OUR Frank Sinatra died May 14, 1998 at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 82 years old. His glory days are long gone, but his death shocked the world many years later, even today. The voice is silent.

The news caught the American journalist and writer Pete Hamill, a friend of Sinatra, at the Miami airport. Hamill was watching passers-by walk around the property carrying bags as the TV screens showed a CNN special about the popular singer and actor.

Hamill recalled how during the years they spent together in the bars of New York, Las Vegas and Monte Carlo, smoking and drinking whiskey, Sinatra persuaded him to write his autobiography.

Sinatra’s death was followed by a series of articles about the artist. Hamill read them and closely followed the press coverage of the legend named Sinatra, but found her “empty” and “missing”. A key element was missing. The singer lived the last years of his life in the shadows, in and out of hospitals, and his last live performances were unlike those at the peak of his career. So why did Sinatra mean so much to so many?

The journalist decided that even without the help of a friend, he would finally write the story of the singer: his own, completely subjective version. In addition, he had a lot of material at his disposal.

They met with Sinatra several times, some of them without witnesses, so the singer spoke with him in detail about the various aspects of his life. However, Hamill never intended to release a “classic biography” of Sinatra with hundreds of pages of photographs or dozens of interviews. Many of them already exist and many will be released in the future. He wanted to condense all aspects of the singer into a few pages. He wanted to create a “psychological portrait”.

Thus, Why Sinatra Matters was born. The book explores the past of the artist: growing up in the family of Italian immigrants, the racism he experienced, the Second World War. And, of course, his career in music and cinema, his love affairs and scandals. For Hamill, Sinatra’s story can fit into three important sections: music, politics, and love.

“His sound was something else”

Hamill always knew that music meant a lot to Sinatra. In an interview with American journalist and host Charlie Rose in 1998, the year the book was released, the journalist explained: “Music is unique and distinctive. Such a musical genre did not exist until Sinatra appeared. Many of us have forgotten about this. This music of urban America, created by the last generation of immigrants to this country, became the sound of a certain part of the United States, and then the sound of many parts of the world. It wasn’t like Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. It was something else. But at least as valuable.”
Sinatra became the “poet of loneliness”, an epidemic that at that time began to haunt millions of people.

Failed name change and relationship with the mafia

Sinatra was born in the United States in 1915 to Italian parents. At the time, racism against Italian immigrants was intense. According to Hamill, the young Sinatra first learned about it when he was five or six years old, when he heard offensive and racist comments.

The fact that he kept his last name was an act of resistance to xenophobia. Early in his career, singer Harry James suggested that Sinatra change his last name because it “threatened” his career. “Why don’t you change your name to Frank Sateen?” Sinatra turned down the offer. “You would think that I would change it. Now I’m going to sing on a cruise ship,” she once told Hamill.

The fact that he kept his last name was an act of resistance to xenophobia. Early in his career, singer Harry James suggested that Sinatra change his last name because it “threatened” his career. “Why don’t you change your name to Frank Sateen?” Sinatra turned down the offer. “You would think that I would change it. Now I’m going to sing on a cruise ship,” she once told Hamill.

One of the lesser-known aspects of Sinatra was his political commitment, which stemmed in part from his lineage. It may surprise many that in his youth he supported organizations such as the Association for the Promotion of the Development of People of Different Backgrounds.

Hamill also addressed rumors of Sinatra’s mob connections. The singer denied that the criminal organization helped his career, but he could never deny that he knew many of its members, especially in the early years of his career in the music scene.

stormy love

As for his personal life, Sinatra had many different relationships. At the age of 24, he married Nancy Barbato, with whom he had three children. But Hamill has no doubt that the singer’s biggest love was American actress Ava Gardner. His relationship with the actress was full of scandals and fights, breakups and reunions.

Although they divorced in 1957, Sinatra never forgot her. Thanks to Gardner, the singer participated in the film From Here to Eternity (1953) as Angelo Maggio. The performance led to him winning an Academy Award in the Best Actor category. From that moment on, he released some of his best albums: In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin’ Lovers (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely. (1958), “Nobody Cares” (1959) and “Good and Easy” (1960).

Hamill’s biography does not claim to reveal all the secrets of Sinatra, but presents, through the author’s memoirs, an “intimate” portrait of the singer and actor. In the introduction, Hamill recalls their conversations: “Like all great artists, Frank Sinatra had secret, endless contradictions. Sometimes there was some kind of overlap, and I saw in front of me an insecure old man who always wanted to understand what was happening around him. I really liked this person.”

According to El Pais