Episode Details

Frank Sinatra was born with forceps scars on his face and a chip on his shoulder that never healed. The skinny kid from Hoboken who could barely read music became the most influential popular vocalist of the twentieth century — and one of the most volatile. His voice could break your heart; his temper could break a room. The rage and the tenderness came from the same place.

This episode traces Sinatra from his rough New Jersey childhood through the bobby-soxer hysteria, the career collapse, the Oscar-winning comeback in From Here to Eternity, the Rat Pack years, and the Mob connections that shadowed everything.

• The forceps birth scars, the Hoboken streets, and the mother whose ambition drove his career
• The bobby-soxer phenomenon and the first modern pop stardom
• The career collapse, the Ava Gardner heartbreak, and the From Here to Eternity comeback
• The Rat Pack, the Mob connections, the Kennedy fallout, and the voice that outlasted every scandal