FRANK SINATRA
Frances Albert Sinatra was born an only child in Hoboken, New Jersey. The popular music makers of his youth included Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Fred Astaire, but it was a night out to a Bing Crosby concert with his girlfriend Nancy in 1935 that he knew that he had to be a singer. Before the year was out, he was touring the country leading the vocal group, The Hoboken Four. Before the end of the decade, he had recorded his first hit, “All or Nothing at All." By May of 1941, he was named Billboard Magazine’s male vocalist of the year. His rise was meteoric. 1951 ushered in his first Las Vegas appearance. He became an actor, appearing in 58 films, and producing eight motion pictures. He won three Oscars, two Golden Globes, 10 personal Grammys (and a total of 21 including those for his albums), an Emmy, a Cecile B. DeMille Award, and a Peabody.
One of the most prestigious awards Sinatra received was the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Motion Picture Society of America. This award, presented only a few times in the Academy`s history, is given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." Sinatra`s charitable legacy is legendary. His pioneering fight against prejudice is one of the important facets that shaped his life from childhood on the streets of Hoboken, New Jersey. His short film, "The House I Live In" received a special Oscar in 1945.
Frank Sinatra began the golden age in which American popular music became a universal language. Throughout his 60-year career, "Ol' Blue Eyes" performed on more than 1,400 recordings, was awarded 31 gold, nine platinum, three double-platinum and one triple platinum album by the Recording Industry Association of America. He was also awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Grammys, The Screen Actors Guild, The Kennedy Center and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. His contribution to our life and times extends far beyond his music, to embrace an exuberance, a zest for life, a sense of style and a glorious self-confidence that define, for all time, what it meant to be young at heart and have the world on a string. His spirit and vision continue to be defined by the wisdom and insight from the legacy of work he left behind.
