Who Was Frank Sinatra?
Frank Sinatra was an American singer and movie
star
who became popular in the late 1930s
and remained very famous until his death six
decades later.
Sinatra was born on 12th December 1915
into an Italian immigrant family who lived
in New Jersey,
near New York City.
His father worked as a fireman;
his mother was a political and social activist
with ties to the Democrat Party.
The young Frank showed great talent as a singer
and,
by his early twenties,
he was the lead singer for the Tommy Dorsey
Orchestra.
He began to perform on the radio.
His smooth voice and bright blue eyes made
him very popular,
especially with women.
It soon became clear that he could be very
big
if he could break his contract with Tommy
Dorsey, his band leader,
and go solo.
But, Dorsey hated Sinatra (they had argued
over a woman)
and would not let him break contract.
Sinatra's father was Sicilian and so Frank
knew many members of the Mafia,
which was a Sicilian gang.
Frank could not be in the Mafia because his
mother was not from Sicily
but northern Italy.
However, Frank's godfather was a top Mafia
leader and,
when Frank told him about Tommy Dorsey,
his godfather went to see the band leader.
Dorsey refused to accept a generous cash offer
to cancel Frank's contract,
so one of the Mafia men took out a pistol
and made him destroy the contract.
After this, Frank Sinatra became famous in
the U.S. and around the world,
especially during the 1940s.
It was not the last time the Mafia helped
Frank in his career.
They helped him to get a lead part in the
movie "From Here to Eternity",
by threatening the producer.
Frank was actually a good actor and went on
to make many more movies.
In 1960, Frank was a close friend of John
F. Kennedy,
who was then trying to become U.S. president.
Kennedy needed money for his campaign
and Frank said he could get him some.
He went to his Mafia godfather
who gave him a lot of money for the Kennedy
campaign
so long as Kennedy agreed to stop the FBI
looking into Mafia activities.
Sinatra gave Kennedy the money but didn't
tell him who it came from
or what that person (Sam Giancana) expected
in return.
Kennedy won the election but only just.
Immediately, he ordered the FBI to begin investigating
the Mafia.
Giancana, the Chicago gangster, saw this as
a betrayal
and began to plan Kennedy’s murder.
On 22nd November, 1963,
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
Texas.
Sinatra's mistake was not known until years
later.
Sinatra was also a great ladies' man who had
many famous girlfriends,
including Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner (the
real love of his life),
and Mia Farrow, who he briefly married.
Sinatra's special voice and style made him
unique.
Perhaps his most famous song is 'My Way'.
The words echo Sinatra's own way of living:
right or wrong, do it "My Way".
He died of a heart attack on 14th May, 1998,
which caused another Frank Sinatra revival,
showing that, even when dead,
he could sell millions of records to all generations.
