Frank Sinatra

  b. 1915; d. 1998 | American Singer

At The Bottom

— 1952

Frank Sinatra was on his way to becoming a B-level performer.

The career of Francis Albert Sinatra was marked by numerous ups and downs.  After working his way up from Hoboken, New Jersey, during the Great Depression, Sinatra emerged during World War II as one of the biggest musical stars in the United States.  After a three-year stint with Tommy Dorsey — who led one of the most important bands of the swing jazz era — Sinatra moved on to a solo career that delivered one hit after another.  A box office success as well, Sinatra co-starred in several films with the great Gene Kelly.  By the early 1950s, however, Sinatra’s promising career had begun to slide.  He gave in to the crass commercialism of the music industry by joining the radio series Your Hit Parade, in which he sang the top hits of the week, no matter how unmemorable they might have ultimately been.  Now in his late 30’s, his appeal to younger audiences faded somewhat, and in January 1950 he suffered vocal strain and hemorrhaging at a concert in Hartford, Connecticut.  A stormy and ultimately unsuccessful marriage to Ava Gardner followed in 1951, and in 1952 the Columbia record label canceled his contract.  Frank Sinatra was on his way to becoming a B-level performer.