Known in the 1940s as the “Voice,” Frank Sinatra projected such intimacy as he sang that he had adolescent girls swooning at his feet. The mass hysteria he inspired in his early fans and his later personal notoriety did nothing to overshadow his gifts as a dramatic actor and the warmth and effortless style of his singing.
Later known as the “Chairman of the Board,” Sinatra was the consummate entertainer. The child of an Italian immigrant family, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Inspired by the music of Bing Crosby, although unable to read music and without vocal training, he nonetheless dropped out of school when he was 16 to sing.
From 1937 to 1939, Sinatra sang with the Hoboken Four at the Rustic Cabin, a roadhouse near Englewood, New Jersey, where he was also headwaiter. Trumpeter Harry James, having heard Sinatra on radio, hired him as a vocalist in mid-1939. James had just left Benny Goodman’s orchestra to found his own big band. A Metronome magazine review, Sinatra’s first notice, remarked on the singer’s “easy phrasing.” A Columbia Records executive advised bandleader Tommy Dorsey to “go listen to the skinny kid who’s singing with Harry’s band.” Dorsey did and in 1940, hired Sinatra. Sinatra became a celebrity.
By mid-1941, a Billboard survey of colleges rated him outstanding male band vocalist. Later that year, a Down Beat poll had Sinatra outranking Crosby. Songs like “I’ll Never Smile Again“ and “There Are Such Things” were hit recordings in the 1940s. Adolescent “bobby-soxer” girls swooned to his crooning and emaciated good-looks. Sinatra and his fans wreaked havoc wherever he performed, and Sinatra became pop music’s first teen idol.
When Sinatra left Dorsey in 1942, he was in constant demand as a soloist, and his voice, now overworked, began to falter. In 1943, without acting lessons, Sinatra was in his first film, Higher and Higher. By 1947, his popularity waned, although he continued to record with Columbia, where he was backed by Alex Stordahl’s rich arrangements that complemented the pleasant intimacy of his baritone voice.
During the 1940s, Sinatra created work that was less than memorable. Continually plagued by vocal problems and tabloid rumors linking the married Sinatra in a tempestuous affair with Ava Gardner (bandleader Artie Shaw’s wife and Sinatra’s future wife), he was without a manager by 1952 and had no contracts for either records or films.
In 1953, Sinatra’s career turned around, and with the support and connections of Gardner, he landed a small but highly coveted dramatic role in From Here to Eternity. Sinatra won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Pvt. Angelo Maggio and soon signed a contract with Capitol Records, then a fledgling, innovative record company.
Despite the challenges, the 1940s were foundational in establishing Frank Sinatra as a dominant force in music and entertainment. His influence during this era paved the way for his legendary comeback in the 1950s, where he reinvented himself as a mature artist with a more profound and refined style.
0 comments:
Post a Comment