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Ol’ Blue Eyes would have been 101 years old Monday.
The iconic singer and Hoboken native passed away in 1998 at the age of 82.
Francis Albert Sinatra lived in the “Heights” in Bergen County from 1941 to 1944 with his first wife, Nancy (Barbado) and oldest daughter, Nancy. (He was married a total of four times and had half-a-dozen love affairs besides.)
The couple had two other children: Tina and Frank Jr.
Sinatra started his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders such as Tommy Dorsey and Harry James.
After signing with Columbia Records in the early 1940s, he became the darling of the “bobby soxers,” as adolescent girls who followed fads and fashions were called then.
Also a star on screen, Sinatra was a member of the “rat pack,” a group of super-actors that included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.
In 1960, Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records.
He went on to collaborate with other greats such as Count Basie, Tom Jobim and Duke Ellington.
In 1980, his “New York, New York,” was a Top 40 hit. Other songs in Sinatra's Top 10 include: "My Way," "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)," "Strangers in the Night" and "The Lady is a Tramp."
While Las Vegas was his home base, Sinatra continued to tour in the United States and all over the world.
In all, he sold more than 150 million records
Sinatra announced his “retirement” in 1971, but there would be 1,000 more concerts. He last performed in concert in 1995 at the Palm Desert Marriott Ballroom in California.
Less than three years later, Sinatra literally faced his final curtain.
One of the best-selling musical artists of all time, he died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital.
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