Francis Albert Sinatra (1915-1998) may have been the most popular singer in American history, in a career that spanned from the 1930s into the 1990s.

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915. He was the only child of Martin and Natalie "Dolly" Sinatra. He lived in a predominantly Italian-American working class neighborhood. As a student at Demarest High School, he became popular by exhibiting the traits he would carry with him throughout his lifetime--those of a generous but pugnacious individual.

Early in his life Sinatra knew he wanted to become a singer. His influences were Rudy Vallee and his idol, Bing Crosby. After dropping out of high school he began to sing at obscure clubs. He got his first big break with Major Bowes and his "Amateur Hour" in 1935, singing in a group called the Hoboken Four. Sinatra, by preference, continued to sing in...