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.
The Music Stopped
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Which goes to show that music has charm
The lights were low so we kept on dancing
I felt the glow of you in my arms
The band had left the stand, and we were in heaven
Dancing on a cloud, way off in the blue, the music stopped
And people were glancing, but we went on dancing
The Music Stopped is a song that explores the power of music and love. The lyrics talk about a couple who are dancing even after the band has left the stand and the music has stopped. The singer notes that this is a beautiful display of the charm of music, as it inspired them to keep dancing even when there was no longer any music playing. The couple is so enraptured in their love and the feeling of being in each other's arms that they don't even notice that the music has stopped.
The lyrics also speak to the idea that love can create its own sort of music. The singer mentions feeling the "glow" of their partner in their arms, as if they were generating their own music simply by being together. The couple is in their own world, "dancing on a cloud, way off in the blue," and they continue to dance even as others around them notice that the music has stopped.
This song is a beautiful reminder of the power of music and love to transport us beyond the present moment. It shows how these two forces can create a world of their own, where time stands still and we are lost in the moment.
Line by Line Meaning
The music stopped, but we were still dancing
Despite the music stopping, we continued to dance as a tribute to the charm of music.
The lights were low so we kept on dancing
With the dim lighting, we continued dancing, as the warmth of your presence in my arms was all that mattered.
The band had left the stand, and we were in heaven
With the band gone, we continued dancing in bliss, as if on a cloud in the sky.
Dancing on a cloud, way off in the blue, the music stopped
We were dancing far away in our own world, even when the music stopped.
And people were glancing, but we went on dancing
Despite the attention of others, we continued dancing, lost in our own mutual love and happiness.
For we didn't know, because the lights were low, and we were in love
We were blissfully immersed in our strong feelings of love and didn't care about anything else, unaware that the music had stopped.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HAROLD ADAMSON, JIMMY MC HUGH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@victorroque5667
Who else thinks this is a beautiful scene? Not just the music but the video itself. It's beautiful....
@idaclaire1869
victor roque I believe the young lady with long hair was Barbara Hale. She was the first woman to kiss Frank Sinatra on film.
@erwinjacobson220
I was a real shame his self destructive ways damaged his voice. I only heard him in the 60's I could't believe it was the same person, sad.
@waldolydecker8118
Productions values make a difference....take the exact same number and serve it up on a paper plate and you'd lose half the impact. Costs money, so you need the studio budget..up-and-coming Frank assured that.
@victorroque5667
The music stopped, but we were still dancing
Which goes to show that music has charm
The lights were low so we kept on dancing
I felt the glow of you in my arms
The band had left the stand, and we were in heaven
Dancing on a cloud, way off in the blue, the music stopped
And people were glancing, but we went on dancing
For we didn't know, because the lights were low, and we were in love
@danielalexanderkandou9610
GREAT👍👍👍👏👏👏
@kostik_tatarnikov
Прекрасная музыка Константина Бакалейникова и восхитительное исполнение Фрэнка Синатры, затрагивает до глубины души. Я даже прослезился, во время прослушивания этой замечательной песни.
@furious_malic7808
Rip Frank Sinatra I appreciate ur music for it got me outta the dumps when i was down it was great listening to you ur art and what you did
@syourke3
Sinatra of the early years seems to be a completely different singer from the Sinatra of the later years - indeed, a different person altogether! The transformation is incredible! Both were great but completely different people!
@rosemaryross2100
I’m 29 years old and over here swooning over Frankie like a school girl 😍