The Associated Press confirms that Frank Sinatra Jr., son of the legendary singer Frank Sinatra, dies of a heart attack on Wednesday at the age of 72. The singer was on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Sinatra Jr. began his music career in his early teens, performing at local clubs and venues. At age 19 he became the vocalist for Sam Donahue's band. He also spent considerable time with
Duke Ellington, learning the music business.
Frank Jr. spent most of his early career on the road. By 1968 he had performed in 47 states and 30 countries, had guested on several television shows, including two episodes of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with sister Nancy, hosted a 10 week summer replacement show for The
Dean Martin Show, had sung with his own band in Las Vegas casinos and had been the opening act for bigger names at other casinos.
Sinatra appeared in the
Sammy Davis, Jr. drama A Man Called Adam in 1966. Sinatra also appeared on the television crime drama Adam-12, in the episode (originally broadcast on March 13, 1974) titled "Clinic on 18th Street". He played a deputy district attorney named Gino Bardi.
The National Archives now houses a fifteen-minute song and monologue composed by Sinatra in 1976, Over the Land. It evokes the memory of the nation's flag and the nation's experiences with the flag since the War of 1812.
In 1989, Sinatra sang "Wedding Vows in Vegas" on the acclaimed Was (Not Was) album, What Up, Dog?, later performing the song with the band on Late Night with
David Letterman.
Sinatra appeared in a 2006 episode of Family Guy, "Brian Sings and Swings" (Season 4, Episode 19), where he was introduced as the "Member of The Board". He performed several tunes during the show, accompanied by Stewie and Brian. During the ending credits, he sang the
FAMILY GUY theme song. He also recorded a commentary for its DVD release. He returned in a 2008 episode, "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing", where he sang with Brian again, with Stewie returning as a sideline investor supporting the duo.
In 2006, Sinatra released an album entitled That Face! including the songs "You'll Never Know" and the self-penned song "Spice". He made a brief cameo appearance in the series premiere episode of the 2010
CBS legal comedy-drama The Defenders, as well as the show's series finale.
Sinatra's song "Black Night", written and sung by him, was used as the theme song to Rick Alverson's 2015 feature film "Entertainment", starring Gregg Turkington and
John C. Reilly.[
source]
Photo Credit: Stephen Sorokoff
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