FREE OUTDOOR CONCERT BY FRANK SINATRA JR. ON MEMORIAL DAY
KICKED OFF 2006 SORRENTO CHEESE SUMMER IN LITTLE ITALY

The 5th Annual Sorrento Cheese Summer in Little Italy festival got off to a rousing start with a free outdoor concert by Frank Sinatra Jr. and his 20-Piece Orchestra on Memorial Day, Monday May 29, 2006. Thousands of people attended the concert on Mulberry Street in the heart of Little Italy, ‘America’s Authentic Italian Neighborhood.’®

The concert, which took place on the Sorrento Cheese Performance Stage in the Mulberry St. Outdoor Parking Lot between Canal and Hester Streets, featured many of the songs included on Frank Jr.’s new CD, That Face, as well as many old favorites made famous by Frank Jr.’s father Ole’ Blue Eyes, who would have celebrated his 90th birthday this past December 12th. Frank Jr.’s new CD was released on the Warner-Reprise label in mid-June.

Bill Miller, a native of Brooklyn, NY, who was Frank Sr.’s longtime musical director and accompanist for close to fifty years and who was touring with Frank Jr, performed at the concert where he received a rousing reception from the audience. It was to be the 91-year-old’s final performance in New York City; he died suddenly several weeks later in Montreal where Frank Jr’s band was performing.

Frank Sinatra, Jr. was born in New Jersey, raised in California, and educated in the showrooms of Las Vegas and on bandstands all over the world. While studying music at the University of Southern California, Frank Jr. originally planned a career as a pianist and conductor. Show promoters, however, had different ideas, and he eventually made his professional show business debut as a singer with the Elliott Brothers Band.

On the evening of September 8, 1963, at age 21, Frank, Jr. made his debut i9n the big time by headlining at the prestigious Royal Box in the Americana Hotel in Manhattan when it re-opened for the fall season. Encouraged by his reception, Frank Jr. put together a complete show and hit the road with members of the old Tommy Dorsey Band. Then, as now, his intention was never to compete with his father, but simply to try and make an honest living as a musician.

He eventually joined the Sam Donahue Orchestra, an experience he described as being one of the most rewarding in his career. In 1965 he released his debut album, Young Love For Sale (Reprise), a collection of showroom standards performed with warmth, enthusiasm, and considerable skill, particularly considering the singer was himself barely of legal drinking age. Backed by The Sam Donahue Orchestra, the album is first-rate from start to finish.

During the 1960’s, Frank, Jr. signed with RCA Victor, where he cut a series of singles that successfully combined the big-band sound he loved with the pop-rock sound that was popular at the time. He continued to tour, and by 1968 he had performed in 47 states and 30 countries! He appeared as a guest on popular TV shows and co-hosted "Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers," the summer replacement series for "The Dean Martin Show". This led in turn to CBS giving him his very own hour-long TV special in 1969, "Frank Sinatra Jr. With Family and Friends," on which he was joined by his famous sister Nancy and father, as well as folks like Jack Benny and Sammy Davis Jr.

Throughout the 1960s and into the mid-1980s, Frank Jr. appeared regularly in Las Vegas, opening for many stars in the main rooms and headlining in his own right in the lounges. In 1985 Frank Jr. opened at Four Queens Hotel in downtown Las Vegas where, backed by a 17-piece orchestra, he re-introduced the lush big band sound to lounge patrons, sparking renewed interest in live music. The show was booked regularly at the resort during the next eight years.

Beginning in 1988, at his Father’s request, Frank served as conductor and musical director for his father’s final years of live performing, earning Frank, Jr. the respect of the musicians and those in the audience for the devotion and skill he brought to the job. In addition to his work for his father behind the scenes, Frank Jr.'s lively duet with Frank Sinatra on "My Kind of Town" was considered by many listeners to be the highlight of the elder Sinatra's best-selling Duets II set. The two also teamed up to appear together in a popular commercial for Michelob Beer.

Following his father’s death, Frank Jr. toured with his 36-piece orchestra and also landed a role in the HBO hit, Sopranos. In January, 2006, he was featured as an animated version of himself on the episode of the hilarious cartoon series Family Guy in which the animated Frank Jr. and the character of "Brian" get involved in something called "The New Rat Pack," and Frank Jr. can be heard singing "The Second Time Around."

Frank Sinatra, Jr. has found himself catapulted into a position he never sought but must have surely contemplated. The songs of Sinatra need to be sung and Frank Jr. has inherited that honor. In song and style Frank Sinatra Jr. pays homage to his father, the singer and the music that defines the Sinatra legend by successfully touring the country performing “Sinatra Sings Sinatra.”