Frank Sinatra was making a name for himself with the Tommy Dorsey band. The teenage girls of the day, also known as bobby soxers, were his biggest fans. With World War II underway, Sinatra was classified as 4F for a perforated eardrum. He did support the war effort through USO tours. In 1943, he signed Read More
Search Results for: Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra—The Early Years
Frank Sinatra was the biggest star of his day. He suffered numerous ups and downs throughout his career. Yet, how did it all begin? Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915. From all accounts his birth was extremely traumatic and he almost did not survive. He had a scar on his left ear, Read More
Christmas Songs: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Santa Claus is Coming to Town is a Christmas song written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known version of the song dates back to 1934 and became an instant hit. This recording was by Harry Reser and his band. “Cantor’s original performance, broadcast at the height of the Great Depression, included Read More
Autumn Leaves
Autumn Leaves is a popular jazz standard. The song was composed by Joseph Kosma and the original lyrics were written in French by Jacques Prévert. The duo collaborated on the song for ”Les Feuilles mortes” (“The Dead Leaves”) for the 1946 French film translated into Gates of the Night. Irene Joachim sung the song in Read More
Sentimental Journey
Doris Day passed away last month and if you’ve read my blog for a while you know I love her music. So for the next few weeks we’ll take a long at the story to some of her hits. Sentimental Journey was written by Les Brown and Ben Homer, with Bud Green providing the Read More
It Might As Well Be Spring
Spring time is in the air and we are restless and jumpy knowing it’s springtime. The song It Might As Well be Spring was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for their musical State Fair. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1945, the year it was written. State Read More
April in Paris
The term April in Paris originated with the Broadway song. The song was composed in 1932, by Vernon Duke {music} and E. Y. Harbug {lyrics}. April in Paris first premiered in that year’s play, Walk a Little Faster. The following year, Freddy Martin recorded the song. Almost two decades later, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, recorded the Read More
{They Long to Be} Close to You
{They Long to Be} Close to You was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The song was first released in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain as They Long to be Close to You. In 1964, Dionne Warwick recorded a Burt Bacharach arrangement of the song. In 1971, Bacharach recorded his own version of the song. Read More
Let’s Start the New Year Right
Let’s Start the New Year Right is a song by Irving Berlin. The film was written for the movie Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby, Virginia Dale, Marjorie Reynolds and Fred Astaire. The film features each of the holidays throughout the year and Berlin seems to have written this song specifically for the New Year’s Read More
New York New York
New York New York has become a well-known song and theme for New York City. The song debuted in the 1977 Martin Scorsese film New York New York. Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb wrote the song for the film. “Composers Kander and Ebb stated on the A&E Biography episode about Liza Minnelli, that Read More