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  • Frank Sinatra: 100th Birthday Tribute Show Features Alicia Keys, Tony Bennett

    Frank Sinatra would have been 100 years old on December 12th, and hosts of musicians are going to pay tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes on Sunday night.

    The Frank Sinatra special, aptly titled Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert, will feature a huge range of vocal talent from the expected, like Tony Bennett and Harry Conick, Jr., to the unexpected, like Alicia Keys, Adam Levine and Garth Brooks.

    Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack in 1998 at the age of 83.

    His influence over even the most modern musical artists will be clear as the show unfolds, but the most interesting parts could be from those that actually knew him.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJimkJIPqhQ

    Tony Bennett came on the scene about a decade after Frank Sinatra struck it big in music and by his own accounts was his biggest fan.

    In an interview before taping the Frank Sinatra special, he said of The Chairman of the Board, “He really created the greatest school of popular singing and made it possible for all of us to have a great living doing this.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0ySHLtJ7Rk

    He added, “He was the biggest influence on me — him and Ella [Fitzgerald] and Nat King Cole. He was my tremendous idol, and then became my best friend right through the years.”

    Hopefully this Frank Sinatra special will go over better than the fund raising gala that took place Thursday night at Lincoln Center called “Sinatra: Voice for a Century”.

    The Frank Sinatra impersonator of the night was none other than Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy and other juvenile fare.

    Stephen Holden from the New York Times admitted that his impression in and of itself was spot on, but also said of McFarlane’s performance, “Mr. MacFarlane ably went through the motions. For all the reverence he affected, it failed to camouflage an underlying attitude of disdain that attaches to everything Mr. MacFarlane does.”

    He added, “Between numbers featuring guests who included Sting, Sutton Foster, Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter, Kyle Dean Massey, Chris Botti and Christina Aguilera, Mr. MacFarlane also delivered a glib, running biography of Sinatra, filled with half-baked hyperbole, devoid of fresh insight and peppered with snarky remarks to show how cool and detached he is.”

    Wow. That’s harsh. But, Sunday night’s CBS Frank Sinatra special is primed to be so much more appealing and dazzling! Are you going to watch?

  • Nancy Sinatra And Hometown Of Hoboken Set To Celebrate Frank Sinatra’s 100th Birthday

    Nancy Sinatra, daughter of legendary singer Frank Sinatra, and Frank’s hometown of Hoboken are gearing up for a city-wide celebration on what would have been his 100th birthday, December 12th.

    Nancy Sinatra does a radio show in Hoboken and will be joining in the festivities, but the focus will be on the life and times of Old Blue Eyes himself.

    All year long, Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s hometown has been awash in special events to commemorate Sinatra’s centennial birthday.

    For example, screenings of his movies in the outdoors and a sort of “Sinatra Idol” singing competition have helped the town remember Sinatra. There have also been special concerts that will end on a grand note with a centennial birthday party on December 12th.

    That party will take place at the Stevens Institute of Technology, which gave Sinatra an honorary degree in 1985. Sinatra was a high school dropout.

    The Hoboken Historical Museum opened a Sinatra exhibit in August and has seen a 300 percent jump in visitors.

    Museum Director Robert Foster said, “Whenever we do something on Sinatra, people come out of the woodwork. We enjoy the fans because they are so loyal and he means so much to them.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJimkJIPqhQ

    Frank Sinatra died in 1998 at the age of 82.

    Back in October, one of his closest friends, Tony Oppedisano, told in an interview about the day Sinatra died.

    “He wasn’t panicked,” Tony recalled, “He was just resigned to the fact that he had given it his best but he wasn’t going to come through.”

    He added, “I told him I loved him but those were the last words I ever heard him say before he passed away.”

    Oppedisano also told of Frank’s great love for his first wife, Nancy Barbato, and the love he had for their children, despite being somewhat of an estranged father after the divorce.

    Oppedisano said, “He used to beat himself up about Nancy Senior (Sinatra’s first wife).”

    He added, “He remained dedicated to her throughout the years and had a great ongoing affection for her, despite being very much in love with Barbara (his fourth wife).”

    Frank and Nancy Sinatra divorced after 12 years of marriage due to his ongoing affair with actress Ava Gardner. He married Gardner shortly after, but that marriage only lasted two years. He then wed actress Mia Farrow and then Barbara Marx, who was still married to him at his death.

    Nancy Sinatra (Barbato) never remarried.

    What do you think of the upcoming festivities put on by his and his daughter, Nancy Sinatra’s, hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey? Will you be attending?