Popular Culture

Baritone Frank Sinatra was indisputably the 20th century's greatest singer of popular song., Frank Sinatra mainstreamed the concept of singing colloquially, treating lyrics as personal statements and handling melodies with the ease of a jazz improviser. Sinatra, despite his 1957 denunciation of rock & roll as degenerate, has recorded songs by the likes of Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Jimmy Webb, and Billy Joel. Not only did his freely interpretive approach pave the way for the idiosyncrasies of rock singing, but with his character a mix of tough-guy cool and romantic vulnerability, he became the first true pop idol, a superstar who through his music established a persona audiences found compelling and true.

The main reason for Sinatra's long time in the spot light is his ability to reinvent himself. His reinventions include Sinatra the singer, actor, businessman, master of public relations and of recording technology. He went from the bow tied gentleman, snap brim hipster, chairman of the board, and then the elder statesman.

No American performer has held center stage so long as Frank Sinatra. Sinatra is timeless he has fans from the 1940's until this very day. In looking at our pop culture at the end of the century, one might be so bold as to claim Sinatra was the entertainer who most represented America to Americans. He was a superb performer who developed rich, complex style based on the many ethnic strains of his times; he had an endlessly fascinating personality containing the constant counterpoints of toughness and tenderness.
 
One of the remarkable things about Sinatra's image is how it spans generations. A quote from a book by Stanislao G. Pugliese explains this well, "What may be most remarkable about Frank Sinatra is that, in our throw away culture, where neon always dies, Sinatra never became a has-been. To the end he remained the Man. He is gone, but his voice will long remain both timely and timeless, thanks to more than two hundred albums he recorded in his remarkable career."
 
Through six succeeding decades in the studio and on the concert stage, Sinatra proved himself to be the consummate American popular vocalist. And he made it look easy, though it wasn’t. Sinatra’s impeccable artistry was a combination of technique, technology, and taste. His vision of what singing could be and his continuous commitment to perfection set him apart from even his most gifted contemporaries, and made him an enduring figure in the nation’s musical culture.