Remembering Sinatra: 10 Years Later (LIFE Series)

From Hoboken to Hollywood, Frank Sinatra was always a larger-than-life package of talent, charisma and controversy. Singers had been big before, but there had never been a sensation like the young Sinatra. He drove the women wild and lived a life of monumental drama and intrigue. He secured his status as an icon of the highest order, one of the towering figures of the American century. "Nobody's ever been a bigger star than me," Sinatra said as a young man. "This'll never end." Ten years ago, it did finally end for Ol' Blue Eyes. But for those of us who were his fans, there will always be his incomparable music and film roles. And now, thanks to the pictures and vivid narrative from the editors of LIFE, memories of the extraordinary life and times of Francis Albert Sinatra are alive again. Ten years after the Chairman's death, here is the expanded version of an already classic LIFE book.

Robert Sullivan is the author of The Meadowlands and A Whale Hunt, both New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship. A contributing editor to Vogue, he is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker. His work has also appeared in Condé Nast Traveler and the New York Times Magazine. He lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.