Taraborrelli - Sinatra

I wrote the first draft of this book almost twenty years ago. It was November 1996 when I finished the manuscript. A year later, in November 1997, the first edition of Sinatra: Behind the Legend was published.

I had met Mr. Sinatra four times backstage at concerts in Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the 1980s. While those sorts of meet-and-greet moments after a performance are never fully satisfying, the four opportunities I had to shake the mans hand and tell him how much he meant to me and my Italian-American family were nevertheless thrilling. Thank you for saying that, he told me after his show that opened the new Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on July 30, 1982. The concert also starred his daughter Nancy. I really appreciate it. Always a pleasure to meet another dago, he added with a chuckle. Dad! Nancy exclaimed. How do you know this guys not gonna write that you called him a dago? She was kidding; Frank laughed at the joke. Cause the little dago knows better than to go dere, he said, winking at me. (I did know better, which is why I waited thirty-two years to share this anecdote!)

Immersing myself in his life and times for this book made me feel an even closer connection to Frank, but of course I wanted a full interview with the man himself. I tried in 1996 and again in 1997 while I was writing the book, but he was so ill during that time, it proved impossible. Its just not going to happen, his first wife, Nancy, told me. I think maybe youre a few years too late. I understood, of course.

Theres no telling where a biographers quest for information will take him, and what sorts of characters will cross his path in the course of that adventure. Working on this book led me to interview a number of bizarre and colorful figures, including the man who kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr.

I was about seven when I heard that Frank Sinatras son had been kidnapped. Maybe because Id also heard a little about Sinatras alleged mob ties from my Italian-American grandparents, I recall thinking to myself, What kind of dope would kidnap Frank Sinatras kid? As a youngster, I couldnt quite grasp the seriousness of the situation. But as a grown man, I was determined to better understand it. When I found Barry Keenan, he had never before told his story, other than in the form of testimony at his trial. It was a powerful experience for me to hear a blow-by-blow account of one of the most high-profile crimes of the 1960s from the kidnapper himselfall of which you will find in these pages.

In May 1998, about six months after Sinatra: Behind the Legend was published, I was still promoting it on television programs when Frank passed away. The book was reissued at that time, again in hardcover, as Sinatra: A Complete Life. After the publication of that reissue, many people contacted me to tell me that Id missed them in my research. While the goal of any biographer is to interview as many sources as possible, its impractical to locate every person who ever had contact with a subject. (As it was, my researchers and I found more than four hundred.)

Happy that so many new sources had reached out to me, in January 1999, I began working on a revised edition, interviewing individuals such as Franks longtime valet, George Jacobs (with whom I conducted three interviews). Additionally, I went back to the tapes of interviews from years ago and extracted new material from them. However, before that edition (which would have been issued in paperback) had a chance to see the light of day, my publisher went out of business. Therefore, other than the hardcover edition from 1998, this book has not been available since that time. Now, eighteen years later, I am proud to finally bring forth a fully revised and updated edition of Sinatra: Behind the Legend, published to coincide with what would have been Frank Sinatras centenary birthday.

J. Randy Taraborrelli

Summer 2015