A Brief Brief Brief Biography of Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra was born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was born on December 12, 1915. He got his start singing at dive bars and saloons. He eventually got work as a band singer with groups like the Hoboken Four, and with artists like Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. In 1942 he started his solo career and was a huge hit among teenage girls-- perhaps because of his image of a street thug and a punk*.
Around that time, his career started taking off. He scored a lead role in "Anchors Away" in 1945, and the film was nominated for best picture in the 1946 Academy Awards. The same year, he was awarded a special award for the short film "The House I Live In", which was about racial intolerance. In his life, he won 3 Oscars, three Golden Globes, ten solo Grammys, 20 grammys for albums, an Emmy, a Peabody, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award.
His career on screen and on record was booming until 1951, when a vocal cord hemmorhage all but finished him. He kept fighting, however, and he kept performing and recording until his death. From 1953 to 1961, Sinatra recorded over 17 albums. In 1960, Sinatra formed his own record label, Reprise and became a producer. He also had a side-role in Ocean's 11. He continued producing and acting for a decade. In 1970, he refrained from making any more movies. In 1977, he produced the made-for-tv movie "Contract on Cherry Street". His last acting performance was in 1987, in an episode of "Magnum P.I.". In 1993, he returned to Capitol Studios to record his last two albums, Duets I and II. They both were very successful.
Frank Sinatra passed away on May 14, 1998 of heart and kidney disease and bladder cancer. By the end of his life, Sinatra had starred in over 50 movies.

* For 5 decades starting in the 40s the FBI kept Sinatra under surveillance for alleged relations with the Mafia. By the end of his life they had compiled 2,403 pages on Sinatra.