WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Great Men Back Then: Frank Sinatra

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

Frank Sinatra is one of the most well-known singers in American history. Listen to find out how he started his music career and enjoy a classic Sinatra Christmas song. 

Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. In other words, hold my... In other words, miss me... You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Scott, and this is Great Men back then, the show where we talk about, great people in American history. You probably notice that my intro music was different today. That is because we are talking about

the famous American singer Frank Sinatra. Born in 1915, Sinatra is among the world's best-selling music artist. He's also well known for a lot of his Christmas songs. And since Christmas is right around the corner, what better time is it to talk about Sinatra than now. Sanatra was born one year after World War I broke out, and he was born to Italian immigrants in New Jersey. His music career was greatly influenced by the swing era, and one of his favorite artists that he took inspiration from was Bing Crosby. There is so much we could talk about when discussing Frank Sinatra all the way from his political views to his success as a musician to his personal life. And we only have time today to talk about a little bit of it. So I figured I would tell you a few

fun facts about Sinatra that you probably don't know and a few reasons why I believe he was a great man. As I mentioned earlier, he was born to Italian immigrant parents and he was raised in poverty, but that did not stop him from becoming successful. Fun fact about Sinatra, when he was born, he weighed 13 and a half pounds, and he had to be delivered with the aid of foreseps, which if you don't know what that is, you can look it up, but it's not very fun. And because of that, it caused severe scarring to his left cheek, neck, and ear. After being born, he had to be resuscitated, which his grandmother did so by running him under cold water until he gasped his first breath.

Sinatra was raised in the Catholic Church, and his mother was very devoted to him. A lot of Sinatra's success and personality is attributed to her, and although they grew up in poverty, his mother would always find a way to give a little extra money to Sinatra, and he was known as one of the best dressed kids at school. His interest in music started at a very young age, and for his 15th birthday, his uncle gifted him a ukulele, which is one of the first instruments that he learned how to play, and he would often play at family gatherings. Some of his first singing performances took place in social clubs, and he also would sing for free for radio stations. In order to have enough money to feed himself, he would take singing jobs.

So obviously a man who was not born to the most wealthy family, but this did not stop him from pursuing his passion and becoming one of the most well-known singers worldwide. Not only do I believe that Sinatra was a great man because he grew up in poverty and still was able to make a successful life as himself as a singer. But I also think he's great because he has some amazing Christmas cover songs. And so I'm going to go ahead and play part of one of my favorite Christmas songs that Frank Sinatra sings. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be like from now on a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be like from now on a tree.

Troubles will be out of side. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the Yuletide game. Make the Yuletide game. From now on, our troubles will be miles away. You have been listening to Great Men back then. I'm Lauren Scott on Radio Free Hillsdale 101. 7 FM.