Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor. He began his musical career in the swing era of music with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra became a succussful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s.
His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in the year 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He signed with Capitol Records and released several albums such as, In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely, and Nice and Easy). Soon after, Sinatra left Capitol Records to found his own record label called Reprise Records. He toured internationally and was a founding member of the Rat Pack and associated with celebrities and presidents. Sinatra tried to weather the changing tastes in popular music, but with sales of his music decreasing, and after appearing in several poorly receives films, he retired in 1971. Two years later he came out of retirement to record several albums. His albums scored a hit with "New York, New York" in 1980 and he toured both in the United States and internationally until a few years before his death in 1998.
Frank Sinatra also forged a career as a dramatic actor and he also starred in musicals. Sinatra was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra also received eleven Grammy Awards.
Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings and suffered from depression. He had symptoms of bipolar disorder. After suffering a heart attack, Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 82 years old.