Rockopedia: In Memoriam Frank Sinatra

by Karl Dallas

This is an entry in Rockopedia, my "experiment in autobiography", based around the lives (and, sadly, in too many cases, the deaths) of people I have known and written about since my first article was published in Melody Maker, on July 7, 1957. It is very much a work in progress, and further entries will be added as and when they have been completed.This one is devoted to two articles about Frank Sinatra - a long extract from my book, "Singers of an Empty Day", and a review of "When Ol' Blue-Eyes Was a Red".

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2011

Reviews

[Michael Mardel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rockopedia: in memoriam Frank Sinatra by Dallas has a conversational tone as he takes the reader through a few decades of Sinatra's life and the musicians that kept him quiet. Some artistes came close to emulating Sinatra but he stood alone from them. He also stood alone from rhythm and blues as well as rock n roll. I grew up in the sixties and Sinatra was not on my radar until he visited Melbourne and upset a few journalists. Melbourne was also an unhappy town for Judy Garland and I was at that concert. Bing Crosby was favoured by the nuns and we missed our schooling as the nuns showed 'Going my way'. So it was only in my adult years that I came to appreciate Sinatra, and he was a Catholic, I believe, at least to the mob. Rockopedia: in memoriam Frank Sinatra by Dallas has a conversational tone as he takes the reader through a few decades of Sinatra's life and the musicians that kept him quiet. Some artistes came close to emulating Sinatra but he stood alone from them. He also stood alone from rhythm and blues as well as rock n roll. I grew up in the sixties and Sinatra was not on my radar until he visited Melbourne and upset a few journalists. Melbourne was also an unhappy town for Judy Garland and I was at that concert. Bing Crosby was favoured by the nuns and we missed our schooling as the nuns showed 'Going my way'. So it was only in my adult years that I came to appreciate Sinatra, and he was a Catholic, I believe, at least to the mob.