His masterpiece, IMO.
By the early 1950s, the singer saw his career in decline, his teen "bobby soxer" audience having lost interest in him as he entered his late 30s. In 1951, he went so far as to attempt suicide.[7] Later that year, a second season of The Frank Sinatra Show was aired on CBS, but failed to receive the same positive reception the first season had, with its host having lost his previous energy. Later, in 1952, Sinatra was dropped from Columbia Records.
Against the wishes of his colleagues, on March 14, 1953 then-Vice President of A&R at Capitol Records, Alan Livingston, signed Sinatra to a seven-year deal on his label.[8] The deal proved to be a success; later that year in August, Sinatra appeared as Private Angelo Maggio in the film From Here to Eternity. The film was highly successful and his performance was highly acclaimed, winning him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor[9] and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. With this new-found popularity he recorded two albums in 1954, Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy!, which both peaked at number 3 on the US charts, and the latter number 5 on the UK Album Charts. Sinatra made another acclaimed performance in February as the lead character, Frankie Machine, in the film The Man with the Golden Arm, which won him nominations for the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Actor and Actor in Lead Role respectively.
Relationship troubles
Despite his new commercial gain, by the time of the recording of In the Wee Small Hours, Sinatra witnessed the messy end of a chain of relationships. He and his first wife, Nancy Barbato, had separated on Valentine's Day 1950. While still married, Sinatra began a relationship with Ava Gardner, which became very controversial. After he and Nancy finally divorced in October 1951, he married Ava just ten days later. However, they were both jealous of the others' extramarital affairs. Despite having considerable influence in getting him his part in From Here to Eternity, Ava broke off from Sinatra two months after the release of the film, divorcing in 1957. She claimed "We don't have the ability to live together like any normal married couple."[10] Critics presume that these events are the reason behind the melancholy atmosphere of the album.
