Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer, actress, film producer, and author. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra (née Barbato) and is known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
Nancy Sinatra began her career as a singer in November 1957 with an appearance on her father's ABC television variety series The Frank Sinatra Show, 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'". A TV promotional clip from the era features Sinatra in high boots, accompanied by colorfully dressed go-go dancers, in what is now considered an iconic Swingin' 60s look. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets. As with all of Sinatra's 1960s hits, "Boots" featured Billy Strange as arranger and conductor.
Between early 1966 and early 1968, Sinatra charted on Billboard's Hot 100 with 14 titles, 10 of which reached the Top 40. In addition to "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", defining recordings during this period include "Sugar Town", "Love Eyes", the transatlantic 1967 number-one "Somethin' Stupid" (a duet with her father), two versions of the title song from the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), several collaborations with Lee Hazlewood – including "Summer Wine", "Jackson", "Lady Bird", and "Some Velvet Morning" – and a non-single 1966 cover of the Cher hit "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". In 1971, Sinatra and Hazlewood achieved their first collaborative success in the UK singles chart with the number-two hit "Did You Ever?" and the 2005 UK number-three hit by Audio Bullys, "Shot You Down", sampled Sinatra's version of "Bang Bang".
Between 1964 and 1968, Sinatra appeared in several feature films, co-starring with Peter Fonda in Roger Corman's biker-gang movie The Wild Angels (1966) and alongside Elvis Presley in the musical drama Speedway (1968). Frank and Nancy Sinatra played a fictional father and daughter in the 1965 comedy Marriage on the Rocks.
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Early life
Sinatra was born on June 8, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey. She is the eldest of the three children born to Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato. Both of her parents were of Italian ancestry. When she was a toddler, the family moved to Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. They later moved again to Toluca Lake, California, for her father's Hollywood career. There, she spent many years in piano, dance, and dramatic performance lessons, and undertook months of voice lessons.
Jill St. John was one of Sinatra's elementary-school classmates and later dated her father. She graduated from University High School (Los Angeles) in June 1958.
Career
1950s and 1960s
Sinatra began to study music, dancing, and voice at UCLA in the late 1950s, but she dropped out after one year. She made her professional debut on her father's television show The Frank Sinatra Show in November 1957 and then appeared on his 1960 television special The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, which celebrated the return of Elvis Presley from Europe following his discharge from military service. Nancy was sent to the airport on behalf of her father to welcome Presley when his plane landed. On the special, Sinatra 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 largely unnoticed. Her subsequent singles, though, charted in Europe and Japan. By 1965, without a hit in the United States, she was on the verge of being dropped by the label. Her singing career received a boost with the help of songwriter/producer/arranger Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for 10 years, notably with Duane Eddy. Hazlewood's collaboration with Sinatra began when Frank Sinatra asked Lee to help boost his daughter's career. When recording "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", Hazlewood is said to have suggested to Nancy, "You can't sing like Nancy Nice Lady anymore. You have to sing for the truckers." She later described him as "part Henry Higgins and part Sigmund Freud".
Hazlewood had Sinatra sing in a lower key and crafted songs for her. Bolstered by an image overhaul – including bleached-blond hair, frosted lips, heavy eye makeup, 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 from Robert Aldrich's 1963 Western comedy 4 for Texas, starring Dean Martin and her father. One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy Award nominations at the 9th Annual Grammy Awards, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. A TV promotional clip featured Sinatra in high boots, accompanied by colorfully dressed go-go dancers, to iconic Swinging Sixties effect.
A run of chart singles followed, including two 1966 US Top Ten hits: "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" (number seven) and "Sugar Town" (number five), which became Sinatra's second million-seller. The ballad "Somethin' Stupid" – a duet with her father – reached number one in the US and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard's easy listening chart. Frank and Nancy became the only father-daughter duo to top the Hot 100, but DJs dubbed the track "the incest song" because it was sung as if by two lovers. The record earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit number one in the US; it became Nancy's third million-selling record.
1970s and 1980s
After leaving Reprise in 1970. Sinatra signed with RCA Records in 1971, resulting in three albums: Nancy & Lee – Again (1971), Woman (1972), and a compilation of some of her Reprise recordings called This Is Nancy Sinatra (1972). She released the non-LP single "Sugar Me" b/w "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1973. "Sugar Me" was written by Lynsey De Paul and Barry Blue, and with other covers of works by early-'70s popular songwriters, resurfaced on the 1998 album How Does It Feel?
In 1971, Sinatra and Hazlewood's duet "Did You Ever?" reached number two in the UK In 1972, they performed for a Swedish documentary, Nancy and Lee in Las Vegas, which chronicled their Las Vegas concerts at the Riviera Hotel and Casino and featured solo numbers and duets from concerts, behind-the-scenes footage, and scenes of Sinatra's mother and her husband, Hugh Lambert. The film did not appear until 1975.
By 1975, Sinatra was releasing singles on the Private Stock Records label. Among them were "Kinky Love", "Annabell of Mobile", "It's for My Dad", and "Indian Summer" (with Hazlewood). "Kinky Love" was banned by some radio stations for its suggestive lyrics. It appeared on Sheet Music: A Collection of Her Favorite Love Songs in 1998, and Pale Saints covered the song in 1991.
By the mid-1970s, Sinatra had slowed her musical activity and ceased acting to concentrate on her family. 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 chart: "Texas Cowboy Night" (number 23) and "Play Me or Trade Me" (number 43).
In 1985, Sinatra wrote the book Frank Sinatra, My Father.
1990s–present
At 54, Sinatra 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 that her father was proud of the photos. Sinatra told Jay Leno on a 1995 Tonight Show that her daughters gave their approval, but her mother said that she should ask her father before committing to the project. Sinatra said that when she told her father what Playboy would be paying her, he said, "Double it".
In 1995, Nancy wrote the book Frank Sinatra, An American Legend. This was followed by an updated version in 1998 following Frank's death.
Taking her father's advice to own her masters, Sinatra owns or holds an interest in most of her material, including videos. Sinatra appeared live at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2002. The sold-out, one-off concert was filmed by the BBC and later aired on BBC Four. She collaborated with former Los Angeles neighbor Morrissey on a 2004 version of his song "Let Me Kiss You", which was featured on her album Nancy Sinatra. The single – released the same day as Morrissey's version – charted at number 46 in the UK, providing Sinatra with her first hit in more than 30 years. The follow-up single, "Burnin' Down the Spark," failed to chart. The album featured U2, Sonic Youth, Calexico, Pete Yorn, Jon Spencer, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, and Steven Van Zandt, all of whom have cited Sinatra as an influence. Each artist crafted a song for Sinatra to sing on the album. EMI released The Essential Nancy Sinatra, a UK-only greatest-hits compilation featuring the previously unreleased track, "Machine Gun Kelly", in 2006. The album was Sinatra's first to make the UK charts (number 73) since 1971's Did You Ever? reached number 31. Sinatra recorded "Another Gay Sunshine Day" for Another Gay Movie in 2006.
Sinatra received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 11, 2006. A Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her in 2002.
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". Sinatra and Anoushka Shankar recorded a 2007 public-service announcement for Deejay Ra's Hip-Hop Literacy campaign, encouraging reading of music and film-related books and screenplays. Sinatra's digital-only album Cherry Smiles: The Rare Singles, featuring previously unreleased tracks and songs only available as singles, was released in 2009. She released the 2013 digital-only album Shifting Gears, featuring 15 previously unreleased tracks, including a rendition of Neil Diamond's "Holly Holy". The orchestra tracks were recorded in the 1970s while Sinatra was touring with a 40-piece orchestra, and her vocal tracks were recorded within 10 years of the release of the collection. Sinatra's 1967 hit duet with Lee Hazlewood, "Summer Wine", was featured in retail apparel giant H&M's "The Summer Shop 2017" ad campaign.
Political views
Sinatra has publicly stated her personal opposition to the affairs and presidency of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Sinatra has progressive positions on political issues, advocating for advances in women's rights, healthcare, and reversal of climate change.
Union activism
On March 30, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists completed a merger of equals, forming a new union SAG-AFTRA. As a result of this merger, a group of actors including Sinatra, Michael Bell, Wendy Schaal, Schaal's former stepmother Valerie Harper, Clancy Brown, former SAG President Edward Asner, Martin Sheen, and Ed Harris immediately sued SAG President Ken Howard and several SAG vice presidents to overturn the merger and separate the merged unions because of their claims that the election was improper. The plaintiffs dropped their lawsuit several months later.
Personal life
Marriages:
Tommy Sands, 1960–1965 (divorced)
Hugh Lambert, 1970–1985 (his death)
Children (with Lambert):
Angela Jennifer "AJ" Lambert Paparozzi (whose godparents are James Darren and his second wife Evy Norlund)
Amanda Catherine Lambert Erlinger
Both women were left US$1 million from their grandfather Frank Sinatra's will, in a trust fund started in 1983.
Between marriages, Nancy was engaged to producer Jack Haley Jr., who later married Liza Minnelli. She has also dated Michael Caine and Phil Spector. She also lived with architect David Clinton, who designed and built both of her homes in Beverly Hills.
Discography
Solo studio albums
Boots (1966)
How Does That Grab You? (1966)
Nancy in London (1966)
Sugar (1967)
Country, My Way (1967)
Nancy (1969)
Woman (1972)
One More Time (1995)
Nancy Sinatra (2004)
Compilation albums
This is Nancy Sinatra (1972)
Sheet Music (1998)
How Does It Feel? (1999)
California Girl (2002)
Shifting Gears (2013)
Collaborative studio albums
Nancy & Lee (with Lee Hazlewood) (1968)
The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas (with Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Tina Sinatra) (1968)
Nancy & Lee Again (with Lee Hazlewood) (1972)
Mel & Nancy (with Mel Tillis) (1981)
Nancy & Lee 3 (with Lee Hazlewood) (2004)
Soundtracks
Movin' With Nancy (1967)