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.
When No One Cares
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the phone never rings
The nights are endless things
You're like a child that cries
And no one heeds the crying
You're like a falling star that dies
And seems to go on dying
When no one cares
And they glisten with your tears
You can't believe a love like hers
Could come from someone new
When no one cares - but you
When Frank Sinatra recorded and released the song "When No One Cares" in 1959, it was during a time in his career when he was transitioning from his iconic big band sound to a more intimate and introspective style. This song is a prime example of that transition and showcases Frank's ability to convey powerful emotion through his voice.
The lyrics of "When No One Cares" tell the story of someone who is feeling completely alone and abandoned, with no one to turn to for comfort or support. The first few lines describe the feeling of being completely forgotten, with the phone not ringing and endless nights stretching out ahead. The imagery of a crying child and a falling star that never seems to stop falling create a sense of hopelessness and despair that is hard to shake. Finally, the lyric "You just count souvenirs / And they glisten with your tears" speaks to the idea that the only thing left for this person to hold onto is memories of the past, which are now even more painful because of the current isolation.
Despite everything, the person in the song still holds onto the hope that someone will care, even if it's only them. The final line "When no one cares - but you" is the emotional climax of the song, as Frank's voice falls to a whispered, almost spoken, delivery that perfectly conveys the sense of loneliness and desperation that this person feels.
Line by Line Meaning
When no one cares
When you feel alone and unsupported
And the phone never rings
When you receive no calls or messages from anyone
The nights are endless things
When you feel like the nights go on forever with nothing to do or occupy your time
You're like a child that cries
You feel vulnerable and helpless, and in need of comfort
And no one heeds the crying
When nobody notices or acknowledges your sadness or distress
You're like a falling star that dies
You feel like a shining and beautiful entity that has lost its luster and is now fading away
And seems to go on dying
Your feeling of despair seems to never end
When no one cares
When you feel completely alone and unsupported
You just count souvenirs
You focus on the past and the memories of happier times
And they glisten with your tears
Your memories are now tainted with sadness and tears
You can't believe a love like hers
You cannot comprehend that someone could love you so deeply and yet be gone
Could come from someone new
You are unable to see that you are worthy of love from others
When no one cares - but you
When you feel completely alone and unsupported, but still hold onto hope for yourself
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: J. VAN HEUSEN, S. CAHN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Frank B
When no one cares
And the phone never rings
The nights are endless things
You're like a child that cries
And no one heeds the crying
You're like a falling star that dies
And seems to go on dying
When no one cares
You just count souvenirs
And they glisten with your tears
You can't believe a love like hers
Could come from someone new
When no one cares - but you
Suit Guy
I love this album so much. Soothes the lonely heart.
Frank B
When no one cares
And the phone never rings
The nights are endless things
You're like a child that cries
And no one heeds the crying
You're like a falling star that dies
And seems to go on dying
When no one cares
You just count souvenirs
And they glisten with your tears
You can't believe a love like hers
Could come from someone new
When no one cares - but you
John Donovan Productions
In the early Fifties Frank Sinatra was the first to put together meaningful albums such as Swinging Lovers or Only the Lonely. Coming out of the world of singles , no one knew exactly how to construct a twelve - song album that worked as a whole. Sinatra excelled at putting together a group of songs from a variety of sources with arrangements that created a mood : sad to the point of being maudlin on No One Cares , which came out in 1957 , upbeat to the point of cockiness on Come Fly with Me.
It’s crazy to think that no one really understood how to put together a music album, but that’s the thing about treading on new waters! So for any artist out there wanting to create something new, just think, within the last century, the music album was a new invention.
Vecthur
I find it always so easing to the soul to listen to music that speaks to you at the moment.
Dennis James
The phrasing is superb who else but Sinatra could do that justice
Jose 🦇
How I much I love frank Sinatra this is one of my favorite albums & Strangers In The Night too
Mary Goodwin
This is what I'm going through. Suicide.
Eli Ortega,Jr
A song that should get airplay,but won't. Thanks Sinatra 80 !
Dreamer Boii
I invite all the cigarettes and whiskey glass of all the people who have a broken heart, we can talk and listen good music fellas <3
Adam Hilayel
Thanks