Growing up as the child of one of the greatest icons in American music can't be easy, but
Nancy Sinatra managed to create a sound and style for herself fully separate from that of her (very) famous father, and her sexy but strong-willed persona has endured with nearly the same strength as the image of the Chairman of the Board.
Nancy Sinatra was born in the Summer of 1940, while her father,
Frank Sinatra, was singing with
the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra; as the daughter of show business royalty,
Nancy grew up in the spotlight, and made her first appearance on television with her father in 1957. It wasn't long before
Nancy developed aspirations of her own as a performer -- she had studied music, dancing, and voice through much of her youth -- and in 1960 she made her debut as a professional performer on a television special hosted by her father and featuring guest star
Elvis Presley, then fresh out of the Army.
After appearing in a number of movies and guest starring on episodic television,
Nancy was eager to break into music, and she signed a deal with her father's record label, Reprise. However, her first hit single, 1966's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," made it clear she had the talent and moxie to make it without her father's help. Sounding both sexy and defiant, and belting out a definitive tough-chick lyric over a brassy arrangement by
Bill Strange (and with the cream of L.A.'s session players behind her), "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" was an immediate and unstoppable hit, and took the "tuff girl" posturing of
the Shangri-Las and
the Ronettes to a whole new level. A number of hits followed, including "How Does That Grab You," "Sugar Town," and the theme song to the James Bond picture You Only Live Twice.
Nancy also teamed up with her father for the single "Somethin' Stupid," which raced to the top of the charts in 1967. Most of
Nancy's hits were produced by
Lee Hazlewood, who went on to become a cult hero on his own and recorded a number of memorable duets with her, including "Sand," "Summer Wine," and the one-of-a-kind epic "Some Velvet Morning."
Nancy reinforced her "bad girl" persona in 1966 with co-starring role opposite Peter Fonda in The Wild Angels, the Roger Corman film that helped kick off the biker flick cycle of the 1960s and early '70s; she also teamed up with
Elvis Presley in the 1968 movie Speedway.
Nancy continued to record into the early '70s, but in 1970 she married dancer Hugh Lambert (a brief marriage to British singer and actor
Tommy Sands ended in 1965), and she devoted most of her time to her new life as a wife and mother, as well as working with a number of charitable causes. In 1985, she published the book Frank Sinatra: My Father, and became increasingly active in looking after her family's affairs; she published a second book on
Frank Sinatra in 1998 and currently oversees the Sinatra Family website. In 1995,
Nancy returned to the recording studio with a
country-flavored album called One More Time, and she helped publicize it by posing for a sexy photo spread in Playboy magazine.
Nancy launched a concert tour in support of the album, and in 2003 teamed up with
Hazlewood to record a new album together, Nancy & Lee 3, which sadly was not released in the United States. However,
Nancy soon returned to the recording studio at the urging of longtime fan
Morrissey, and in the fall of 2004 she released a new disc simply entitled Nancy Sinatra, an ambitious set which included contributions from members of
U2,
Pulp,
Calexico,
Sonic Youth,
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and other contemporary
rock performers. The album's release was followed by more live work from
Nancy, including a memorable appearance at Little Steven's International Underground Garage Rock Festival 2004, in which she performed songs from her new album as well as "These Boots Are Made for Walkin" backed by an all-star band (including a horn section) and flanked by dozens of frugging go-go dancers. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
