Frank Sinatra, The #39 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Four

 

(Continued from Part Three)

 "Stardust" is one of the most recorded, charted and popular tunes of all-time.  Sinatra got to #20 on the Easy Listening chart with it in 1962.

 Bobby Darin enjoyed a hit in 1959 with "That's All".  Sinatra covered it two years later.

Frank released the album Sinatra and Swingin' Brass and later in the year, Sinatra collaborated with Count Basie for the album Sinatra-Basie and Sinatra also conducted the instrumental album Frank Sinatra Conducts Music from Pictures and Plays.

 

"Nice Work If You Can Get It" is from the collaboration with Count Basie.  The original working title was "There's No Stopping Me Now", with the final title phrase coming from an English magazine.  George and Ira Gershwin wrote it for the 1937 movie A Damsel in Distress.

Sinatra returned to movies in The Manchurian Candidate in 1962.  The following year, he recorded The Concert Sinatra, featuring a 73-piece symphony orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.  

In 1963, the Rat Pack was at it again in the western Sergeants 3, and Sinatra also starred in 4 for Texas and Come Blow Your Horn, the latter earning Frank a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Comedy.

 

The Concert Sinatra album in 1963 features "I Have Dreamed", which was introduced in the classic 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.

 Sinatra released the compilation album Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre in 1963.  Robert Alda first sang "Luck Be A Lady" in the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls, but it became one of Sinatra's signature songs after including it on this album.  Frank also starred in the movie adaption of Guys and Dolls in 1955.

 

In 1964, Frank  teamed up again with Count Basie for the album It Might As Well Be Swing, arranged by Quincy Jones.  Over 100 versions of "Fly Me To The Moon" had been recorded by the time Frank did, but, as he did with dozens of songs, made it into his own.  Critic Will Friedwald said:

    Jones boosted the tempo and put it into an even 

     four/four" for Basie's version, but "when Sinatra 

     decided to address it with the Basie/Jones 

     combination they recharged it into a straight 

     swinger... [which]...all but explodes with energy.

One of his career best, "Fly Me To The Moon", is included on the album and is closely associated with Apollo's missions to Mars a few years later.

"The Best Is Yet To Come" is another great song on the album.  It happens to be the last song Sinatra sang in public, on February 25, 1995.  The words are also etched in Sinatra's tombstone.

 Sinatra released the album Softly, as I Leave You, which gave us this title song.  It is a popular Italian song, called "Piano", written by Tony De Vita with lyrics from Giorgio Calabrese.  It was translated into English by Hal Shaper.

Sinatra also released the album Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River and Other Academy Award Winners.

 

"The Way You Look Tonight" is an Academy Award winning song from Fred Astaire in the movie Swing Time.  The most popular version is from Sinatra.

 "Somewhere In Your Heart" was a #4 smash on the Adult chart that peaked at #32 overall.

Frank was on hand to dedicate the Frank Sinatra International Youth Center for Arab and Jewish children in Nazareth.  Sinatra and Jones performed on stage often, including at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1965.

 "When Somebody Loves You" was Frank's fourth Top 10 on the Easy Listening chart in the five years of its existence.

An amazing array of songs sung from the heart.  More to come in Part Five!