Some years back, I watched a 60 Minutes feature on him and there was footage of him having trouble remembering the words to his songs and Liza Minelli was there gently helping him out. Believe he was doing shows up to about two or three years before he passed (someone can probably correct me on this), but it would not surprise me that those last number of shows might not have been terribly good (you might have been better off staying home and listening to his records or CDs).
Liza grew up surrounded by show biz giants, the most significant one, being her mother, Judy Garland.
Liza is tremendously talented in her own right, or at least she was. It must be difficult for her now, not being as famous, as newsworthy as she was thirty years ago. Liza may enjoy having less frantic, often phony attention coming her way.
I saw him in concert in 1992 and he used a teleprompter. Shirley MacLaine opened for him, and I could have used more of Frank and less of her. His voice wasn’t what it was, of course, but it was still a good show and I’m glad I went.
I think you remember correctly. He tried to keep singing well past when he should have retired. I was lucky enough to hear him live with a big band in the early eighties, when his voice had mellowed but not yet lost its timbre. His voice perfectly complemented the music, as if it was one more instrument in the orchestra. Never heard anything quite like that before or since. On the other hand, he was born and raised a punk and never lost that aspect of his personality.
We went specifically to see Sinatra after he became ill, started forgetting words to the songs, etc. Saw him at the MGM Vegas. Was a great show. He forgot some words, made a joke about it, and worked right through it. We had a great time and got to see him before he died. All pluses in my book.
I saw Sinatra in one of his last stage performances. Given his age, he did very well. I was glad I got the chance to see him.