Elite Profile: Frank Sinatra

Total Net Worth: $600 million
Age: 68 December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998
Sign: Sagittarius
Born in: Hoboken, New Jersey
Marital status: Married & Divorced:  Barbara Marx, Nancy Barbato, Mia Farrow, Ava Gardner
Occupation: Singer, Writer, Founder of Reprise Records

For decades, Frank Sinatra was simply known as “The Voice,” his music and artistry capturing the hearts of millions. As an American singer and motion-picture actor who is often hailed as the greatest American singer of 20th-century popular music, Sinatra launched his journey from humble beginnings to the heights of Hollywood with much controversy. His  charismatic and explosive personality made him “bigger than life.” Some of his songs became so popular they are now a part of the American lexicon and he was part of the 1960s collection of actors known as the Rat Pack, and is infamously associated with the mob.

Frank’s father, Martin, was a tavern owner and part-time prizefighter, and his mother, Natalie—known to all as “Dolly”—was a domineering influence in both local politics and in her son’s life and career. By having such a strong upbringing in an eclectic environment he was exposed to a lot more real life situations than his peers. Upon hearing the recordings of  Bing Crosby, Sinatra was inspired as a teenager to choose popular singing as a vocation. He joined a local singing group, which, as the Hoboken Four, won a talent competition in 1935 on the popular radio program Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour.

Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the “bobby soxers”, he released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra in 1946. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity.

He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released several critically lauded albums. Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records in 1961, toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy. As Sinatra turned 50, he took a more introspective path in his career and further solidified his fame by starring in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with “Strangers in the Night” and “My Way”.

With sales of his music dwindling and after appearing in several poorly received films, Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971. Two years later, however, he came out of retirement and in 1973 recorded several albums, scoring a Top 40 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.

His career remains to be of legendary until this day. Frank Sinatra continues to be the role model for aspiring gentleman across the world. We can’t help but wish there were more Sinatras and less Biebers.

The Bad Boy Persona

Sinatra’s bad boy image began with his infamous 1938 mug shot. The charge? At a nightclub, one of his girlfriends attacked his wife-to-be Nancy and later had Frank arrested twice – once for seduction and again for adultery.

Manufactured Hype

In the 1940s, Frank – or Frankie, as he was then known – became one of America’s first teen idols. Not to take anything away from his amazing voice and his ability to excite the female throngs, but the bobbysoxer craze he incited (so called because the coed fans wore Catholic school-style bobby socks, rolled down to their ankles) had a little help. Sinatra’s publicist George Evans auditioned girls for how loud they could scream, then paid them five bucks and placed them strategically in the audience to help whip up excitement.

Ducking the Feds

That FBI file had been started by J. Edgar Hoover a few years later after a radio listener wrote to the Bureau, saying, “The other day I turned on a Frank Sinatra program and I thought how easy it would be for certain-minded manufacturers to create another Hitler here in America through the influence of mass hysteria.” Sinatra had also been investigated by the FBI for reportedly paying doctors $40,000 to declare him unfit to serve in the armed services.

The Women

Nancy Barbato

Ava Gardner

Barbara Marx

Judy Garland

Marilyn Monroe

The Cars

1989 Jaguar XJ-S V12 Coupe

1956 Ford Thunderbird

1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S

1976 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

The Dream Home

Los Angeles Mansion

Location: The Los Angeles hills is one of the most expensive and exclusive areas to live in all of the United States. This type of opportunity rarely presents itself. Walking on the grounds you will be totally private from neighbors and feel as if you are in a private park. Surrounded by specimen trees and lush landscaping.

Accommodation: This Los Angeles property boasts 7 bedrooms and 24 parking spots indoors and outside.4 car garage that was built in 1936, so size of square footage may be different than it would be if it were built more recently. Plenty of space to expand and build out a much bigger garage for your collection, while having the bragging rights of owning a property once owned by Frank Sinatra!

Neighborhood: This is a premier property in a perfect Holmby Hills location. On over 2 park-like acres of rolling private grounds. Older hacienda could be remodeled/restored or build an amazing estate in a neighborhood of incomparable homes.

Elite.