Share on Facebook
Sinatra's popularity was later matched only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
1. As a recording artist, actor, cabaret and concert star, radio, film and television personality, and occasional producer, director and conductor, Frank Sinatra's achievements earned him 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.
2. One of the most prestigious awards Sinatra received was the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Motion Picture Society of America.
3. 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.
4. He performed on more than 1,400 recordings.
5. Was awarded 31 gold, nine platinum, three double platinum and one triple platinum album by the Recording Industry Association of America.
6. He also appeared in 58 films.
7. Produced eight motion pictures.
8. Frank Sinatra was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Grammys, The Screen Actors Guild, The Kennedy Center and the NAACP, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, and remains a legend and inspiration to thousands for his contributions to culture and the arts.
9. Beginning his musical career in the swing era as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra found success as a solo artist from the early to mid-1940s after being signed by Columbia Records in 1943.
10. The idol of the "bobby soxers", he released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946.
11. His professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, but it was reborn in 1953 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity.
12. He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy).
13. Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records, in 1961 (finding success with albums such as Ring-a-Ding-Ding!, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy.
14. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way".
15. In 1967, he recorded one of his most famous collaborations with Tom Jobim, the album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
16. With sales of his music dwindling and after appearing in several poorly received films, Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971.
17. Two years later, however, he came out of retirement and from 1973 recorded several albums, scoring a Top 40 hit with "(Theme From) New York, New York" in 1980.
18. Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally, until a short time before his death in 1998.
19. Sinatra also forged a highly successful career as a film actor.
20. After winning Best Supporting Actor in 1953, he also garnered a nomination for Best Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), and critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
21. He also starred in such musicals as On the Town (1949), Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957).
22. Sinatra is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.
23. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997.
24. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
25. One of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century, Sinatra's popularity was later matched only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
26. American music critic Robert Christgau called him "the greatest singer of the 20th century".
27. Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey, the only child of Italian immigrants Natalina Garaventa and Antonino Martino Sinatra,
28. He was raised Roman Catholic.
29. In his book Try and Stop Me (p. 218), American publisher and writer Bennett Cerf says that Sinatra's father was a lightweight boxer who fought under the name Marty O'Brien, and served with the Hoboken Fire Department as a Captain.
30. Sinatra left high school without graduating, having attended only 47 days before being expelled because of his rowdy conduct.
31. For his livelihood, he worked as a delivery boy at the Jersey Observer newspaper, and later as a riveter at the Tietjen and Lang shipyard, but music was Sinatra's main interest, and he listened carefully to big band jazz.
32. He began singing for tips at the age of eight, standing on top of the bar at a local nightclub in Hoboken.
33. Sinatra began singing professionally as a teenager in the 1930s, although he learned music by ear and never learned how to read music.
34. Sinatra had three children, Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina, all with his first wife, Nancy Sinatra.
35. He was married three more times, to actresses Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow, and finally to Barbara Marx.
36. Though turned off by organized religion at times, however, Sinatra had a deep faith that became public when he turned to the Catholic Church for healing after his mother died in a plane crash late in his career.
37. He died as a practicing Catholic and had a Catholic burial.
38. The United States Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Sinatra in May 2008, commemorating the tenth anniversary of his death.
39. The United States Congress passed a resolution introduced by Representative Mary Bono Mack on May 20, 2008, designating May 13 as Frank Sinatra Day to honor his contributions to American culture.
40. In Sinatra's native New Jersey, Hoboken's Frank Sinatra Park, the Hoboken Post Office, and a residence hall at Montclair State University were named in his honor.
41. Other buildings named for Sinatra include the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, the Frank Sinatra International Student Center at Israel's Hebrew University in Jerusalem dedicated in 1978, and the Frank Sinatra Hall at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, California, dedicated in 2002.
42. Items of memorabilia from Sinatra's life and career are displayed at USC's Frank Sinatra Hall and Wynn Resort's Sinatra restaurant.
43. Near the Las Vegas Strip is a road named Frank Sinatra Drive in his honor.
44. Sinatra has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his work in film and music on the east and west sides of the 1600 block of Vine Street respectively, and his work in television on the south side of the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
45. Sinatra received three honorary degrees during his lifetime.
46. In May 1976, Frank Sinatra was invited to speak at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) graduation commencement held at Sam Boyd Stadium. It was at this commencement that he was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate litterarum humanarum by the university. During his speech, Sinatra noted that his education had come from "the school of hard knocks" and was suitably touched by the award. He went on to describe that "this is the first educational degree I have ever held in my hand. I will never forget what you have done for me today".
47. A few years later in 1984 and 1985, Sinatra also received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Loyola Marymount University as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
48. Sinatra has been portrayed on numerous occasions in film and on television. A television miniseries based on Sinatra's life, titled Sinatra, was aired by CBS in 1992.
49. Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, aged 82, after suffering a severe heart attack. The night after Sinatra's death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City were turned blue. Also right after Sinatra's death, the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.
50. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come", plus "Beloved Husband & Father" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker.
Source: sinatra.com, Wikipedia.org
