Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers". He released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatra's professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best known residency performers as part of The Rat Pack. His career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely (1958) and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).
Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own record label, Reprise Records, and released a string of successful albums. In 1965, he recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and released the tracks "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way". After releasing Sinatra at the Sands, recorded at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Vegas with frequent collaborator Count Basie in early 1966, the following year he recorded one of his most famous collaborations with Tom Jobim, the album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. It was followed by 1968's collaboration with Duke Ellington. Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971, but came out of retirement two years later and recorded several albums and resumed performing at Caesars Palace, and reached success in 1980 with "New York, New York". 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.
Sinatra forged a highly successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), and received critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He appeared in various musicals such as On the Town (1949), Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957), winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he became associated with playing detectives, including the title character in Tony Rome (1967). Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1971. On television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Sinatra was also heavily involved with politics from the mid-1940s, and actively campaigned for presidents such as Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, though before Kennedy's death Sinatra's alleged Mafia connections led to his being snubbed.
While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had an impressive understanding of it, and he worked very hard from a young age to improve his abilities in all aspects of music. A perfectionist, renowned for his dress sense and performing presence, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname "Ol' Blue Eyes". Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976. Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him "the greatest singer of the 20th century", and he continues to be seen as an iconic figure.
Sinatra died with his wife at his side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 14, 1998, aged 82, after a heart attack. Sinatra had ill health during the last few years of his life, and was frequently hospitalized for heart and breathing problems, high blood pressure, pneumonia and bladder cancer. He was further diagnosed as having dementia. He had made no public appearances following a heart attack in February 1997. Sinatra's wife encouraged him to "fight" while attempts were made to stabilize him, and his final words were, "I'm losing." Sinatra's daughter, Tina, later wrote that she and her sister, Nancy, had not been notified of their father's final hospitalization, and it was her belief that "the omission was deliberate. Barbara would be the grieving widow alone at her husband's side." The night after Sinatra's death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City were turned blue, the lights at the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor, and the casinos stopped spinning for a minute.
Sinatra's funeral was held at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California, on May 20, 1998, with 400 mourners in attendance and thousands of fans outside. Gregory Peck, Tony Bennett, and Sinatra's son, Frank Jr., addressed the mourners, who included many notable people from film and entertainment. Sinatra was buried in a blue business suit with mementos from family members—cherry-flavored Life Savers, Tootsie Rolls, a bottle of Jack Daniel's, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, stuffed toys, a dog biscuit, and a roll of dimes that he always carried—next to his parents in section B-8 of Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.
His close friends Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen are buried nearby. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come", plus "Beloved Husband & Father" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker. Significant increases in recording sales worldwide were reported by Billboard in the month of his death.
Isle of Capri
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree
Oh, I can still see the flow'rs blooming round her
Where we met on the Isle of Capri
She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning
But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me
And though I sailed with the tide in the morning
Summertime was nearly over
Blue Italian sky above
I said "Lady, I'm a rover
Can you spare a sweet word o'love?"
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
She wore a lovely meatball on her finger
'Twas goodbye at the Villa Capri
Summertime was nearly over
Blue Italian sky above
I said "Lady, I'm a rover
Can you spare a fine word o'love?"
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
She wore a plain golden ring on her finger
'Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri
'Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri
'Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri
The lyrics to Frank Sinatra's song "Isle of Capri" tell the story of a man who meets a woman on the Italian island of Capri. He describes the picturesque scene of finding her under an old walnut tree amidst the blooming flowers. The man is enchanted by the woman, but fate seems to have other plans. He realizes that although he sails with the tide, his heart is still on the Isle of Capri. As summer is ending and the blue Italian sky is shining above them, the man professes his love to the woman, but she tells him softly that it's best not to linger. As he leaves, he notices that she's already wearing a meatball on her finger, symbolizing that she's already taken. The song ends with the man saying goodbye to the Isle of Capri, knowing that he'll never forget the woman he met there.
Line by Line Meaning
'Twas on the Isle of Capri that I found her
I met her on the beautiful Isle of Capri
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree
As we sat under the tree's shade together
Oh, I can still see the flow'rs blooming round her
I remember the flowers that surrounded her
Where we met on the Isle of Capri
This was where our love first came to be
She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning
She was as lovely as a blooming rose in the morning
But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me
Unfortunately destiny didn't have us destined to be together
And though I sailed with the tide in the morning
Despite traveling with the rising sun
Still my heart's on the Isle of Capri
My love's heart remains on the Isle of Capri
Summertime was nearly over
The end of the summer was drawing near
Blue Italian sky above
The beautiful blue sky of Italy was overhead
I said "Lady, I'm a rover
I told her I was a wanderer
Can you spare a sweet word o'love?"
Asked if she could grant me a loving sentiment
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
She replied quietly that we shouldn't stay together
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
As I said goodbye, I noticed
She wore a lovely meatball on her finger
That she was wearing a beautiful ring on her finger
'Twas goodbye at the Villa Capri
We parted ways at the Villa Capri
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
Again she told me we shouldn't stay together
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
As we bid farewell
She wore a plain golden ring on her finger
She had switched to a plain gold band on her finger
'Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri
We parted ways on the beautiful Isle of Capri
'Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri
It was on that island that we said our final goodbyes
'Twas goodbye on the Isle of Capri
Our romance had ended on the Isle of Capri
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JIMMY KENNEDY, WILL GROSZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Betty Ann Capogreco
REST IN PEACE FRANK. I LOVE YOU.
WeirdMonkey555
Very underrated.
James Marshall
I'll bet Frank could swing SILENT NIGHT.
ieronimo18
Frank's blue eyes blended in with the Blue Grotto!
Sandra Paltani
👍👏👏👏😘😘😘❤❤❤
Sophia Schlenoff
going to fly abroad and this is my soundtrack
BYRON777
Heaven.
Nenad Milovanovic
Frank is King 👑!!!!
Pat O'sullivan
Forever
Mark Young
ole' blue eyes---simply the best