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■ Bill Clinton
President of the United States, 1993-2001
I always loved It Was a Very Good Year, which is about the stages of life.
It’s not the kind of song you’d think that a boy could appreciate, but for
some reason, I always enjoyed listening to it. Of course,
his singing had a lot to do with that.
After I became president, I had the pleasure of meet
ing him at a small dinner party in LA. It was only a few
years before he died. We talked about a lot of things. He
knew about my admiration for the Kennedys, and he
said he was proud to have been associated with that ad
ministration. He was also very happy to have released
the album Duets at that stage in his life. It features him
singing with many artists of the day, like Bono. I think
he realized that his voice didn’t have the range that it once did, so he was
genuinely pleased that so many of the popular singers then wanted to
record with him. I walked away that night thinking he was very much at
peace with himself and the life that he had lived. That’s always a nice thing
to see.
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SINATRA PERFORMING. WITH NANCY SINATRA. BETTMANN/CORWS
He was
very much
at peace
. with himself
and the life
■ that he lived.
■ Nancy Sinatra
Daughter, recording artist
My dad offered just three
bits of advice: Keep a
journal, learn languages, and
own your own master record
ings. Aside from those gems,
he never dictated my career
direction. He wanted me to
find my own way.
Most people never
knew' just how silly
and fun my father
could be. When we
were performing to
gether in Lake Ta-
Most never
knew how
silly and fun
he could be.
hoe and my very young daugh
ters were along, Dad found a
place where w-e could all go
sledding, making jokes all the
way down the hills.
Dad and Dean Martin were
very close. Neither one of
them had a real brother, so
they thought of each other as
brothers blood brothers.
They actually pierced their
fingers one day and mixed
their blood. When Dean died,
my dad’s life changed. He had
■ Joe Torre
Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers
My future wife, Ali, and I were at a restaurant
in Palm Springs, Calif., in 1985 when Ali spot
ted Frank Sinatra. “We should send over some wine,”
she said to me. Well, I was a little shy. But I had
shaken hands with him before because he was a
baseball fan, so I sent over a bottle.
Barbara, Frank’s wife, came right over to our table and thanked us for
the wine. Then she invited us to a dinner they were having at a local restau
rant with about a dozen people that Sunday night, as well as to their house
on Monday for an Oscar party. That Monday, we went to his house on
Frank Sinatra Drive, of course. We all sat around watching the Academy
Awards. On a table in front of us were some chips and guacamole dip, and
in the center of the spread was Frank’s Oscar for From Here to Eternity.
During the entire broadcast, Frank explained to us what was going on. If
someone was giving an acceptance speech, he’d say, “Right now the light is
flashing, telling them to wrap it up.” It was quite a night Ali and I were the
last couple to leave.
lost his parents and now his
“brother.” He didn’t take any
of his friends’ deaths well, but
Dean’s death was especially
painful. At the time, Dean was
still grieving for his own son,
Dean Jr., who died in a plane
crash in 1987.
My dad may have been old
school in certain ways,
but he was on top of
all the new technol
ogy. He stayed on the
Internet until the end.
He and I started his
official website to-
gether (now franksinatra.com).
He loved it. He’d read com
ments from fans all over the
world and dictate his thanks to
them through me. (I did the ty
ping.) It made him happy to
see people who were as young
as 14 or 15, who had discovered
his music, writing to him.
“Please keep this site go
ing,” he said to me. “It’s really
a great way to stay in touch.”
I’m so glad he was able to see
that before he died.
■ Steve Wynn
Casino/resort owner
I used to pick him up from
his home in Palm Springs
so we could take him on my
plane to Atlantic City, where
he performed at my casino,
the Golden Nugget. We had a lot of time to talk
then. One time on the plane, I asked him, “How
do you do it?”
He had a Jack Daniels in his hand, and he
turned to me and said, “Do what?”
“How do you record a song?” I asked. I wanted
to know how the magic was created.
He resisted at first, but then he told me: “I take
a sheet with just the lyrics. No music. At that
point. I’m looking at a poem. I’m trying to under
stand the point of view of the person behind the
words. I want to understand his emotions. Then
I start speaking, not singing, the words so I can
experiment and get the right inflections. When I
get with the orchestra, I sing the words without
a microphone first, so I can adjust the way I’ve
been practicing to the arrangement. I’m looking
to fit the emotion behind the song that I’ve come
up with to the music. Then it all comes together.
You sing the song. If the take is good, you’re done.”
Did you know he only recorded My Way once
and then walked out of the studio?
Continued on next page
Right in the
\ middle of the
chips and
guacamole
was his Oscar
for From Here
to Eternipy.
He told me.
''You sing the
song. If the
take is good,
you're done."
USA WEEKEND • May 2-4.2008
9