Sinatra: His Story From an Insider
By Nick Sevano and Ted Schwarz
"Another Frank Sinatra book? How could you write another Frank Sinatra book? Doesn't everyone know everything that ever happened to the guy? Earl Wilson, one of the greatest entertainment industry columnists of the twentieth century, wrote about Frank, as did Kitty Kelley, a top investigative biographer. Kitty even interviewed me, as did dozens of documentary makers, authors, and magazine writers. What more is left to be said?...In truth, there is so much more that I could have made this book into two volumes. You see, the truth that every writer has faced over the years is that one way or another, almost no one wanted to tell all they knew about Frank while he or his most loyal friends, such as Jilly Rizzo, were still alive...I was with Sinatra from the beginning. I was there at the end. And the people who might have been hurt by the truth, people who, in some instances, would stop at nothing to keep it quiet, are all now dead. That is why I decided to write this book and set the record straight. Frank Sinatra? You just thought you knew him. --Nick Sevano
",,,wasn't a game or an action meant to get himself in trouble. He moved them both and could think of no better way to move from one to the other without wasting time. He eventually recorded a song that had such lyrics as "If I'm not with the girl that I love, I love the girl I'm with." People thought it was a novelty number. It wasn't. That was more typical of Frank than when he sang, "I did it my way..."I never was what you typically say a fan is--I never read about the lives of singers I enjoyed hearing, nor really cared about them. Let's face it, though, Frank Sinatra--everybody knows the name! Or at least have heard him sing, even though they may not recognize the owner of that voice...
But that's pretty hard to do as well. Most people instantly recognize when Frank Sinatra was singing!
I'm also not a swooner...LOL! This book discusses the millions of mostly women who would swoon for Frank...It also talks about how some of those swooners were trained (which probably still happens?) although I was watching a little of a concert on PBS and saw even sophisticated women, all dressed up for a fancy concert, swooning just like we see the fans standing right in front of the stages all over the world.. Music does that... But when the voice is also magnetic, it becomes all about the individual artist doing the singing!
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| "Frank was also a funny looking kid, a scrawny punk who was forever getting mocked in bars. The girls came on to him because of his image--the kid who sometimes sang from the bandstand, was well dressed, had a car, and seemed to have money. Few, if any, seemed to care about Frank himself. "Did Frank know it? I have no idea. His hunger for women and his inability to stay with any of them for long probably related. "Sinatra was also something more--angry, frequently depressed, prone to temper tantrums, and some people would say that was his good side. I saw all that and hated that side of him as much as anybody. But I saw something more. I saw a guy who truly loved his family in those days, even if he was too much of a jerk to be faithful to Nancy. I saw a guy who could be generous to anyone in need. I saw a guy who have genuine compassion for anyone who was critized because of race, politics, or religious beliefs. I also saw someone who was intensely sensitive to it as well, who sometimes read hostility into an incident where the person he thought was looking at him as a "dago" or "guinea" probably couldn't have cared less..." ~~~ |
I therefore found it very interesting to learn that Frank was not an immediate success... In fact, his mother would often pay the club where he was going to sing who then paid Frank... Or he would provide transportation and support to other groups who performed, trading his work to be permitted to sing a few songs...
Frank's mother's story was also surprising, especially since it was during the time that Italian immigrants were still facing discrimination. Dolly Sinatra was able to become a powerful leader in the community, both politically, and socially, even to the point where she was the woman frightened girls or families came to when a young girl had a special need for assistance. If she didn't handle it herself, she would go with them to the hospital and force them to respond to their needs. What shocked me was not that abortions were occurring, but that the hospitals were doing the discrimination because of nationality!
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| http://tnaron.wordpress.com/2007/09/1 8/take-the-cookie-i-meet-the-sinatra-family/ |
"Frank's ego was always one step ahead of his skills..." Well, I think that is true for all of us but the drive, the determination, and the willingness to do what it takes has to be the most important factors in Frank's success. When he finally was able to obtain music lessons, it was then that his voice began to gain the maturity that we all came to know...
Of course, big bands were "the thing" during the time he was becoming more accepted as a professional but being the "boy singer" wasn't exactly how he saw himself, of course!
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| www.dailymail.co.uk |
And then Frank met and fell in love--forever (!!!)--with Ava. But, let's face it everybody, who wouldn't?!!! She was indeed a beautiful women! But did you notice she looks something like this wife?
Obviously, I've just shared a few samples of what is included in the book and have not touched on things like The Rat Pack, the mob connection, Frank Jr.'s kidnapping and so much more...Right up to "My Way"! Visit my blog for pics and videos. I had to laugh when I listened to one of the videos used on my blog when he starts by saying that they would start with the national anthem...and then sang "My Way"--his most well known song. Or, at least one that everybody knows that it was Frank that first made it so well known.
I really enjoyed this book! He was a little older than me so that many of his songs and early events and connections were just names that I've heard. Still, they were well known and readers can easily place, perhaps, their own lives in relation to Frank's insider personal story by Nick Sevano...
Don't miss this one! It's well done. Seems very inclusive about topics you may have "heard about" but didn't know any real details. So if you're a Sinatra Fan or Swooner...you probably will swoon just reading it! LOL By the way, there are no pictures in the book. This is telling the story, not doing pictorial publicity...I thought that was important, since we can always find pics on the Internet, but not necessarily, the truth, as understood by friends...
GABixlerReviews
The Voice Everybody Remembers!
About the Authors:
The late Nick Sevano was more than a confidant in Sinatra's professional career and in private life. Nick saw it all and has reported well and fully beyond any other biography.
Ted Schwarz, on the other hand, is the author of several books, and has become an expert in the lives of many stars, including Sinatra.
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