by André Depienne

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in 1915 to Italian parents, who had emigrated to the East-Coast of the United States at the turn of the century.

As a teenager, he was already singing at bars in his hometown of Hoboken, before landing gigs at small radio shows in 1932. In the meantime he worked as a sports journalist for a local newspaper, while also developing an interest for acting. The decision to pursue a career as a singer was made after he saw a Bing Crosby concert in New Jersey.

In 1935, Sinatra joined the vocal quartet The Hoboken Four and they won the talent contest of the popular radio show Major Bowes Amateur Hour. The win led to the group's first national tour.

Two years later, Sinatra was given an 18-month contract as a singer at a music bar in New Jersey, where he was discovered by popular bandleader Harry James, who signed him as lead singer for his Big Band.

With James, Sinatra, the rising star of the American Jazz scene, made his first recordings like All Or Nothing At All. During that time, he also got married to his childhood sweetheart Nancy Barbato.

In 1940, Sinatra left Harry James to join the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and had his national breakthrough with their recording of I'll Never Smile Again, which made it to the top of the charts. His ever increasing popularity made Sinatra wish for a solo career, so he asked Dorsey to free him from his contract in 1942. In 1943 he got a record deal from Columbia Records and soon would became the musical idol of his generation. Young women in particular adored ‘Frankie Boy’, whom after a series of concerts caused pop history's first mass hysteria, which became known as the Columbus Day Riots.

Sinatra also gained popularity as an actor in musicals and comedies produced by RKO and MGM. In the early 50s, when his musical success began to fade, he focused on his acting career and in '54 won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his part in From Here To Eternity.

In the 1960s he had his musical comeback with the so-called Rat Pack, which included stars such as Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Shirley MacLaine and Joey Bishop. The shows they gave at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas between 1959 and 1966 became legendary.

On May 14th, 1998 Sinatra suffered his second heart attack within one year and died of its consequences at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. In his honour, the city of Las Vegas turned off all its lights for three minutes and in illusion of Sinatra's nickname Ol' Blue Eyes, the Empire State Building was illuminated in blue light for three days. With his death, the world lost one of its greatest entertainers. During his long career Sinatra sold 150 million records and a lot of his songs have become evergreens.