Everyone knows that Frank Sinatra will always
be a legend. Ever since his heyday in the mid-20th century,
Ol' Blue Eyes has captured the hearts of music lovers around the world. But few people realize just how tragic his
life really was. This is the real-life story of Frank Sinatra. During his birth, Francis Albert Sinatra was
almost ruled dead on arrival. Born on December 12th 1915, in the kitchen
of his parents' New Jersey apartment, Sinatra weighed 13.5 pounds at birth and had to be
removed from the womb with forceps. Frank was originally thought to be stillborn,
as he was blue and not breathing. While the doctor was treating his mother,
Frank's grandmother took the seemingly dead infant, ran him under cold water and slapped
him on the back, which suddenly revived him. And the mishaps didn't end there. Frank was actually supposed to be given the
first name "Martin" after his father, but a misunderstanding led the priest to baptize
the baby after his godfather, Frank Garrick. Frank's mother, probably a little exhausted
by this point, decided to leave it alone and keep the name as it was. The forceps used during Frank's birth left
him with facial scarring on the left side of his face, neck, and jawline. This led him to receive the punishing nickname
of "Scarface" from his peers in adolescence. During his singing career, Frank would endeavor
to hide his facial imperfections with heavy makeup. In spite of his talent, Frank Sinatra actually
had to grapple with loneliness during his childhood. Frank was the only child of Italian immigrants,
who were both very active and prominent in their Hoboken neighborhood. His father, Antonino Martino, or "Marty,"
owned a local tavern and was a part-time prizefighter. Frank's mother, Dolly, was a midwife who often
helped desperate women to obtain illegal abortions. Dolly was also involved in local politics
and was elected Democratic Ward Leader in their neighborhood. His parents' work and activities meant they
were often away, so young Frank was usually left on his own, or with his grandmother. Most children in Frank's predominantly Italian
neighborhood came from large families, while he grew up an only child, which was considered
highly unusual at the time. In a later interview with journalist Pete
Hamill, Sinatra admitted that he longed for a sibling when he was a child, saying: "I used to wish I had an older brother that
could help me when I needed him. I wished I had a younger sister I could protect." Sinatra didn't find it easy achieving the
fame and success that he craved when he was young. His parents weren't entirely supportive of
his desire to be a professional singer, viewing it only as a hobby. Instead, Marty wanted his son to attend the
Stevens Institute of Technology and have a steady job. However, once Dolly Sinatra understood her
son's talent and ambition, she tried to help him wherever she could, from buying him sound
equipment and sheet music to using her political connections to secure singing gigs for him. Dolly's pull even landed Frank a spot with
the local singing group, the Hoboken Four, which started him on the path of professional
recognition. It soon became obvious, however, that Sinatra
was the only one of the group with genuine ambition and drive, and once the Hoboken Four
broke up, Frank started to wait tables in between his singing gigs with local dance
bands. After landing a solid gig with trumpeter Harry
James, Frank's biggest break came in 1940, when he was discovered by renowned bandleader
Tommy Dorsey, who offered him a much more lucrative contract. By 1942, Sinatra's reputation even eclipsed
Dorsey's, which prompted him to seek out a solo singing career. Bing Crosby was Frank Sinatra's greatest inspiration
for becoming a professional singer. A huge fan of the celebrity crooner, the teenage
Frank even had a picture of Crosby hanging in his bedroom. Crosby's warm, passionate, but laid-back singing
technique was the foundation that Frank built on, until he could develop his own unique
style. Frank even met his idol briefly in 1935 at
a Newark Club, but they wouldn't meet again for nearly a decade, when Frank was a huge
star in his own right. By the time the 1940s rolled around, Crosby
was still popular, but Sinatra's fame was skyrocketing. Bing had fans, but he was never greeted by
the hoards of screaming, swooning teenage bobby soxer girls that made up Sinatra's fanbase. Crosby took Frank's rising popularity in stride,
however, once saying that Sinatra was a singer that comes around once in a lifetime, and
jokingly adding: "But why did it have to be my lifetime?" After that, a media-driven rivalry was born. The two competing crooners would frequently
trade barbs and insults at each other on public radio broadcasts. The rivalry was played up for media attention,
but it was never really serious. Later, they would perform duets together and
co-star in movies, such as 1956's High Society. Frank Sinatra didn't mind a good-natured rivalry
with Bing Crosby, but he felt highly intimidated by any new singers who could potentially knock
him off his pedestal. In the early 1950s, singer Eddie Fisher was
on the rise, and this caused Sinatra to spiral into a deep depression, believing that his
career was over. Another time Sinatra's fame came under threat
was from a singer named Jimmy Roselli, who was also known as, quote, "the other Sinatra." Roselli was ten years younger than Sinatra,
an Italian American, and grew up in the same neighborhood of Hoboken. Roselli was also incredibly popular with the
Italian American crowd, even with Frank Sinatra's friends and his own mother, Dolly. Roselli's voice had an even greater range
than Sinatra's, too. When Dolly Sinatra asked Jimmy Roselli to
perform at a benefit, but Roselli refused to sing without receiving a fee, Sinatra used
this as an excuse to blackball Roselli's career. Although he always refuted it, Frank Sinatra
absolutely had ties to the mob. In fact, Sinatra's FBI profile reads like
a guidebook to the Mafia. Sinatra was known to be good friends with
the infamous Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana and his crew. He outwardly socialized with the Fischetti
Brothers, Joseph and Charles, who were known to conduct illegal gambling operations. He blatantly partied with Detroit mobsters
Anthony and Vito Giacalone. If Sinatra ever needed to get out of a contract
or was simply ticked off about a perceived insult, someone could expect to get a visit
from a couple of goons, visits that might or might not end with violence. In return, Frank would often perform a few
shows as favors for his mob buddies. For all of Sinatra's denials of his Mafia
ties, he didn't do much to conceal who his friends were or his participation in their
preferred activities, namely, gambling, women, and money. "I don't do those things to have anybody follow
me in doing that same thing, is what I mean." The FBI kept a close eye on Sinatra, but he
was never charged criminally for his mob-related activities or associations. Sinatra's full FBI record wasn't released
until after his death. Sinatra was an ardent supporter of the Democratic
Party, most notably, John F. Kennedy. It's unknown how the two officially met, but
Kennedy's sister, Pat, was married to Sinatra's fellow Rat Packer Peter Lawford. Kennedy appreciated Sinatra's glamour and
rule-breaking attitude, and Sinatra greatly admired the power that Kennedy represented. When JFK announced his bid for the presidency,
Sinatra publicly endorsed his candidacy and avidly used his star power to generate votes. He organized donor dinners, appeared in political
radio ads, and lent Kennedy's aides his private jet. His hit song "High Hopes" even became the
theme song of the Kennedy campaign. It has been speculated that JFK's father,
Joseph Kennedy, was hoping to use Sinatra's mob connections and union ties to bring in
the votes. However, the Kennedy-Sinatra friendship crumbled
shortly after the election, when an FBI wiretap revealed that Sinatra was having an affair
with JFK's married sister, Pat. Sinatra made it clear on the recordings that
he was only using Pat to influence her brothers and steer the government away from his gangster
friends' activities, but the Kennedys agreed that Sinatra had to go. Despite all that romantic crooning, Frank
Sinatra was known to have an extremely short fuse. "Do you think your boiling point is low?" "Not anymore. It used to be." Once, during a show in Hong Kong, a missed
light cue prompted him to destroy his dressing room and his hotel suite, breaking priceless
antiques. Another time, while in a drunken rage, he
drove a golf cart through a shopping mall window. J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography Sinatra:
Behind the Legend details how the singer once threw a plate of pasta at the wall in an Italian
restaurant because he deemed it too soggy. Ol' Blue Eyes also had a habit of bullying
venue employees and less famous entertainers, and getting his mob friends to beat up people
he didn't like. He seemed to have a particular dislike for
stand-up comedians, probably due to his many insecurities and fears of being publicly humiliated. Comic Shecky Greene once made a remark that
angered Sinatra, and Greene was later mobbed by a group of Sinatra's friends. Comedian Jackie Mason made a series of jokes
about the much older Frank Sinatra's marriage to 21-year-old Mia Farrow, which resulted
in the comic receiving anonymous death threats. When Mason refused to stop making Frank Sinatra
jokes, shots were fired into his hotel room. He later had his nose and cheekbones broken
by a complete stranger. Out of his three children, Frank Sinatra had
one son, Frank Jr., who had ambitions to become a singer like his father. His career was already budding at the age
of 19. However, Frank Jr. also started attracting
more malicious attention. According to the FBI, on December 8th 1963,
Sinatra Jr. was performing a gig at Harrah's Club Lodge in Lake Tahoe. He was in his dressing room with a friend
when someone knocked on the door, claiming to have a package to deliver. Instead, two men entered, tied up, and blindfolded
the friend and then forced the singer out a side door and into a waiting car. The friend was able to free himself and notify
the police. The kidnappers contacted the elder Sinatra
and demanded a ransom of $240,000 for his son's safe return. With the FBI's help, Sinatra Sr. paid the
ransom and allowed the police to track down the kidnappers. After some trepidation on the part of the
kidnappers, one of them eventually decided to free Sinatra Jr., whom the police found
in Bel-Air after he had been walking for miles. The FBI later apprehended the three kidnappers
and recovered the ransom money. "I was scared. I was a little bit nervous, naturally. But the only thing I could do was hope for
the best." The kidnappers' defense tried to paint Sinatra
Jr. as the perpetrator, claiming he masterminded his own abduction for publicity. The FBI's evidence proved contradictory to
this claim, and all three kidnappers were convicted. Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack at the
age of 82 on May 14th 1998, at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His wife, Barbara Marx, and his three children
were at his bedside. Sinatra's last remaining years were filled
with significant health problems, such as heart and breathing problems, high blood pressure,
pneumonia, and bladder cancer. He had also been diagnosed with dementia,
brought on by Alzheimer's. As the end approached, Sinatra seemed to recognize
that his time had arrived, as his last words to his wife were: "I'm losing." Sinatra was buried with a pack of Camel cigarettes,
a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey, a Zippo lighter and a dollar's worth of dimes. In a Rolling Stone interview, singer Bono
of U2 spoke on the death of Sinatra, with whom he once performed a duet, and the loss
of an iconic performer. He said: "Frank Sinatra was the twentieth-century,
he was modern, he was complex, he had swing and he had attitude. He was the boss but he was always Frank Sinatra. We won't see his like again." Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite
stuff are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the
bell so you don't miss a single one.
