Swing Easy (1955), In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin'
Lovers (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Frank Sinatra Sings for Only
the Lonely (1958), Nice 'N' Easy (1960), and Strangers in the Night
(1966). In the 1960s he also recorded with the big bands of American
jazz musicians Count Basie and Duke Ellington. After a brief retirement
from 1971 to 1973, Sinatra resumed his singing career. In 1993 he
released the album Frank Sinatra Duets, on which many of his standard
songs were engineered as duets with other famous singers. Contributors
to the album included American singers Barbara Streisand and Aretha
Franklin, Latin American recording star Julio Iglesias, and Bono,
lead singer of the Irish rock group U2. The album sequel Duets II
(1994), which won Sinatra his ninth Grammy Award in 1996, includes
collaborations with country-and-western star Willie Nelson, jazz singer
Lena Horne, and popular singer and songwriter Neil Diamond. Sinatra
was also well respected as a jazz singer. The natural swing feel and
jazz-style phrasings of his singing, including his use of dynamics
and delayed rhythms, have influenced numerous musicians. Many songs
recorded by him, such as "All of Me" (1952), "Come Fly With Me" (1958),
"All The Way" (1957), and "I've Got You Under My Skin" (1956), are
still widely performed, although they remain firmly associated with
the distinctive style in which he performed them.
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