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Nancy Sinatra
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Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra from his first wife, Nancy Barbato, and remains known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
For her fourth birthday, Phil Silvers and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)", which her father recorded.
Her other popular recordings include Sugar Town, How Does That Grab You, Darlin'? and the theme from a James Bond film, You Only Live Twice.
Nancy Sinatra began her career as a singer and actress in the early 1960s, but initially achieved success only in Europe and Japan.
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Encyclopedia
Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra from his first wife, Nancy Barbato, and remains known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
For her fourth birthday, Phil Silvers and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)", which her father recorded.
Her other popular recordings include Sugar Town, How Does That Grab You, Darlin'? and the theme from a James Bond film, You Only Live Twice.
Nancy Sinatra began her career as a singer and actress in the early 1960s, but initially achieved success only in Europe and Japan. Then she had a transatlantic number-one pop 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, and is considered a classic example of high camp. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets, including "Some Velvet Morning". In 1966 and 1967, Sinatra charted with 13 titles, all of which featured Billy Strange as arranger and conductor.
In 1967 she paired with her father for her second number-one single, "Somethin' Stupid". She also co-starred with Elvis Presley in the movie Speedway.
Recording career
1960s
In the late 1950s Sinatra began to study music, dancing, and voice at the University of California in Los Angeles. She dropped out after a year, and made her professional debut in 1960 on her father's television special with Elvis Presley, home from the 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 U.S. 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 dyed-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 nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. The song has been covered by artists such as Geri Halliwell, Megadeth, Jessica Simpson, Lil' Kim, Little Birdy, Billy Ray Cyrus, KMFDM, 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). Her late 1966 album, Sugar, was banned in Boston, USA, due to its cover image of Sinatra in a bikini. The ballad "Somethin' Stupid" — a duet with father — hit #1 in the U.S. and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard's easy listening chart. DJs referred to the record as "the incest song." Nonetheless, it earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the U.S. Other 45s 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 a movie 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 USA. 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.
On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special entitled Movin' With Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is famous for Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses in U.S. television.
In 1966 and 1967 Sinatra traveled to Vietnam to perform for the troops. Many U.S. soldiers adopted her song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" as their anthem, and it was used 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 U.S. veterans who served in Vietnam, including Rolling Thunder Inc..
Sinatra starred in films including Roger Corman's The Wild Angels (1966) with Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern, and Speedway (1968) with Elvis Presley. 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 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 and starred in television specials. These include the Emmy-nominated 1966 Frank Sinatra special A Man and His Music - Part II, and the 1967 Emmy-winning 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..
1970s and 1980s
Sinatra remained with Reprise until 1970. In 1971, she signed with RCA, 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.
Comeback: 1990s–present
At 54 she posed for Playboy 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 U.S. tour playing the House of Blues, the Viper Room, the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the now-defunct Mama Kin in Boston, 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 Sonny Bono-penned song "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, a gay icon, 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.
Family
Marriage:
- Tommy Sands, 1960–1965 (divorced)
- Hugh Lambert, 1970–1985 (his death)
Children (by her second husband):
- Angela Jennifer Lambert (whose godparents are James Darren and his second wife)
- Amanda Lambert.
Discography
Sinatra's Reprise singles — 1961–1965
- "Cuff Links and a Tie Clip"/"Not Just Your Friend" (Issued in U.S. with picture sleeve)
- "To Know Him Is to Love Him"/"Like I Do"
- "June, July, and August"/"Think of Me"
- "You Can Have Any Boy"/"Tonight You Belong to Me"
- "I See the Moon"/"Put Your Head on My Shoulder"
- "The Cruel War"/"One Way" (Note: "One Way" is the only song ever committed to vinyl that Sinatra wrote and performed)
- "Thanks to You"/"Tammy"
- "Where Do the Lonely Go?"/"Just Think About the Good Times"
- "This Love of Mine"/"There Goes the Bride"
- "True Love"/"The Answer to Everything"
Sinatra's Reprise singles — 1965–1970
21 singles charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Their chart position and year are noted. All chart positions are from the Hot 100 unless otherwise indicated.
- "So Long, Babe" (1965 - #86) /"If He'd Love Me"
- "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" (1966 - #1) /"The City Never Sleeps At Night"
- "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" (1966 - #7) /"The Last of the Secret Agents"
- "Friday's Child" (1966 - #36) /"Hutchinson Jail"
- "In Our Time" (1966 - #46) /"Leave My Dog Alone"
- "Sugar Town" (1966 - #5, pop; #1, adult contemporary) /"Summer Wine" with Lee Hazlewood (1967 - #49)
- "Love Eyes" (1967 - #15, pop; #30, adult contemporary) /"Coastin'"
- "Somethin' Stupid" with Frank Sinatra (1967 - #1 pop and adult contemporary) /(b-side by Frank Sinatra on U.S. single, b-side on the UK. single was "Call Me" by Nancy)
- "You Only Live Twice" (1967 - #44, pop; #3, adult contemporary; re-recorded version of the James Bond film theme)
- "Jackson" with Lee Hazlewood (1967 - #14, pop; #39, adult contemporary)
- "Lightning's Girl" (1967 - #24) /"Until It's Time for You to Go" (Issued in U.S. with picture sleeve)
- "Lady Bird" with Lee Hazlewood (1967 - #20) /"Sand" with Lee Hazlewood
- "Tony Rome" (1967 - #83) /"This Town"
- "Some Velvet Morning" with Lee Hazlewood (1968 - #26) /"Oh, Lonesome Me" with Lee Hazlewood
- "100 Years" (1968 - #69, pop; #29, adult contemporary) /"See the Little Children"
- "Happy" (1968 - #74, pop; #18, adult contemporary) /"Nice 'N' Easy"
- "Good Time Girl" (1968 - #65) /"Old Devil Moon"
- "Whatever Happened to Christmas?"/"I Wouldn't Trade Christmas" (both songs sung by the Sinatra family)
- "God Knows I Love You" (1968 - #97, pop; #40, adult contemporary) /"Just Bein' Plain Old Me"
- "Here We Go Again" (1969 - #98, pop; #19, adult contemporary) /"Memories"
- "Drummer Man" (1969 - #98) /"Home"
- "It's Such a Lonely Time of Year"/"Kids"
- "I Love Them All (The Boys In the Band)"/"Home"
- "Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham"/"White Tattoo"
- "How Are Things In California" (1970 - #17, Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart) /"I'm Not a Girl Anymore"
- "Feelin' Kinda Sunday" with Frank Sinatra (1970 - #30, Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart)/"Kids"
- "Hook & Ladder"/"Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone?" (Issued in U.S. with picture sleeve)
- "Life's a Trippy Thing" with Frank Sinatra/b-side by Frank Sinatra
- "Did You Ever?" with Lee Hazlewood/"Back On the Road" with Lee Hazlewood
- "Glory Road"/"Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone?" (b-side was "Flowers In the Rain" in the UK)
RCA-Victor singles
- "Kind of a Woman"/"It's the Love (That Keeps It All Together)" (1972)
- "Big Red Balloon" with Lee Hazlewood/"Down From Dover" with Lee Hazlewood (UK-only single, 1972)
- "Sugar Me"/"Ain't No Sunshine" (1973)
Private Stock singles
- "Annabell of Mobile"/"She Played the Piano and He Beat the Drums" (1975)
- "Kinky Love"/"She Played the Piano and He Beat the Drums" (1976)
- "Indian Summer" with Lee Hazlewood/"Dolly and Hawkeye" (1976)
- "A Gentle Man Like You"/"It's For My Dad" (1977)
Elektra singles
- "Let's Keep It That Way"/"One Jump Ahead of the Storm" (1980)
- "Texas Cowboy Night" with Mel Tillis/"After the Lovin'" with Mel Tillis (1981)
- "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with Mel Tillis/b-side by Dave Rowland (1981)
- "Play Me or Trade Me" with Mel Tillis/"Where Would I Be" with Mel Tillis (1981)
Other singles
- Lil' Bit Of Gold (1988 - Rhino Records; NOTE: Four-song EP)
- "Bone Dry/Now I Have Everything" (1995 - Cougar Records)
- For My Dad (1998, DCC Compact Classics; NOTE: Three-song EP. One Nancy solo, two Frank/Nancy duets)
- "Let Me Kiss You"/"Bossman" (2004 - Attack Records/Sanctuary)
- "Burnin' Down the Spark"/"Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad" (2004 - Attack Records/Sanctuary)
- "Shot You Down" (2005) Audio Bullys feat. Nancy Sinatra
U.S. albums
- Boots (1966, Reprise)
- How Does That Grab You? (1966, Reprise)
- Nancy in London (1966, Reprise)
- Sugar (1966, Reprise)
- Country, My Way (1967, Reprise)
- Nancy & Lee (1968, Reprise)
- Speedway (1968, RCA; NOTE: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the film starring Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Sinatra solo "Your Groovy Self" is featured on the album)
- Movin' With Nancy (1968, Reprise)
- The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas (1968, Reprise)
- Nancy (1969, Reprise)
- Nancy's Greatest Hits (With a Little Help from Her Friends) (1970, Reprise)
- Nancy and Lee - Again (1971, RCA)
- Woman (1972, RCA)
- This Is Nancy Sinatra (1973, RCA)
- Mel & Nancy (1981, Elektra)
- Boots: Nancy Sinatra's All-Time Hits (1986, Rhino)
- The Hit Years (1986, Rhino)
- Fairytales & Fantasies: The Best of Nancy & Lee (1989, Rhino)
- One More Time (1995, Cougar)
- Sheet Music: A Collection of Her Favorite Love Songs (1998, DCC Compact Classics)
- How Does It Feel? (1998, DCC Compact Classics)
- You Go-Go Girl! (1999, Varese Sarabande)
- California Girl (2002, Buena Vista Records)
- Nancy Sinatra (2004, Attack)
- Bubblegum Girl, Vol. 1 (2005, Boots Enterprises)
- Bubblegum Girl, Vol. 2 (2005, Boots Enterprises)
- Kid Stuff (2008, Boots Enterprises)
Notable foreign albums
- Lightning's Girl (Australia - 1986, Raven; Reissued 2002)
- Like I Do (Denmark - 1990, Teenage Records)
- Tonight You Belong to Me (Japan - 1994, label unknown)
- The Very Best Of: 24 Great Songs (country unknown - 2001, label unknown)
- Nancy & Lee 3 (Australia - 2004, Warner Music)
- The Very Best of Nancy Sinatra (Australia - 2005, Warner)
- The Essential Nancy Sinatra (UK - 2006, EMI/Liberty)
Filmography
External links
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