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Frank Sinatra
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Frank Sinatra is one of the most popular singers in American history. As an actor, he appeared in fifty-eight films and won an Academy Award for his role in From Here to Eternity. His career started in the 1930s and continued into the 1990s.
The consummate artistry of Frank Sinatra (December 12, 1915-May 14, 1998) was a tsunami of change in the way Americans thought about popular music and the way they regarded their stars. It was a metamorphosis that took place in three major phases: his initial development as the boyish band singer with the orchestras of Harry James (in 1939, on Columbia and Brunswick Records) and Tommy Dorsey (1940-41, recording for Victor); then his emergence as a solo artist in 1942 (on Bluebird); and finally his explosion on Columbia from 1943 to 1952. During that time he was, quite simply, among the top entertainers on the scene – on records, on radio, in movies, and eventually on television – and the #1 personality to everyone under age 30.
Frank Sinatra has faced triumph, failure and triumph again throughout his long career as an entertainer. New musical fads and trends-bebop, soft rock, hard rock, punk, rap, hip-hop-come and go, but somehow the Sinatra show that exploded half a century ago beats on into the 1990's.
Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra transformed popular music. Often cited as the single finest interpreter of American standards, he influenced generations of vocalists such as Nat King Cole and Carmen McRae by focusing on phrasing and matching narrative nuance and emotional naturalism with amazing breathing control. In the 1930s, Sinatra starting bringing back "old" songs by such masters as Cole Porter while he was still a Big Band singer. He became a national institution in the '40s, and even though Ray Charles has praised the flawless technique of this Columbia period, Sinatra kept evolving. Starting in the '50s he concentrated on groundbreaking concept albums and a fresh Big Band sound with master arranger Nelson Riddle. Sinatra explored every nuance of emotion on these Capitol and Reprise albums and influenced the work of Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee.
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Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professional career that lasted 60 years, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain his appeal and pursue his musical goals despite often countervailing trends. He came to the fore during the swing era of the 1930s and '40s, helped to define the "sing era" of the '40s and '50s, and continued to attract listeners during the rock era that began in the mid-'50s. He scored his first number one hit in 1940 and was still making million-selling recordings in 1994. This popularity was a mark of his success at singing and promoting the American popular song as it was written, particularly in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. He was able to take the work of great theater composers of that period, such as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, and reinterpret their songs for later audiences in a way that led to their rediscovery and their permanent enshrinement as classics.
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Frank Sinatra's career is unmatched in American popular music. A recipient of 13 GRAMMY(R) awards, Sinatra holds the distinction of singing on the first Billboard No. 1 single, "I'll Never Smile Again" (1940), which sold 900,000 copies. From his first released single in 1940, as the singer with Tommy Dorsey's band, to the 1980 release of "Theme From New York, New York," Frank Sinatra had more than 200 hits on Billboard's pop singles chart.
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