Frank Sinatra (1915–1998), born in Hoboken, New Jersey, set the template for American popular singing across five decades and more than 150 million records sold. The Capitol years with Nelson Riddle are the peak — In the Wee Small Hours (1955) and Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956) practically invented the concept album. Shop Frank Sinatra vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on December 12, 1915. He launched his career as a vocalist with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big bands in the late 1930s and early 1940s before going solo in 1942 and becoming one of the first teen idol pop singers. His career across the subsequent five decades produced extensive landmark recordings - particularly his Capitol Records era (1953-1961) with arrangers Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins. He founded Reprise Records in 1960. His parallel acting career produced more than 60 films and an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity (1953). He sold more than 150 million records worldwide. He died of heart failure on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles at age 82.
Frank Sinatra's catalog spans traditional pop, swing, big band, jazz vocal, easy listening, and ballad traditions. His vocal style - intimate, technically refined, expert at phrasing and dynamics - is widely cited as the foundational template for American popular vocal performance. His Capitol concept albums with Nelson Riddle (particularly In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, and Only the Lonely) are widely considered defining documents of the long-playing album as an art form.
Original Capitol and Reprise pressings of the Sinatra catalog are foundational items in American popular music collecting. Multiple anniversary editions, audiophile reissues (Mobile Fidelity, Acoustic Sounds, Analogue Productions), and box sets including The Capitol Years and The Reprise Collection have been released.
Listeners new to Frank Sinatra typically start with In the Wee Small Hours (1955) or Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956).
