Frank Sinatra Jr. Dies at 72

  I  
Image

Frank Sinatra Jr. (1944–2016) performs at the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek, Florida, in 2012.

(Photo: Stephanie Shacter)

Frank Sinatra Jr., who helped extend his father’s legacy into the 21st century while carving out his own distinct voice as a singer, songwriter and conductor, died on Wednesday of a massive heart attack while on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was 72.

Sinatra Jr. was the middle child of his father, Frank Sr., and Nancy Barbato Sinatra. He began performing in his mid-teens for the Sam Donahue band, and later spent time in ensembles led by Duke Ellington and Nelson Riddle.

In 1963, when Sinatra Jr. was 19, he was kidnapped from a Lake Tahoe hotel by three men who demanded a ransom for his release. He was returned to his family two days later after his father agreed to pay the kidnappers $240,000.



  • Jack_DeJohnette_by_Steve_Sussman.jpg

    ​Jack DeJohnette boasted a musical resume that was as long as it was fearsome.

  • KurtElling_6.2.25_by_ElliotMandel-REV-6.jpg

    “Think of all the creative people I’m going to meet and a whole other way of thinking about music and a challenge of singing completely different material than I would have sung otherwise to my highest level in dedication to the moment,” Elling says about his Broadway run.

  • Pat_Metheny_Side-Eye_III_Jimmy_Katz.jpg

    Pat Metheny will perform with his Side-Eye III ensemble at ​Big Ears 2026 in Knoxville, Tennessee, next March.

  • Courtesy_Bobby_Bradford_GoFundMe_page.jpg

    “[That’s] the thing of the beboppers,” Bradford said. “These guys were important for not only playing that wonderful music, but they knew a sort of social stance, you see?”

    Bobby Bradford: Phoenix Rising

    It was a calm, balmy, near-perfect evening in Westwood, California, not far from UCLA, in the expansive courtyard at…

  • Esperanza_Spalding_3825_5x7.jpeg

    ​Esperanza Spalding closed an audacious Chicago Jazz Festival set with “Endangered Species.”


On Sale Now
November 2025
Gary Bartz
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad