Entertainment icon Frank Sinatra celebrated his 108th birthday on December 12, 2023 with a very special dinner at his namesake restaurant in Wynn Las Vegas. With this milestone, there are a myriad of new experiences for his fans around the world to enjoy.
Wynn Stories talks to Sinatra’s daughter, Tina, about keeping the eternal flame of her father’s legacy burning in the streaming age, the all-new Sinatra Platinum album release and what the Sinatra-istas have to look forward to in the coming years.
A New Photo Moment
Sinatra, the restaurant with Executive Chef Theo Schoenegger at its helm, has become a revered location for Frank’s most adoring fans to dine and imbibe the way he did — spaghetti and clams with a little “3-2-1” of Jack Daniel’s (three rocks, two fingers and a splash of water) to go with.
Now 15 years since its opening, look for an all new photo moment at the restaurant’s entrance where a display for Frank’s treasured objects enthralls visitors created in partnership with Tina and Charles Pignone, New York Times best-selling author of The Sinatra Treasures and The Sinatra Family Photo Album.
Of the addition, Tina says: “The art is spectacular. It's very large. It's black and white and he's available for photographs. His pose is really extraordinary. It was obvious when I was glancing through [pictures with our photo team]. That's it right there and you'll see why when you see it. You’ll rush right up to it and take a picture. This is extra special because he's ever present and welcoming.”
Sinatra Platinum
Capitol Records celebrates the 70th anniversary of Sinatra’s signing to the label with newly remastered audio and rare and previously unreleased tracks. In collaboration with Frank Sinatra Enterprises, the 44-track Frank Sinatra Platinum, spotlights the Capitol Records era of the Chairman of the Board’s career. From 1953 to 1962, he recorded more than 300 songs for the label. Sinatra Platinum is part of the decade-long process of Universal Music Group’s merging of Sinatra’s Capitol and Reprise catalogs. Available as 4LP, 2CD and in digital formats, the Sinatra Platinum track list also has alternate takes, a test track, radio spots and session takes that demonstrate his undeniable artistry in the studio. It includes songs such as “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Come Fly With Me” as well as “Moonlight in Vermont” and “Only The Lonely,” alongside previously unreleased tracks from the Capitol vaults.
Tina fondly recalls the impact of Sinatra's Capitol Records era. "I was five years old. It is hard to believe this has spanned my lifetime and all that music now in one collection is really exciting to me," she says. "These recordings come from a very precious spot. He would bring them home to us. We got 45s every couple of weeks. We were surrounded by music, and in a home where music was so prevalent, but the emotions that you attach to songs when you're very young — you hold on to those through all of your life, at least I have. A lot of them are very, very dear to me and they take me right back to that little bedroom with the blue paper wallpaper with pink flowers on it."
Frank's legendary status, in fact, just keeps growing. By the end of 2022, his music had been streamed more than three billion times globally. Tina knows her dad would be delighted by this.
"When he was leaving us, he didn't know what his legacy would mean or how it would last or what what it would take to sustain it, if it was necessary. I must say we didn't try very hard," she says. "We made ourselves available to bonafide people who were serious and we became the go to place as opposed to fighting it. We embrace it and there was no holding him back. It seems he's grown in popularity — his record sales go up every year."
While the estate adores its "Sinatra-istas" as Tina calls them, the growing base of new fans enraptures her.
"We rely on music throughout our lives and that people sustain an interest in him means that he's emotionally attaching to them. So it's really up to the fans and it's that he's rediscovered by the next generation since he passed. He always said 'I'm going to be passed on like an old chair. I'm an heirloom.' I think he was right," Tina says.
"It's amazing to turn a channel anywhere in the world and there he is. It's has comforted me since we lost him that his legacy is so global now. I don't go anywhere that he is not prevalent. Music, in general will draw you out, take you back and it's pleasing to me that he has done this. He does a lot of good. I think he always did good when he was on earth and he's continuing that after," she says.
The Best is Yet to Come
2024 is shaping up to be a big year for the estate of Frank Sinatra.
Sinatra The Musical, based on Frank’s life and career, recently made its world premiere at Birmingham Rep in Birmingham, UK. Featuring the Tony Award-winning Matt Doyle in the starring role, it featured 20 actors and 17 musicians, who perform more than 25 of Sinatra’s best-loved songs.
"The last four or five years we have focused on developing a wonderful musical. The subject is my mother, my father and Ava Gardner. It's got sentimentality to it but it's sexy. It's everything you want to hear him sing. It's a fantastic story of a love triangle. Now, everybody's gonna know who my mom was and no one has ever given Ava Gardner her due — she was she was a good person. I knew her as all this confusion was happening. But as I say, nobody died from it, everybody survived," Tina says. "I cannot praise Matt Doyle enough because he's such a good actor and he has his own swagger. His voice is heavenly. We ran a month very successfully in Birmingham, England and now we're waiting to get a West End theater and go back to work, I hope before the end of '24."
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