Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed "Ol' Blue Eyes", "the Voice", and "the Chairman of the Board", Sinatra was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is among the world's best-selling music artists with an estimated 150 million record sales.

Born to Italian immigrants in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers". He released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946.

His career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, winning him the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely (1958) and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).

Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own record label, Reprise Records, and released a series of successful albums. In 1965, he recorded the retrospective September of My Years and starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music.

After waning interest in his recordings in the late 1960s, Sinatra retired briefly in 1971. Two years later, however, he came out of retirement and recorded several albums, scoring a hit with "(Theme from) New York, New York" in 1980. 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.

Sinatra also forged a successful career as a film actor, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). He also starred in such musicals as On the Town (1949), Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957), winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the latter.