Nancy Sinatra
Encyclopedia
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American
singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra
, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
".
Other defining recordings include "Sugar Town
", the 1967 number one "Somethin' Stupid
" (a duet with her father), the title song
from the James Bond
film You Only Live Twice
, several collaborations with Lee Hazlewood
, and her cover of Cher
's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
" (lyrics and music by Sonny Bono
), which features during the opening sequence of Quentin Tarantino
's Kill Bill
.
Sinatra began her career as a singer and actress in the early 1960s, but initially achieved success only in Europe and Japan. In early 1966 she had a transatlantic
number-one hit with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", which showed her provocative but good-natured style, and which popularized and made her synonymous with go-go boots
. The promo clip
featured a big-haired Sinatra and six young women in tight tops, go-go boots and mini-skirts. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood
, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets, including the critical and cult favorite "Some Velvet Morning
". In 1966 and 1967, Sinatra charted with 13 titles, all of which featured Billy Strange
as arranger
and conductor
.
Sinatra also had a brief acting career in the mid-60s including a co-starring role with Elvis Presley
in the movie Speedway
, and with Peter Fonda
in The Wild Angels
.
, the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra
and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. For her fourth birthday, Phil Silvers
and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
", which her father recorded.
in Los Angeles
. She dropped out after a year, and made her professional debut in 1960 on her father's television special, The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis
, welcoming the return of Elvis Presley
home from Europe following his discharge from service in the US Army. Nancy was sent to the airport on behalf of her father to welcome Elvis when his plane landed. On the special, Nancy and her father danced and sang a duet, "You Make Me Feel So Young/Old". That same year she began a five-year marriage to Tommy Sands
.
Sinatra was signed to her father's label, Reprise Records
, in 1961. Her first single, "Cuff Links and a Tie Clip", went unnoticed. However, subsequent singles charted in Europe and Japan. Without a hit in the US by 1965, she was on the verge of being dropped. Her singing career received a boost with the help of songwriter/producer
/arranger Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for ten years, notably with Duane Eddy
. Hazlewood became Sinatra's inspiration. He had her sing in a lower key and crafted pop songs
for her. Bolstered by an image overhaul — including bleached-blonde hair, frosted lips, heavy eye make-up and Carnaby Street
fashions — Sinatra made her mark on the American (and British) music scene in early 1966 with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", its title inspired by a line in Robert Aldrich
's 1963 western comedy 4 for Texas
starring her father and Dean Martin
. One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy Award
nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
. The camp
promo clip
featured a big-haired Sinatra and six young women in loose sweaters, go-go boots and hot pants. The song has been covered by artists such as Geri Halliwell
, Megadeth
, Jessica Simpson
, Lil' Kim
, Little Birdy
, Billy Ray Cyrus
, Faster Pussycat
, KMFDM
, Symarip
, Operation Ivy
and the Del Rubio Triplets
and The Supremes
.
A run of chart singles followed, including the two 1966 Top 10 hits "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" (#7) and "Sugar Town
" (#5). "Sugar Town" became her second million seller. The ballad "Somethin' Stupid
" — a duet with her father — hit #1 in the US and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard
's easy listening
chart. It earned a Grammy Award
nomination for Record of the Year
and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the US It became Sinatra's third million-selling disc
. Other 45
s showing her forthright delivery include "Friday’s Child" (#36, 1966), and the 1967 hits "Love Eyes" (#15) and "Lightning’s Girl" (#24). She rounded out 1967 with the raunchy but low-charting "Tony Rome" (#83) — the title track from the detective film Tony Rome
starring her father — while her first solo single in 1968 was the more wistful "100 Years" (#69).
Sinatra enjoyed a parallel recording career cutting duets with the husky-voiced, country-and-western
-inspired Hazlewood, starting with "Summer Wine
" (originally the B-side of "Sugar Town"). Their biggest hit was a cover of the country song, "Jackson
". The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100
in the summer of 1967, when Johnny Cash
and June Carter Cash
also made the song their own. In December they released the "MOR"-psychedelic
single "Some Velvet Morning
", regarded as one of the more unusual singles in pop, and the peak of Sinatra and Hazlewood’s vocal collaborations. It reached #26 in the US. The promo clip
is, like the song, sui generis
. The British broadsheet
The Daily Telegraph
placed "Some Velvet Morning" in pole position in its 2003 list of the Top 50 Best Duets Ever. ("Somethin' Stupid
" ranked number 27).
In 1967 she recorded the theme song for the James Bond
film You Only Live Twice
. In the liner notes of the CD reissue of her 1966 album, Nancy In London, Sinatra states that she was "scared to death" of recording the song, and asked the songwriters: "Are you sure you don't want Shirley Bassey
?" There are two versions of the Bond theme. The first is the lushly orchestrated track featured during the opening and closing credits of the film. The second – and more guitar-heavy — version appeared on the double A-sided single with "Jackson", though the Bond theme stalled at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100
.
In 1966 and 1967 Sinatra traveled to Vietnam
to perform for the troops. Many US soldiers adopted her song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
" as their anthem, as shown in Pierre Schoendoerffer
's academy award winning documentary The Anderson Platoon
(1967) and reprised in a scene in Stanley Kubrick
's Full Metal Jacket
(1987). Sinatra recorded several anti-war
songs, including "My Buddy
", featured on her album Sugar, "Home
", co-written by Mac Davis
, and "It's Such A Lonely Time of Year", which appeared on the 1968 LP
The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas
. In 1988 Sinatra recreated her Vietnam concert appearances on an episode of the television show China Beach
. Today, Sinatra still performs for charitable causes supporting US veterans who served in Vietnam
, including Rolling Thunder Inc..
' films) — For Those Who Think Young
(1964), Get Yourself a College Girl
(1964) and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
(1966) — the latter of which featured her in a singing role. She was also scheduled to appear in the role that went to Linda Evans
in Beach Blanket Bingo
, but was unable. In 1966 she also starred in Roger Corman
's The Wild Angels
with Peter Fonda
and Bruce Dern
, and in 1968 she shared the screen with Elvis Presley
in Speedway
— her final film. She was the only singer to have a solo song on an Elvis album or soundtrack while he was still alive. Since his death, several previously unreleased Ann-Margret
solo recordings have appeared on Elvis albums, but Sinatra's was the first.
She also made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show
, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
, The Virginian
and starred in television
specials. These include the Emmy-nominated 1966 Frank Sinatra special A Man and His Music - Part II
, and the 1967 NBC Emmy Award nominated for 'Special Classification of Individual Achievements' by choreographer David Winters
TV special Movin' With Nancy
, in which she appeared with Lee Hazlewood, her father and his Rat Pack
pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.
, with a cameo appearance by her brother Frank Sinatra, Jr.
and guest star appearance by West Side Story
dancer David Winters
. At one point in the video, Nancy shared a kiss with Sammy Davis, Jr. She has stated "The kiss [was] one of the first interracial kisses seen on television and it caused some controversy then, and now. [But] contrary to some inaccurate online reports, the kiss was unplanned and spontaneous." The special also features Winters' choreography, dancing and dancers. As there was no Emmy Award category for Choreography - the shows Emmy Nomination was placed in the 'Special Classification of Individual Achievements' category. Possibly due to this specials success and its choreography a new category for 'Outstanding Choreography' was created by the Emmy's the next year. Movin' With Nancy
was sponsored by Royal Crown Cola.
, resulting in three albums: Nancy & Lee – Again (1971), Woman
(1972), and a compilation of some of her Reprise recordings under the title This Is Nancy Sinatra (1973). That year she released a non-LP single, "Sugar Me" b/w "Ain't No Sunshine". The former was written by Lynsey De Paul
/Barry Blue
and, with other covers of works by early-70s popular songwriters, resurfaced on the 1998 album How Does It Feel.
In the autumn of 1971 Sinatra and Hazlewood’s duet "Did You Ever?" reached number two in the UK singles chart. In 1972 they performed for a Swedish documentary, Nancy & Lee In Las Vegas, which chronicled their Vegas concerts at the Riviera Hotel and featured solo numbers and duets from concerts, behind-the-scenes footage, and scenes of Sinatra's late husband, Hugh Lambert, and her mother. The film did not appear until 1975.
By 1975 she was releasing singles on Private Stock, which are the most sought-after by collectors. Among those released were "Kinky Love", "Annabell of Mobile", "It's for My Dad," and "Indian Summer" (with Hazlewood). "Kinky Love" was banned by some radio stations in the 1970s for "suggestive" lyrics. It saw the light of day on CD in 1998 on Sheet Music: A Collection of Her Favorite Love Songs. Pale Saints covered the song in 1991.
By the mid-1970s, she slowed her musical activity and ceased acting to concentrate on being a wife and mother. She returned to the studio in 1981 to record a country album with Mel Tillis
called Mel & Nancy. Two of their songs made the Billboard Country Singles Chart: "Texas Cowboy Night" (#23) and "Play Me or Trade Me" (#43).
In 1985, she wrote the book Frank Sinatra, My Father.
in the May 1995 issue and made appearances on TV shows to promote her album One More Time. The magazine appearance caused some controversy. On the talk show circuit, she said her father was proud of the photos, but not everyone was convinced. Those close to the Sinatras claimed that family members were upset with the nude photo spread. Nancy told Jay Leno
on a 1995 Tonight Show that her daughters gave their approval, but her mother said she should ask her father before committing to the project. Nancy claims that when she told her father what Playboy would be paying her, he said, "Double it."
She and Lee Hazlewood embarked on a US tour playing the House of Blues
, the Viper Room
, the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the now-defunct Mama Kin
in Boston
, the Trocadero
in Philadelphia, and The Fillmore
.
That year, Sundazed Records
began reissuing Sinatra's Reprise albums with remastered sound, new liner notes and photos, and bonus tracks. She also updated her biography on her dad and published Frank Sinatra: An American Legend.
In 2003 she reunited with Hazlewood once more for the album Nancy & Lee 3. It was released only in Australia.
One of her recordings — a cover of Cher
"Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
" — was used to open the 2003 Quentin Tarantino
film Kill Bill: Vol. One. In 2005, Sinatra's recording was sampled separately by the Audio Bullys
and Radio Slave into dance tracks (renamed into "Shot You Down" and "Bang Bang" respectively), and by hip-hop artist Young Buck
in a song titled "Bang Bang", as well as covered for a single and music video by R&B artist Melanie Durrant. Sinatra recorded the song for her second Reprise
album, How Does That Grab You?
in 1966. She and Billy Strange
worked on the arrangement, and it was Sinatra's idea to change from a mid-tempo romp (as sung in Cher
's hit single) to a ballad. Sinatra's father asked her to sing it on his 1966 TV special A Man and His Music - Part II
. The footage of Sinatra's performance on that special was used in the Audio Bullys' music video of "Shot You Down."
Taking her father's advice from when she began her recording career ("Own your own masters"), she owns or holds an interest in most of her material, including videos.
In 2004 she collaborated with former Los Angeles
neighbour Morrissey
to record a version of his song "Let Me Kiss You
", which was featured on her autumn release Nancy Sinatra
. The single — released the same day as Morrissey’s version — charted at #46 in the UK, providing Sinatra with her first hit for over 30 years. The follow-up single, "Burnin' Down the Spark", failed to chart. The album, originally titled To Nancy, with Love, featured rock performers such as Calexico, Sonic Youth
, U2
, Pulp
's Jarvis Cocker
, Steven Van Zandt
, Jon Spencer, and Pete Yorn
, who all cited Sinatra as an influence. Each artist crafted a song for Sinatra to sing on the album.
Two years later EMI
released The Essential Nancy Sinatra – a UK-only greatest-hits compilation featuring the previously unreleased track, "Machine Gun Kelly
". The collection was picked by Sinatra and spans her 40-year career. The record was Sinatra's first to make the UK album charts (#73) in 30 years.
Sinatra, also recorded "Another Gay Sunshine Day" for Another Gay Movie
in 2006.
Nancy received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on May 11, 2006, which was also declared "Nancy Sinatra Day" by Hollywood’s mayor, Johnny Grant.
Sinatra appeared, as herself, on one of the final episodes (Chasing It
) of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos
. Her brother, Frank Jr., had previously appeared in the 2000 episode The Happy Wanderer
.
Nancy Sinatra recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of Tarantino screenplays and related books.
September 2009 saw the release of Nancy's digital-only album Cherry Smiles: The Rare Singles, featuring previously unreleased tracks and songs only available on 45.
Nancy now hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio - Siriusly Sinatra where she shares her personal insights about her father.
Children (by her second husband):
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
Jessica Simpson recorded her own version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for the soundtrack to the film The Dukes of Hazzard . Simpson's cover was co-produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and was released as the soundtrack's first single in 2005)...
".
Other defining recordings include "Sugar Town
Sugar Town
"Sugar Town" is a song written by songwriter-producer Lee Hazlewood and first recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra in 1966. As a single released under the Reprise label, it peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1966, while reaching number one on the Easy Listening...
", the 1967 number one "Somethin' Stupid
Somethin' Stupid
"Somethin' Stupid" is a song written by C. Carson Parks and originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as "Carson and Gaile". It is best known in the hit version by Frank Sinatra and his daughter, Nancy Sinatra....
" (a duet with her father), the title song
You Only Live Twice (song)
"You Only Live Twice" was the title song from the film of the same name and was sung by Nancy Sinatra, with music by John Barry and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognised for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high octaves of the violins and lush...
from the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
, several collaborations with Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood , born Barton Lee Hazlewood was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s.Hazlewood had a distinctive baritone voice that added an ominous...
, and her cover of Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
"Bang Bang " is the second single by singer-actress Cher from her second studio album The Sonny Side of Chér. The song was written by Sonny Bono and released in 1966. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100...
" (lyrics and music by Sonny Bono
Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was an American recording artist, record producer, actor, and politician whose career spanned over three decades.-Early life:...
), which features during the opening sequence of Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
.
Sinatra began her career as a singer and actress in the early 1960s, but initially achieved success only in Europe and Japan. In early 1966 she had a transatlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
number-one hit with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", which showed her provocative but good-natured style, and which popularized and made her synonymous with go-go boots
Go-go boots
Go-go boots are a low-heeled style of women's fashion boot worn since the mid-sixties when fashion silhouettes focused on accentuating the leg...
. The promo clip
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
featured a big-haired Sinatra and six young women in tight tops, go-go boots and mini-skirts. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood , born Barton Lee Hazlewood was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s.Hazlewood had a distinctive baritone voice that added an ominous...
, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets, including the critical and cult favorite "Some Velvet Morning
Some Velvet Morning
"Some Velvet Morning" is a psychedelic pop song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in late 1967. It first appeared on Sinatra's album Movin' with Nancy, the soundtrack to her 1967 television special of the same name. The song has been covered many times...
". In 1966 and 1967, Sinatra charted with 13 titles, all of which featured Billy Strange
Billy Strange
William E. "Billy" Strange is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor.-Recordings and songwriting:...
as arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
Sinatra also had a brief acting career in the mid-60s including a co-starring role with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in the movie Speedway
Speedway (film)
Speedway is a 1968 action film musical film starring Elvis Presley as a racecar driver and Nancy Sinatra as his love interest.Scenes were shot at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina...
, and with Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
in The Wild Angels
The Wild Angels
The Wild Angels is a 1966 Roger Corman film, made on location in Southern California. The Wild Angels was made three years before Easy Rider and was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture...
.
Early life
Sinatra was born in Jersey City, New JerseyJersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. For her fourth birthday, Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S...
and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
"Nancy " is a song composed in 1942 by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Phil Silvers. It is commonly believed that the song was written for the birthday of Nancy Sinatra...
", which her father recorded.
1960s
In the late 1950s, Sinatra began to study music, dancing, and voice at the University of CaliforniaUniversity of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. She dropped out after a year, and made her professional debut in 1960 on her father's television special, The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis
The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis
Welcome Home Elvis was a 1960 television special on ABC starring Frank Sinatra and featuring Elvis Presley in his first televised appearance since coming home from his military service in Germany. The special was officially titled It's Nice to Go Traveling, but is more commonly known as Welcome...
, welcoming the return of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
home from Europe following his discharge from service in the US Army. Nancy was sent to the airport on behalf of her father to welcome Elvis when his plane landed. On the special, Nancy and her father danced and sang a duet, "You Make Me Feel So Young/Old". That same year she began a five-year marriage to Tommy Sands
Tommy Sands
Tommy Adrian Sands is an American pop music singer and actor.-Early life:Born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois, Sands' father was a pianist and his mother a big-band singer. While still young, he moved with his family to Shreveport, Louisiana...
.
Sinatra was signed to her father's label, Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
, in 1961. Her first single, "Cuff Links and a Tie Clip", went unnoticed. However, subsequent singles charted in Europe and Japan. Without a hit in the US by 1965, she was on the verge of being dropped. Her singing career received a boost with the help of songwriter/producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
/arranger Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for ten years, notably with Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...
. Hazlewood became Sinatra's inspiration. He had her sing in a lower key and crafted pop songs
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
for her. Bolstered by an image overhaul — including bleached-blonde hair, frosted lips, heavy eye make-up and Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the Soho district, near Oxford Street and Regent Street. It is home to numerous fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques...
fashions — Sinatra made her mark on the American (and British) music scene in early 1966 with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", its title inspired by a line in Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly , The Big Knife , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte , The Flight of the Phoenix , The Dirty Dozen , and The Longest Yard .-Biography:Robert...
's 1963 western comedy 4 for Texas
4 for Texas
4 for Texas is a 1963 American western comedy starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg, Ursula Andress, and featuring screen thugs Charles Bronson and Mike Mazurki, with a cameo appearance by the Three Stooges...
starring her father and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
. One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. The camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
promo clip
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
featured a big-haired Sinatra and six young women in loose sweaters, go-go boots and hot pants. The song has been covered by artists such as Geri Halliwell
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...
, Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
, Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Ann Simpson is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and...
, Lil' Kim
Lil' Kim
Kimberly Denise Jones , better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and actress who was a member of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A.....
, Little Birdy
Little Birdy
Little Birdy are an Australian indie rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia in 2002 by singer and guitarist Katy Steele, drummer Matt Chequer, guitarist and keyboardist Simon Leach, and bass guitarist Scott O'Donoghue...
, Billy Ray Cyrus
Billy Ray Cyrus
William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon...
, Faster Pussycat
Faster Pussycat
Faster Pussycat is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1986. The group was most successful during the late 1980s with their self-titled debut album, their 1989 gold album Wake Me When It's Over and the 80,000 selling Whipped! in 1992.-The roots of Faster Pussycat...
, KMFDM
KMFDM
KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...
, Symarip
Symarip
Symarip were a ska and reggae band from the United Kingdom, originating in the late 1960s, when Frank Pitter and Michael Thomas founded the band as The Bees. The band's name was originally spelled Simaryp, which is an approximate reversal of the word 'pyramids'...
, Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy (band)
Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...
and the Del Rubio Triplets
Del Rubio triplets
The Del Rubio Triplets were an American variety/musical act who rose to notoriety in the 1980s due mostly to their campy style of dress and their goofy interpretations of standards and songs of the era....
and The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
.
A run of chart singles followed, including the two 1966 Top 10 hits "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" (#7) and "Sugar Town
Sugar Town
"Sugar Town" is a song written by songwriter-producer Lee Hazlewood and first recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra in 1966. As a single released under the Reprise label, it peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1966, while reaching number one on the Easy Listening...
" (#5). "Sugar Town" became her second million seller. The ballad "Somethin' Stupid
Somethin' Stupid
"Somethin' Stupid" is a song written by C. Carson Parks and originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as "Carson and Gaile". It is best known in the hit version by Frank Sinatra and his daughter, Nancy Sinatra....
" — a duet with her father — hit #1 in the US and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
's easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
chart. It earned a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for Record of the Year
Record Of The Year
Record of the Year may refer to:*Grammy Award for Record of the Year*The Record of the Year, a British award based on public polling...
and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the US It became Sinatra's third million-selling disc
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. Other 45
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
s showing her forthright delivery include "Friday’s Child" (#36, 1966), and the 1967 hits "Love Eyes" (#15) and "Lightning’s Girl" (#24). She rounded out 1967 with the raunchy but low-charting "Tony Rome" (#83) — the title track from the detective film Tony Rome
Tony Rome
Tony Rome is a 1967 detective film starring Frank Sinatra and directed by Gordon Douglas, adapted from Marvin Albert's novel Miami Mayhem. Filming took place on location in Miami, Florida, with some scenes being shot during the day at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, where Sinatra was performing in...
starring her father — while her first solo single in 1968 was the more wistful "100 Years" (#69).
Sinatra enjoyed a parallel recording career cutting duets with the husky-voiced, country-and-western
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-inspired Hazlewood, starting with "Summer Wine
Summer Wine
"Summer Wine" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood. It was originally sung by Suzi Jane Hokom and Lee Hazlewood in 1966, but it was made famous by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood in 1967. This version was originally released as the B-side of "Sugar Town" the previous year, before featuring on the...
" (originally the B-side of "Sugar Town"). Their biggest hit was a cover of the country song, "Jackson
Jackson (song)
"Jackson" is a song, written in 1963 by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler, about a married couple who find that the "fire" has gone out of their relationship...
". The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in the summer of 1967, when Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
and June Carter Cash
June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter Cash was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedienne and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash...
also made the song their own. In December they released the "MOR"-psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
single "Some Velvet Morning
Some Velvet Morning
"Some Velvet Morning" is a psychedelic pop song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in late 1967. It first appeared on Sinatra's album Movin' with Nancy, the soundtrack to her 1967 television special of the same name. The song has been covered many times...
", regarded as one of the more unusual singles in pop, and the peak of Sinatra and Hazlewood’s vocal collaborations. It reached #26 in the US. The promo clip
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
is, like the song, sui generis
Sui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
. The British broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
placed "Some Velvet Morning" in pole position in its 2003 list of the Top 50 Best Duets Ever. ("Somethin' Stupid
Somethin' Stupid
"Somethin' Stupid" is a song written by C. Carson Parks and originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as "Carson and Gaile". It is best known in the hit version by Frank Sinatra and his daughter, Nancy Sinatra....
" ranked number 27).
In 1967 she recorded the theme song for the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
. In the liner notes of the CD reissue of her 1966 album, Nancy In London, Sinatra states that she was "scared to death" of recording the song, and asked the songwriters: "Are you sure you don't want Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
?" There are two versions of the Bond theme. The first is the lushly orchestrated track featured during the opening and closing credits of the film. The second – and more guitar-heavy — version appeared on the double A-sided single with "Jackson", though the Bond theme stalled at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
In 1966 and 1967 Sinatra traveled to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
to perform for the troops. Many US soldiers adopted her song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
Jessica Simpson recorded her own version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for the soundtrack to the film The Dukes of Hazzard . Simpson's cover was co-produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and was released as the soundtrack's first single in 2005)...
" as their anthem, as shown in Pierre Schoendoerffer
Pierre Schoendoerffer
Pierre Schoendoerffer is a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.-Family:...
's academy award winning documentary The Anderson Platoon
The Anderson Platoon
The Anderson Platoon is a documentary feature by Pierre Schoendoerffer about the Vietnam War. Two decades later, a sequel was released as Reminiscence.-Background:...
(1967) and reprised in a scene in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
(1987). Sinatra recorded several anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
songs, including "My Buddy
My Buddy (song)
"My Buddy" is a popular song.The music was written by Walter Donaldson, the lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song was published in 1922.-Recorded versions:*Gene Autry*Chet Baker *Teresa Brewer *Benny Carter*Rosemary Clooney...
", featured on her album Sugar, "Home
Home
A home is a place of residence or refuge. When it refers to a building, it is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either...
", co-written by Mac Davis
Mac Davis
Mac Davis is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor originally from Lubbock, Texas who has enjoyed much crossover success...
, and "It's Such A Lonely Time of Year", which appeared on the 1968 LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas
The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas
The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas is a 1968 Christmas album by Frank Sinatra and featuring his children, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Nancy Sinatra, and Tina Sinatra....
. In 1988 Sinatra recreated her Vietnam concert appearances on an episode of the television show China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
. Today, Sinatra still performs for charitable causes supporting US veterans who served in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, including Rolling Thunder Inc..
Films and television
Sinatra starred in three teen musicals (otherwise known as 'beach partyBeach Party film
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures with their surprise 1963 hit, Beach Party, and copied by virtually every other studio...
' films) — For Those Who Think Young
For Those Who Think Young (film)
For Those Who Think Young is a 1964 beach party film directed by Leslie H. Martinson and featuring James Darren, Pamela Tiffin, Paul Lynde, Tina Louise, Bob Denver, Robert Middleton, and Woody Woodbury.-Plot:...
(1964), Get Yourself a College Girl
Get Yourself a College Girl
Get Yourself a College Girl is a 1964 Metrocolor film comedy in the style of a beach party movie. The plot involves a college co-ed who tries to balance her time writing songs and dealing with her publisher who tries to pursue her. It was directed by Sidney Miller and written by Robert E...
(1964) and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the seventh of the American International Pictures beach party films and was released in 1966. The entire film takes place in and around a haunted house with no beach in sight, with the teenage gang instead cavorting in and around it and the adjacent swimming...
(1966) — the latter of which featured her in a singing role. She was also scheduled to appear in the role that went to Linda Evans
Linda Evans
Linda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley...
in Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures beach party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the beach party film series...
, but was unable. In 1966 she also starred in Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
's The Wild Angels
The Wild Angels
The Wild Angels is a 1966 Roger Corman film, made on location in Southern California. The Wild Angels was made three years before Easy Rider and was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture...
with Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
and Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
, and in 1968 she shared the screen with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in Speedway
Speedway (film)
Speedway is a 1968 action film musical film starring Elvis Presley as a racecar driver and Nancy Sinatra as his love interest.Scenes were shot at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina...
— her final film. She was the only singer to have a solo song on an Elvis album or soundtrack while he was still alive. Since his death, several previously unreleased Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
solo recordings have appeared on Elvis albums, but Sinatra's was the first.
She also made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.-History:...
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
and starred in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
specials. These include the Emmy-nominated 1966 Frank Sinatra special A Man and His Music - Part II
A Man and His Music - Part II
A Man and His Music - Part II was a 1966 television special starring Frank Sinatra, accompanied by the orchestras of Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, and also featuring Nancy Sinatra....
, and the 1967 NBC Emmy Award nominated for 'Special Classification of Individual Achievements' by choreographer David Winters
David Winters (choreographer)
David Winters is an English-born American dancer, choreographer, producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Winters has participated in, directed and produced over 400 television series, specials, and motion pictures...
TV special Movin' With Nancy
Movin' With Nancy
Movin' With Nancy was a television special featuring Nancy Sinatra in a series of musical vignettes featuring herself and other artists. Produced by Nancy's production company, Boots Enterprises, Inc., and sponsored by Royal Crown Cola, the show was originally broadcast on the NBC television...
, in which she appeared with Lee Hazlewood, her father and his Rat Pack
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean...
pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
, with a cameo appearance by her brother Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Franklin Wayne Sinatra , professionally known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., is an American singer, songwriter and conductor....
and guest star appearance by West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
dancer David Winters
David Winters (choreographer)
David Winters is an English-born American dancer, choreographer, producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Winters has participated in, directed and produced over 400 television series, specials, and motion pictures...
. At one point in the video, Nancy shared a kiss with Sammy Davis, Jr. She has stated "The kiss [was] one of the first interracial kisses seen on television and it caused some controversy then, and now. [But] contrary to some inaccurate online reports, the kiss was unplanned and spontaneous." The special also features Winters' choreography, dancing and dancers. As there was no Emmy Award category for Choreography - the shows Emmy Nomination was placed in the 'Special Classification of Individual Achievements' category. Possibly due to this specials success and its choreography a new category for 'Outstanding Choreography' was created by the Emmy's the next year. Movin' With Nancy
Movin' With Nancy
Movin' With Nancy was a television special featuring Nancy Sinatra in a series of musical vignettes featuring herself and other artists. Produced by Nancy's production company, Boots Enterprises, Inc., and sponsored by Royal Crown Cola, the show was originally broadcast on the NBC television...
was sponsored by Royal Crown Cola.
1970s and 1980s
Sinatra remained with Reprise until 1970. In 1971, she signed with RCARCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
, resulting in three albums: Nancy & Lee – Again (1971), Woman
Woman (Nancy Sinatra album)
Woman is a studio album by Nancy Sinatra, released in 1972.-History:Wishing to cut down on her career after marrying choreographer Hugh Lambert in 1970, Sinatra decided to not renew her Reprise contract and move instead to another label. She signed on with RCA Records in 1971...
(1972), and a compilation of some of her Reprise recordings under the title This Is Nancy Sinatra (1973). That year she released a non-LP single, "Sugar Me" b/w "Ain't No Sunshine". The former was written by Lynsey De Paul
Lynsey De Paul
Lynsey de Paul is an English singer-songwriter. Allmusic journalist, Craig Harris stated, "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career".-Early life:De Paul was born to Meta and Herbert Rubin, a property developer...
/Barry Blue
Barry Blue
Barry Blue is a singer / producer / songwriter from the United Kingdom. He is best known for his hit songs, "Dancin' " , which he co-wrote with Lynsey de Paul, and "Do You Wanna Dance" .At 14 he signed to record producer Norrie Paramor whose erstwhile assistant was one Tim Rice - the producer of...
and, with other covers of works by early-70s popular songwriters, resurfaced on the 1998 album How Does It Feel.
In the autumn of 1971 Sinatra and Hazlewood’s duet "Did You Ever?" reached number two in the UK singles chart. In 1972 they performed for a Swedish documentary, Nancy & Lee In Las Vegas, which chronicled their Vegas concerts at the Riviera Hotel and featured solo numbers and duets from concerts, behind-the-scenes footage, and scenes of Sinatra's late husband, Hugh Lambert, and her mother. The film did not appear until 1975.
By 1975 she was releasing singles on Private Stock, which are the most sought-after by collectors. Among those released were "Kinky Love", "Annabell of Mobile", "It's for My Dad," and "Indian Summer" (with Hazlewood). "Kinky Love" was banned by some radio stations in the 1970s for "suggestive" lyrics. It saw the light of day on CD in 1998 on Sheet Music: A Collection of Her Favorite Love Songs. Pale Saints covered the song in 1991.
By the mid-1970s, she slowed her musical activity and ceased acting to concentrate on being a wife and mother. She returned to the studio in 1981 to record a country album with Mel Tillis
Mel Tillis
Lonnie Melvin Tillis , known professionally as Mel Tillis, is an American country music singer. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits....
called Mel & Nancy. Two of their songs made the Billboard Country Singles Chart: "Texas Cowboy Night" (#23) and "Play Me or Trade Me" (#43).
In 1985, she wrote the book Frank Sinatra, My Father.
1990s–present
At 54 she posed for PlayboyPlayboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
in the May 1995 issue and made appearances on TV shows to promote her album One More Time. The magazine appearance caused some controversy. On the talk show circuit, she said her father was proud of the photos, but not everyone was convinced. Those close to the Sinatras claimed that family members were upset with the nude photo spread. Nancy told Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
on a 1995 Tonight Show that her daughters gave their approval, but her mother said she should ask her father before committing to the project. Nancy claims that when she told her father what Playboy would be paying her, he said, "Double it."
She and Lee Hazlewood embarked on a US tour playing the House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
, the Viper Room
Viper Room
The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. The club became known for being a hangout of Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on...
, the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the now-defunct Mama Kin
Mama Kin
"Mama Kin" is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith, which appeared on its debut self-titled album. The song was written by lead singer Steven Tyler.-Song structure:...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, the Trocadero
Trocadero
The stylish connotations of the name "Trocadero" derive from the Battle of Trocadero in southern Spain, a citadel held by liberal Spanish forces that was taken by the French troops sent by Charles X, in 1823...
in Philadelphia, and The Fillmore
The Fillmore
The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.In 1968,...
.
That year, Sundazed Records
Sundazed Records
Sundazed Records is a record label based in Coxsackie, in the Catskills of New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s.Label founders Bob Irwin and his wife Mary started the label in 1989...
began reissuing Sinatra's Reprise albums with remastered sound, new liner notes and photos, and bonus tracks. She also updated her biography on her dad and published Frank Sinatra: An American Legend.
In 2003 she reunited with Hazlewood once more for the album Nancy & Lee 3. It was released only in Australia.
One of her recordings — a cover of Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
"Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
"Bang Bang " is the second single by singer-actress Cher from her second studio album The Sonny Side of Chér. The song was written by Sonny Bono and released in 1966. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100...
" — was used to open the 2003 Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
film Kill Bill: Vol. One. In 2005, Sinatra's recording was sampled separately by the Audio Bullys
Audio Bullys
Audio Bullys are an electronic music group from London, consisting of Simon Franks and Tom Dinsdale. The group were once managed by DJ and presenter George Lamb....
and Radio Slave into dance tracks (renamed into "Shot You Down" and "Bang Bang" respectively), and by hip-hop artist Young Buck
Young Buck
David Darnell Brown , also known as Young Buck, is an American Southern rapper. Buck is a former member of the New York City Hip-Hop group G-Unit, also a former artist of G-Unit Records as of Nov 26, 2011...
in a song titled "Bang Bang", as well as covered for a single and music video by R&B artist Melanie Durrant. Sinatra recorded the song for her second Reprise
Reprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
album, How Does That Grab You?
How Does That Grab You?
How Does That Grab You? is Nancy Sinatra's second studio album, released in 1966. The track, "How Does That Grab You, Darlin?", reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in April 1966.-Track listing:...
in 1966. She and Billy Strange
Billy Strange
William E. "Billy" Strange is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor.-Recordings and songwriting:...
worked on the arrangement, and it was Sinatra's idea to change from a mid-tempo romp (as sung in Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
's hit single) to a ballad. Sinatra's father asked her to sing it on his 1966 TV special A Man and His Music - Part II
A Man and His Music - Part II
A Man and His Music - Part II was a 1966 television special starring Frank Sinatra, accompanied by the orchestras of Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, and also featuring Nancy Sinatra....
. The footage of Sinatra's performance on that special was used in the Audio Bullys' music video of "Shot You Down."
Taking her father's advice from when she began her recording career ("Own your own masters"), she owns or holds an interest in most of her material, including videos.
In 2004 she collaborated with former Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
neighbour Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
to record a version of his song "Let Me Kiss You
Let Me Kiss You
"Let Me Kiss You" is a song written by Morrissey and Alain Whyte. It was recorded by both Morrissey and by Nancy Sinatra, both of whom released their version as a single in the UK on 11 October 2004...
", which was featured on her autumn release Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra (album)
Nancy Sinatra is an album by Nancy Sinatra. It was released in 2004 on Attack Records.-Track listing:#"Burnin' Down the Spark" - 4:25#"Ain't No Easy Way" - 3:23#"Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" - 3:51...
. The single — released the same day as Morrissey’s version — charted at #46 in the UK, providing Sinatra with her first hit for over 30 years. The follow-up single, "Burnin' Down the Spark", failed to chart. The album, originally titled To Nancy, with Love, featured rock performers such as Calexico, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Pulp
Pulp (band)
Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
's Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
, Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
, Jon Spencer, and Pete Yorn
Pete Yorn
Peter Joseph Yorn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who first gained international recognition after his debut record, Musicforthemorningafter, was released to critical acclaim in 2001.-Early history:Yorn's father is a dentist and his mother is a former concert pianist who worked as a...
, who all cited Sinatra as an influence. Each artist crafted a song for Sinatra to sing on the album.
Two years later EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
released The Essential Nancy Sinatra – a UK-only greatest-hits compilation featuring the previously unreleased track, "Machine Gun Kelly
Machine Gun Kelly
George Kelley Barnes , better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster during the prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most famous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon & businessman Charles Urschel in July 1933 for which he,...
". The collection was picked by Sinatra and spans her 40-year career. The record was Sinatra's first to make the UK album charts (#73) in 30 years.
Sinatra, also recorded "Another Gay Sunshine Day" for Another Gay Movie
Another Gay Movie
Another Gay Movie is a 2006 gay romantic comedy film directed by Todd Stephens. It satirically follows four gay friends, Andy, Jarod, Nico and Griff, who vow upon graduating high school that they will all lose their "anal virginity" before their bull dyke friend Muffler's big Labor Day party...
in 2006.
Nancy received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
on May 11, 2006, which was also declared "Nancy Sinatra Day" by Hollywood’s mayor, Johnny Grant.
Sinatra appeared, as herself, on one of the final episodes (Chasing It
Chasing It
"Chasing It" is the eighty-first episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the fourth episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, the sixteenth episode of the season overall. It was written by executive producer Matthew Weiner and was directed by Tim Van Patten...
) of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. Her brother, Frank Jr., had previously appeared in the 2000 episode The Happy Wanderer
The Happy Wanderer (The Sopranos episode)
"The Happy Wanderer" is the nineteenth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and was the sixth of the show's second season. It was written by Frank Renzulli, directed by John Patterson and originally aired on Sunday, February 20, 2000.-Starring:...
.
Nancy Sinatra recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of Tarantino screenplays and related books.
September 2009 saw the release of Nancy's digital-only album Cherry Smiles: The Rare Singles, featuring previously unreleased tracks and songs only available on 45.
Nancy now hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio - Siriusly Sinatra where she shares her personal insights about her father.
Family
Marriage:- Tommy SandsTommy SandsTommy Adrian Sands is an American pop music singer and actor.-Early life:Born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois, Sands' father was a pianist and his mother a big-band singer. While still young, he moved with his family to Shreveport, Louisiana...
, 1960–1965 (divorced) - Hugh Lambert, 1970–1985 (deceased)
Children (by her second husband):
- Angela Jennifer Lambert (whose godparents are James DarrenJames DarrenJames William Ercolani , known by his stage name James Darren, is an American television and film actor, television director, and singer.-Career:...
and his second wife) - Amanda Kate Lambert.
Filmography
- For Those Who Think YoungFor Those Who Think Young (film)For Those Who Think Young is a 1964 beach party film directed by Leslie H. Martinson and featuring James Darren, Pamela Tiffin, Paul Lynde, Tina Louise, Bob Denver, Robert Middleton, and Woody Woodbury.-Plot:...
(1964) - Get Yourself A College GirlGet Yourself a College GirlGet Yourself a College Girl is a 1964 Metrocolor film comedy in the style of a beach party movie. The plot involves a college co-ed who tries to balance her time writing songs and dealing with her publisher who tries to pursue her. It was directed by Sidney Miller and written by Robert E...
(1964) - Marriage on the RocksMarriage on the RocksMarriage on the Rocks is a 1965 film comedy with Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, and Dean Martin about a businessman's wife who ends up divorced by mistake and then married to his best friend by an even bigger mistake. The film was written by Cy Howard and directed by Jack Donohue.Marriage on the...
(1965) - The Ghost in the Invisible BikiniThe Ghost in the Invisible BikiniThe Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the seventh of the American International Pictures beach party films and was released in 1966. The entire film takes place in and around a haunted house with no beach in sight, with the teenage gang instead cavorting in and around it and the adjacent swimming...
(1966) - The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966)
- The OscarThe Oscar (film)The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film, written by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse and Richard Sale, directed by Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, singer Tony Bennett , comedian Milton Berle , Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Jill St. John, and Eleanor Parker...
(1966) - The Wild AngelsThe Wild AngelsThe Wild Angels is a 1966 Roger Corman film, made on location in Southern California. The Wild Angels was made three years before Easy Rider and was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture...
(1966) - SpeedwaySpeedway (film)Speedway is a 1968 action film musical film starring Elvis Presley as a racecar driver and Nancy Sinatra as his love interest.Scenes were shot at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina...
(1968)
External links
- Nancy Sinatra's Official Website
- Nancy Sinatra on MyspaceMyspaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
(Official) - Sinatra Family Official Website
Further reading
- Article on Nancy and her music (April 2011)