Montegrappa's Icons series of writing instruments pays tribute to cultural giants, regardless of the fields in which their character and achievements lifted them to global awareness. The third in the series, following pens for Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee, pays homage to an individual who features prominently in any list of the 20th Centurys most influential personalities, a performer who re-defined the role of the singer, and who was the first to make fans swoon, scream and faint. In 2011, Montegrappa pays homage to the immortal Frank Sinatra.
Born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey, Francis Albert Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants. As a boy, he would sit on the docks, staring across the Hudson River at New York Citys skyline, pondering his future. Decades later, when he first sang the theme from New York, New York, Sinatra might have remembered those times as he belted the line, If I can make it there, Ill make it anywhere. By then, he could look back on a long and illustrious lifetime as an iconic figure, known as much for his visual image particularly the jauntily cocked fedora and loosened collar of his classic album covers as for his music.
Precociously, Sinatra began singing for tips at the age of eight, standing on top of the bar at a local nightclub in Hoboken. Inspired by Bing Crosby, the major vocalist of the 1930s, the youthful Sinatra set his sights on a career in music and began singing on street corners with friends. In 1935, he and three others auditioned for Major Bowes Amateur Hour, a popular radio program of its day. They performed as the Hoboken Four and won the talent contest.
After touring for a season with the Hoboken Four, Sinatra decided to go it alone. In 1939, he was singing at a roadhouse in New Jersey when trumpeter and bandleader Harry James hired him to sing with his orchestra. He made his first appearance with the James band in June 1939 and soon made his first commercial recording, From the Bottom of My Heart.
Months after signing with James, Sinatra was invited by Tommy Dorsey to sing with his band. He joined the famous trombonist, who then led one of the top swing bands in the USA, from January 1940 to September 1942. Six months after joining the Dorsey orchestra, he hit number one with Ill Never Smile Again, which topped the charts for twelve weeks. Other hits with Dorsey included Polka Dots and Moonbeams and The Song Is You.
Americas First Pop Icon
Sinatra made his breakthrough appearance as a solo performer on December 30, 1942, when he debuted in New York at Paramount Theater. The hysteria set off by his fans made headlines, and within weeks he had signed recording, movie, and radio contracts.
In this phase of his career, Sinatra was known primarily as a sensitive crooner whose musical style was perfect for the World War II era, when many couples were separated by circumstance. He worked hard at making his singing as conversational as possible and giving the melody and lyrics a flowing, surprisingly unbroken quality. His vocal phrasing was unique, influencing every male singer who followed in his wake.
Sinatras prodigious talent maintained him through a low period in the late 1940s and early 1950s, after which he would make the biggest comeback in entertainment history. His recordings for the Capitol label in the 1950s have long been regarded as one of the finest bodies of work in the history of popular music: Young at Heart, Three Coins in the Fountain, Someone to Watch Over Me, I've Got You Under My Skin, True Love, Hey! Jealous Lover, All the Way and the inimitable "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).
All of Sinatras releases benefitted from his whole hearted embracing of the technology of sound recording, which complemented his enormous talent. He effectively used the microphone which brought intimacy and articulation to the forefront of the art of popular singing as a prop to convey emotion and to expand his dynamic range.
During this period, while expanding the possibilities of recording technology, Frank Sinatra also re-defined the actual concept and role of the long-playing record album, previously nothing more that a gathering of 10 or more tracks by an artist, with little thought to common qualities. Sinatra changed this approach with a series of groundbreaking, themed productions including Songs for Young Lovers, In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, A Swingin' Affair!, Come Fly with Me, Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely, Come Dance with Me!, Nice 'n' Easy, Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! and Come Swing with Me!
After a hugely successful period with Capitol, Sinatra founded a major record label, Reprise, which would benefit from his hit-making skills throughout the 1960s. His run of smashes would continue with It Was A Very Good Year, Theme From New York, New York, My Way even a cover version of George Harrison's Something.
Concurrent with recording, Sinatra performed around the world. And it was as a live performer that Frank Sinatra elevated Las Vegas to the position of entertainment capital of the world. He and his best friends, the other members of The Rat Pack, defined cool forever and always.Sinatra On Screen While music, first and foremost, defines the legend that is Sinatra, he attained similar levels of success as an actor, appearing in 58 feature films. It is rare for any singer to make this transition, beyond musicals tailored to their talents. Sinatra not only proved himself to be a fine performer in musicals: he became an award-winning screen presence in serious, dramatic roles.
Among his greatest early musical films are Anchors Aweigh (1945) and On the Town (1949). In 1946, he received a special Academy Award for The House I Live In, a short film arguing in favor of racial and religious tolerance. Then, in 1953, Sinatra he proved that he was outstanding dramatic actor in the classic, From Here to Eternity, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Maggio, a scrappy Italian-American soldier. Two years later, his dramatic performance in The Man with the Golden Arm earned a Best Actor nomination. Other highlights of his film career include the musicals Young at Heart (1955), Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), Pal Joey (1957), Can-Can (1960), the cult crime caper Oceans Eleven (1960) and the tense Cold War political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
Sinatra worked both publicly and privately all his life in the fight to win equal rights for African-Americans. He played a major role in the desegregation of Nevada hotels and casinos in the 1960s. In 1961, Sinatra played a benefit show at Carnegie Hall for Martin Luther King, Jr. and led his fellow Rat Pack members and Reprise label mates in boycotting hotels and casinos that refused entry to black patrons and performers.
In 1995, to mark Sinatra's 80th birthday, the Empire State Building glowed blue. When he passed away in 1998, the following night the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed for 10 minutes in his honor. And the words The Best Is Yet to Come are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker.
To honor this singular entertainer, Montegrappa has fashioned the pen that you have purchased. From cap to tip, it is imbued with the signature details of a remarkable life. At the working end, the pen tip bears a musical staff and a G-clef. The barrel and cap are finished to resemble the fabric of a sharp pinstriped suit, while the end of the cap is engraved with a silhouette of Sinatras signature fedora. The fountain pen version has blue accents reminiscent of Franks blue eyes, while the roller ball bears orange accents reminding his famous quote: Orange is the happiest color. The pocket clip is carved in the shape of a classic microphone. And as a final touch, a turquoise set into the microphone again reminds us that one of his best-loved, most affectionate nick-names was Ol Blue Eyes.
Your Montegrappa Icon Frank Sinatra is part of a series of 1915 fountain pens and 1915 roller balls, in resin with silver trim, to connote 1915, the year Frank Sinatra was born. An additional 12 fountain pens and 12 roller balls in resin with solid 18K gold trim have been produced to denote that Frank Sinatra was born on December 12 - 12/12.
Since 1912, Montegrappa has been manufacturing high-quality writing instruments in the same historic building in Bassano del Grappa, North East Italy.
FRANK SINATRA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTS
- Performed on more than 1,400 musical recordings
- Awarded 31 gold records, nine platinum albums, three double platinum, and one triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
- Personally won 10 Grammys, while his albums won a total of 21. Also, awarded the Recording Academys Lifetime Achievement Award (1965), the Trustees Award (1979), and the Legend Award (1994)
- Appeared in 58 films and produced eight
- Won three Oscars: Honorary Award for The House I Live In (1946), Best Supporting Actor From Here To Eternity (1953), and awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Motion Picture Society of America (1971)
- Won two Golden Globes: Best Supporting Actor, From Here to Eternity (1953), Best Motion Picture Actor Musical/Comedy Pal Joey (1957), and received a special Golden Globe award for The House I Live In (1946)
- Won an Emmy and a Peabody award for Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965)
- Awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award (1971)
- Won Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Grammys (1965), the Screen Actors Guild (1973), and the NAACP (1987)
- Recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors (1983)
- Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award for a civilian (1985)
- Awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, Congresss highest civilian award (1995)
- Performed in Rio De Janeiro before an audience of over 175,000 people, setting a world record in the Guiness Book for the highest attendance at a concert by a soloist
- Frank Sinatra continues to top the charts in the 21st century: the Nothing But The Best CD collection debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, was certified RIAA-Gold and stayed on the charts for 30 consecutive weeks (2008)
- Frank Sinatra was honored May 13, 2008, with his own United States Postal Service stamp
- Sinatras music was featured on the Major League Baseball All Star Game broadcast from Yankee Stadium in July of 2008
- Sinatra.com has gained critical praise as the online lifestyle destination for all-things Sinatra
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