![]() ![]() His fans included several rock icons, including Paul McCartney. He performed at the groundbreaking Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and staunchly opposed the war in Vietnam. Webb was a hip young guy with long hair who liked to smoke pot. So was Webb, who soon found Elvis Presley seeking him out for musical advice. ![]() He started wearing a big diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand. He had a little more spring in his step after that. S took my father and me to the Jockey Club for an early dinner and the two of them chatted away like old Army buddies. Then, Sinatra sang the Webb-penned "Didn't We?" In 1968, Webb's dad beamed with pride when Frank Sinatra had Jimmy stand up and take a bow during one of 'Ol Blue Eyes' performances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In 1965, The Supremes recorded Webb's song "My Christmas Tree." The following year, Johnny Rivers recorded "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," followed by an album that featured seven more songs by Webb. It was a wonderfully inaccurate prediction. "This songwriting thing is just going to break your heart, son," his father told him. Webb decided to stay, the better to pursue the possibility of a songwriting career in Los Angeles. His father and siblings packed up to move back to Oklahoma. In 1964, his mother died of complications from an inoperable brain tumor. In 1963, Webb's family settled in Colton, near San Bernardino, when he was in high school. And, soon enough, music would bring him international fame, fortune and the means to bring his sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle to a premature end. And Webb, who was not yet 22 when he won his first Grammy in 1968, writes prose far more eloquently than most musicians.īorn in rural Oklahoma, he grew up as the son of a frequently on-the-move Baptist preacher who regarded rock 'n' roll as the devil's music.īut it was the piano and songwriting that would provide Webb with his salvation from small-town life. With or without a sequel, "The Cake and The Rain" tells a singular story. 6) in Hungary.Jimmy Webb achieved fame and wealth as a young man, thanks to writing an array of hit songs for other artists. ![]() ![]() “ Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” charted all around the world, achieving its highest position (No. The warm background vocals come courtesy of The Swanson Quartet. Sinatra recorded it five years later, releasing it as a Christmas single even though the song never mentions the “C”-word. New York-based trumpeter Axel Stordahl, who was Sinatra’s preferred arranger in the late 40s and early 50s, wrote the charts for this upbeat version of a Sammy Cahn-Jule Styne gem that was written in July 1945 during a heatwave in Los Angeles. 4: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Sinatra updated it ten years later but kept the swing elements on a version performed on his TV special with Bing Crosby. Somewhat bizarrely, it was recorded three days after Christmas, on December 28, 1947. Sinatra gave J Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie’s much-covered and hugely popular 1934 Christmas number a big band swing makeover on his effervescent single version of the song arranged by Axel Stordahl. The latter was Sinatra’s final foray into Christmas songs, but he’d already done enough: over half a century later, the best Frank Sinatra Christmas songs still define the holidays.Ĭlick to load video 5: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Two more Christmas albums followed: 12 Songs Of Christmas, which was released in 1964 and featured guest spots from Bing Crosby and bandleader Fred Waring, and 1968’s The Sinatra Family Wish You A Merry Christmas. With its blend of popular festive songs and seasonal carols, A Jolly Christmas… crowned Sinatra the king of the holidays, establishing a conceptual template that many singers have since followed. He’d recorded the album Christmas Songs By Sinatra in 1948, but by the time he returned to seasonal recordings, with 1957’s A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra, the Hoboken-born singer had become a Hollywood star and one of the most in-demand entertainers of all time. As the best Frank Sinatra Christmas songs prove, having one without the other is unthinkable, but it wasn’t until the late 50s that Sinatra became synonymous with December 25 and all its festivities. Frank Sinatra and Christmas go together like mistletoe and mulled wine. ![]()
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