The author's work is perhaps a harsher biography than many that have been written about the legendary singer. Hamill tells about the musician's early life in Hoboken, New Jersey, the meteoric rise to stardom, the huge fall from grace in the late 40's, and the amazing comeback that took Sinatra's career to the heights of musical immortality. The book gives little details of the harsh drinking, the brawls, the numerous public broken marriages, but it still mentions these flawed episodes to a small degree.
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Instead the book focuses on the incredible music that took Sinatra from being a teen heartthrob during WWII to the unique crooner of the lonely ballad in the 40's to the eventual essence of hip American swing in the 50's and 60's. His collaboration with legends Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Nelson Riddle formed the bulk of his classic recordings spanning more than a half-century. Hamill's book reminds us that Sinatra, the man, will always be a difficult persona to embrace with his prickly demeanor and angry public outbursts.
The review of this Book prepared by David Fletcher
