I was singing six nights a week. By about Thursday I was already losing my voice. Arrrgghh.
Sinatra had (IMO) just about THE most amazing voice I’ve ever heard. Someone once told me that he could even sing a tone as he was INhaling. Bizarre. What a treasure he was.
I have no idea how you could do it. One night a month let alone 6 nights a week.
The problem for me talking about Sinatra is he was larger then life, such a big star and kind of a jerk. It is like too easy because he was so popular. Popular today usually means crap and hype. However, technically he was amazing. So smooth. He worked very hard at it early on and there was a smart mind behind the training. dean Martin had a wonderful voice but I think it was all natural with him while Frank trained himself to get exactly what he wanted. Tony Bennett, in my mind, was not in the same league.
There is a youngish guy now in his 40’s who sounds like him circa 1940s and 1950s. Better than Harry Connick by far. Steve Lippia. The story supposedly is he made a demo tape with a cheezy backing orchestra kareoke tape or something. Someone sent the tape to one of Frankie’s old band leader cronies. The guy was driving around, probably a Caddy, and was looking for a tape to listen to. He got the tape and forgot about it. He played it and said - hey that is Frank but that orchestra stinks. He thought is was Frank circa 1940s/1950s.
Lippia was from CT but was working and living near West Palm Beach. He got a band to play a club in Hollywood, FL. Frankie’s old cronies show up. They close their eyes and swear it is Frankie. I am not big on impersonators but this guy can sing plus he sings like Frank when he was in his prime.
The older I get, the more I appreciate just how wonderful and rare Frank Sinatra’s voice was. The work he did in the late 50s and early 60s was stunning, mature, and complex.