The Sad Story Of Frank Sinatra

THE SAD STORY OF FRANK SINATRA

FRANK SINATRA: Excerpt from a memoir by Tina Sinatra, Frank Sinatra’s daughter

His health was in tatters and his life mired in financial wrangles, but my father refused to stop giving concerts, "I’ve just got to earn more money," he said. His performances, sad to say, were becoming more and more uneven. Uncertain of his memory, he became dependent on tele-prompters. When I saw him at Desert Inn in Las Vegas, he struggled through the show and felt so sick at the end that he needed oxygen from a tank that he kept on hand. At another show he forgot the lyrics to "Second Time Around," a ballad he had sung a thousand times. His adoring audience finished it for him.

I couldn’t bear to see Dad struggle. I remembered all the times he repeated the old boxing maxim "You gotta get out before you hit the mat." He wanted to retire at the top of his game, and I always thought he would know when his time came, but pushing 80 he lost track of when to quit. After seeing one too many of these fiascos, I told him, "Pop, you can stop now; you don’t have to stay on the road." With a stricken expression he said, "No, I’ve got to earn more money. I have to make sure everyone is taken care of."

Since his death there have been constant family wrangles over his fortune.