Frank Sinatra

The journalist, acclaimed author, music historian and broadcaster Spencer Leigh was born in Liverpool, England, and is an acknowledged authority on popular music. He has been broadcasting his weekly show, On the Beat, on BBC Radio Merseyside for more than 25 years. He has written over twenty-five books, hundreds of album sleeve notes and he writes obituaries of musicians for The Independent and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He is an Honoured Friend at Sir Paul McCartney s Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA).

• Foreword by Sir Tim Rice ...viiIntroduction: Set 'em up, Joe ... ixChapter 1: New York, New York ... 1I. Italian-AmericansII. Day In-Day Out, 1915-1934Chapter 2: You must be one of the newer fellas ... 13I. Anything Bing Can Do...II. Day In-Day Out, 1935-1939Chapter 3: Start spreadin' the news ... 21I. Big Band SwingII. Day In-Day Out, 1939Chapter 4: Getting sentimental ... 27I. Brotherly LoveII. Day In-Day Out, 1940-1942Chapter 5: The house I live in ... 40I. The Great American SongbookII. Day In-Day Out, 1943-1945Chapter 6: Kissing bandits ... 68I. Viva Lost VegasII. Day In-Day Out, 1946-1949Chapter 7: I'm a fool to want you ... 96I. Rat PackersII. Day In-Day Out, 1950-1952Chapter 8: From here to eternity ... 119I. Making ArrangementsII. Day In-Day Out, 1953Chapter 9: This time I'm swingin' ... 135I. I've Heard That Song BeforeII. Day In-Day Out, 1954-1956Chapter 10: Game changers ... 167I. The Young PretendersII. Day In-Day Out, 1957-1959Chapter 11: Election year ... 196I. Ambassador for PussyII. Day In-Day Out, 1960viChapter 12: Call me irresponsible ... 210I. The Sound of Middle-Aged AmericaII. Day In-Day Out, 1961-1963Chapter 13: Making it with the moderns ... 240I. BeatlelandII. Day In-Day Out, 1964-1966Chapter 14: The first goodbye ... 267I. 'The Record Shows I Took the Blows'II. Day In-Day Out, 1967-13 June 1971Chapter 15: Intermission ... 295Day In-Day Out, 14 June 1971-1973Chapter 16: Let me try again ... 303Day In-Day Out, 1974-1979Chapter 17: They can't take that away from me ... 320Day In-Day Out, 1980-1998Chapter 18: The ghost of swingers past ... 343Bibliography ... 349

'In Spencer Leigh's mammoth and wonderful tome on Frank Sinatra, he has superbly given us Americana through the long life and career of his subject which began way before his did. Sinatra s agents, lovers, dodgy associates, show biz friends and enemies, passions, hatreds, bravery and recklessness, finesse and crudity, worldly wisdom and naivete, are all part of the complex whole and Leigh captures them all. Whether there has been a better telling of the Frank Sinatra story than Spencer Leigh s version only someone who has read all the myriad other attempts can say. I can say for sure that after reading FRANK SINATRA: AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE you may want to read more about him, but you won't need to.' Sir Tim Rice;'There will be no better book on Sinatra's career than this. The detail is superb. I think it was wise to embrace it all - the music, the films, the politics, the hoodlum exploits, the cheating and chancing, and the seemingly endless sex and booze. I remarked earlier on his extraordinary energy, a quality he held in common with some rock stars of our generation. Even as the curtain was closing, his appetites were not greatly diminished.' Liverpool Echo