One2Swing Biography: Frank Sinatra
As part of the One2Swing Daily, I wanted to pay tribute to a lot of the artists and musicians that provide the music that we enjoy and dance too. These bios are drawn together from a wide variety of sources and condensed down to just a few pointers. Hope you enjoy them! -Ben

Frank Sinatra
(1915 - 1998)

     Simply known as "The Voice", many people have called Frank Sinatra the greatest popular singer of the century. Born to an Italian immigrant couple living in Hoboken, N.J., Sinatra's parents had hoped their son would become an engineer. Francis Albert Sinatra had other ideas and as a young boy he had ambitions of being a journalist. He worked as an office boy for the local paper but became a big fan of Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday. He never took any formal lessons and instead practiced many of Bing Crosby's songs. Frank soon begain performing in many local contests and also started performing in a group called "The Hoboken Four".


     It was his performance of "Night and Day" in a high profile radio contest, "The Bowes Amateur Hour", in 1938 that landed him a job as a singing waiter at a small restaurant called 'The Rustic Cabin'. It was at this restaurant that one Harry James (fresh from being with Benny Goodman's band) had chanced upon in June of 1939 and heard Sinatra singing. He immediately hired him to be a vocalist for his new big band. Sinatra later performed with many other bands (including Tommy Dorsey) before going solo, giving us years of fantastic music. Ben and Sheri enjoy listening to Frank Sinatra's crooning and have used his music in various classes, CD's, and photo slideshows. Many of their favorites are from when Sinatra was with the 'Reprise' label. Two of their favorites are 'The Way You Look Tonight' and 'Fly Me To The Moon'.Listen to 'Fly Me To The Moon' (mp3).



Hope you enjoyed this mini-bio. I have many more to come!
-Ben