Frank Sinatra And Nelson Riddle: How It Happened
Frank Sinatra is rightful known today as an entertainment icon, but many forget that there was a time when he was just another washed up teen idol trying to reinvent himself artistically and revive his career. After his teen idol stardom ended, Sinatra went through a rough period that he described as 'all Monday's' when his personal life was in shambles, his professional prospects non-existent and his financial status in ruin.
To make matters worse, the impresarios at Columbia Records were abusing his talent in an effort to revive his album sales. His pairing with producer Mitch Miller was particularly disastrous. The nadir of this unholy alliance was probably the recording of "Mama Will Bark", where the greatest voice of the 20th century shared the microphone with a buxom actress named Dagmar (sort of a Rhonda Shear of her day) and some other 'vocalist' howling and barking like a dog in the background. Not surprisingly, Sinatra's recordings with Mitch Miller were not a resounding commercial success and in 1952 he was dropped by Columbia.
His luck was soon to improve, however, as a number of his colleagues including former Tommy Dorsey vocalists June Hutton and Jo Stafford got him in the door at Capitol Records. This began a nine year relationship that produced some of the finest work of Sinatra's career. Initially, Frank worked with June Hutton's husband, Axel Stordahl. These sessions produced some decent music including "I'm Walking Behind You" but wouldn't last long. Frank wanted to go in a different direction, which became a necessity when Stordahl left to take a gig with Eddie Fisher in New York. After a lengthy search for a replacement, Sinatra reluctantly agreed to work with an experienced big band conductor named Nelson Riddle. The Capitol Records executives were excited about the matchup, but Sinatra had to be convinced.
The Riddle/Sinatra collaboration was an unabashed success. Their early sessions produced among other songs "I've Got The World On The String" which is something of a 'shot heard round the world' for Sinatra's career and popular music in general. The well known standard was given new vibrancy with Riddle's buoyant arrangement and Sinatra's new found vocal maturity. The song was only a modest commercial success at the time, reaching #14 on the single charts, but became a classic. It was also a favorite of Sinatra himself, and he continued to perform the song live, frequently as a show opener, for the rest of his life.
Put into a modern context, Frank Sinatra's career is even more remarkable. It's difficult to envision one of today's popular acts among the adolescent set like the Jonas Brothers being able to even transition into a career where they're taken serious as an adult artist. Sinatra far exceeded that goal, leaving an imprint on popular music that may never be equaled. His ascendancy to his status as 'Chairman of the Board' and one of the most important artists of the 20th Century all began with his union with Nelson Riddle.