#308 - Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956)
MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:
BACKGROUND – FRANK SINATRA
Frank Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1915 to Italian immigrant parents. Due to his large birth weight (13.5lbs, ironic because his skinny frame would be the butt of jokes during stage shows later on), he ended up with damage from the forceps to his left cheek and neck, and also perforated his eardrum (which kept him out of World War II). As he got older, the Chairman of the Board would go to his parents bar after school to do homework, and would sing to a player piano for spare change. He developed an interest in big band jazz and idolized Bing Crosby. He learned to sing by ear, and never learned to read music (but could read a lead sheet). He got his first big break in a local group in the 1930s, and also was singing at local clubs and on smaller radio stations. In 1938, he got his first big break when he took a singing waitering job at a restaraunt down the hall from the WNEW radio studios in NYC and got noticed. His career continued to grow, and got his first record deal with Columbia in 1943 as a solo artitst. By the late 1940s he was selling 10 million records a year, but his career had taken a bit of a dip by the early 1950s..His friend and publicist George Evans died of a heart attack, and their were rumors of an affair with Ava Gardner that led to the destruction of his marriage with Nancy. He actually had to borrow money from Columbia records to pay back taxes. Hollywood didn't want anything to do with him at that point, so he turned his attention to Las Vegas, which would become a big part of his career later on. Poor record sales caused Columbia and MCA to drop him. His role in "From Here To Eternity" served as a turning point. He was still recording and performing where he could, got a meeting with Capitol Records.
He is one of the best selling musicians of all time, having sold an estimated 150 million records worldwide. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He was included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. He recorded 59 studio albums and 297 singles over a 54 year career.
This probably isn't surprising considering the reputation he had for wanting everything a certain way, Sinatra was a perfectionist when it came to recording, didn't like editing, and was particular about capturing complete takes. He held both his musicians and himself to very high standards. But also knew when he didn't have his fastball. According to sound engineer John Palladino, "Frank knew his own voice pretty well, and when he wasn't singing well, he'd walk out of a session. I've got to give him credit for that. In fact, I've got no criticism of Frank at all. His criticisms of the musicians' playing were really top-notch, because they locked in with what he was doing. He knew what he was doing, and he knew what he wanted the band to do." On a related note, it's been said that any time Sinatra was dealing with throat or vocal issues, it was due to emotional tension, which had a profound effect on him.
When Sinatra was at his low point in the early 1950s, he decided to try Nevada, working in both Reno and Las Vegas. While the residency performance in Sin City is now common, Sinatra was the first to really do it. there was a 1940s/1950s version of The Rat Pack that included visiting members like Nat King Cole and Mickey Rooney, but the group we all know from the 1960s consisted of Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. The film Ocean's 11 starred the group, originally known as "The Clan", but was changed due to the existence of the KKK. They would perform together all over Vegas. Concerning the group's reputation for womanizing and heavy drinking, Joey Bishop stated in a 1998 interview: "I never saw Frank, Dean Martin, Sammy or Peter drunk during performances. That was only a gag! And do you believe these guys had to chase broads? They had to chase 'em away!". There was a reunion tour that had Sinatra, Martin and Davis Jr performing in the late 1980s.
Frank's godfather was Willie Moretti, who was an underboss in the Genovese Crime Family. Moretti apparently "helped" him get out of his contract with Columbia initially. He was present at the 1946 Mafia Havana Conference, was close friends with multiple mobsters, and adored Bugsy Siegel. The FBI kept records amounting to over 2400 pages on Sinatra, who was a natural target with his alleged Mafia ties and his friendship with John F. Kennedy. The FBI kept him under surveillance for almost five decades beginning in the 1940s. The documents include accounts of Sinatra as the target of death threats and extortion schemes. The FBI also documented that Sinatra was losing esteem with the Mafia as he grew closer to President Kennedy, whose younger brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was leading a crackdown on organized crime. Sinatra said he was not involved: "Any report that I fraternized with goons or racketeers is a vicious lie". Sinatra also opened up a casino on the California/Nevada state line in Lake Tahoe in 1960, but had the gambling license revoked due to one of his mobster friends being spotted on the premises. Good buddy Ronald Regan later restored the license in 1981.
He started appearing in films in the early 1940s, with his first big role being opposite Gene Kelly in 1945's Anchors Aweigh. He teamed up with Kelly for additional films like Take Me Out To The Ball Game and On The Town. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the 1955 film "The Man With The Golden Arm". The list of films he was in is too long to run down, but other notable ones include Guys and Dolls, The Pride and the Passion, High Society, Ocean's Eleven, and The Manchurian Candidate, which Sinatra considered the high point of his acting career. There were multiple attempts at a Frank Sinatra television show that never lasted more than a couple of years.
Nancy Barbato (1939-1951), Ava Gardner (1951-1957), broke off an engagement with Lauren Bacall in 1958 and then again with Juliet Prowse in 1962. He then resumed nuptials with Mia Farrow (1966-1968), and then finally Barbara Marx from 1976 until his death. Farrow said that Sinatra "might" be the father of her reporter son Ronan, who was born in 1987. (Look at a picture of him and you tell me who he looks more like - Frank or Woody Allen).
Cary Grant, a friend of Sinatra, stated that Sinatra was the "most honest person he'd ever met", who spoke "a simple truth, without artifice which scared people,” and was often moved to tears by his performances. Sinatra was a workaholic, who reportedly only slept four hours a night on average. Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings and bouts of mild to severe depression, stating in an interview in the 1950s that "I have an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as elation". Barbara Sinatra stated that he would "snap at anyone for the slightest misdemeanor". Another account said that when Frank got drunk, it was best to disappear. Sinatra's mood swings often developed into violence, directed at people he felt had crossed him, particularly journalists who gave him scathing reviews, publicists, and photographers. He received negative press for fights with multiple journalists, including implying a female reporter from the Washington Post was a cheap prostitute, and threatened to punch a Chicago Sun Times journalist in the mouth for speculating that Sinatra had a toupee. He was also known for his generosity. When an actor friend named Lee J. Cobb nearly died from a heart attack, Sinatra flooded him with "books, flowers, delicacies", paid his hospital bills, and visited him daily, telling him that his "finest acting" was yet to come. In another instance, after an argument with manager Bobby Burns, rather than apologize, Sinatra bought him a brand new Cadillac.
Sinatra died in Los Angeles in 1998, aged 82, after suffering two heart attacks. He had been in ill health during the last few years of his life, and was frequently hospitalized for heart and breathing problems, high blood pressure, pneumonia and bladder cancer. He also suffered from dementia-like symptoms due to his usage of antidepressants. He had made no public appearances following a heart attack in February 1997.
ALBUM BACKGROUND – SONGS FOR SWINGIN’ LOVERS!
Songs for Swingin' Lovers! is the tenth album by Sinatra and his fourth for Capitol Records. It was released in March 1956 on LP and January 1987 on CD. This album took a different direction from its predecessor in 1955, In the Wee Small Hours (we'll talk about that at #101), this time recording existing pop standards in a hipper, jazzier fashion, revealing an overall exuberance in the vein of Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy!. In The Wee Small Hours had themes that dealt with loneliness, heartbreak, and depression.
Recording sessions for this album were challenging due to the awkward setup of Capitol's Studio A, which was small and became smaller once you got more than a couple of musicians in there.
The album was arranged by Nelson Riddle, who Sinatra met for the first time 3 years prior. Capitol Records VP Alan Livingston thought Sinatra needed a new sound, and introduced Riddle as a substitute conductor for a recording session in 1953. This would be a big moment in Sinatra's career. Sinatra heard Riddle's arrangement of "I've Got The World On A String" and liked what he heard, going as far as exclaiming "I'm back, baby. I'm back!. Their working relationship lasted another 10 years after that.