Nancy Sinatra

Nancy Sinatra (born June 8, 1940, Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.) American singer and actress who forged a successful music career separate from that of her famous father, singer and actor Frank Sinatra. She cemented her status as a recording artist in her own right with her number one hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ ” in 1966, which became her signature song.

Early life

Nancy Sinatra was the eldest child of Frank Sinatra and his first wife, fellow New Jersey native Nancy (née Barbato) Sinatra, who worked as a secretary while her husband attempted to launch his singing career. Sinatra moved with her family from New Jersey to California in the 1940s, when her father sought to start a film career in Hollywood. Growing up, she studied piano, dance, and acting and took voice lessons.

While still in her teens, Sinatra made brief television appearances in 1957 and 1958 on The Frank Sinatra Show. She made her professional debut in 1960, on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, a television special welcoming singer and actor Elvis Presley back to the United States from his military service overseas. That same year, she married pop music singer and actor Tommy Sands. In addition, Sinatra began recording with Reprise Records, but her songs failed to chart in the U.S.

Career

Following her divorce from Sands in 1965, Sinatra released Boots (1966), an album produced by singer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood and arranged by composer Billy Strange. It featured original songs written by Hazlewood and renditions of other songs, such as “It Ain’t Me Babe” by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and “As Tears Go By” by the rock group the Rolling Stones. The album’s breakout track (originally released as a single in 1965) was Hazlewood’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” about a woman who refuses to be pushed around. It capitalized on the era’s go-go boots fashion craze and went to number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Sinatra’s cool but flirtatious delivery of the song was coupled with a new assertive and seductive public image.

Sinatra’s next album, How Does That Grab You? (1966), included the songs “Sand,” the first of many duets with Hazlewood, and “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” a spare atmospheric song penned by singer-songwriter Sonny Bono. In 1967 Sinatra earned her second number one hit, “Somethin’ Stupid,” a duet with her father. That same year, she sang the title track for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice—a song by composers John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. She later teamed up with Hazlewood for two full albums of duets: Nancy & Lee (1968) and Nancy & Lee Again (1972).

In addition to recording songs, Sinatra acted in films and made guest appearances on several television series and specials. Her television credits include The Virginian (1963), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966), The Ed Sullivan Show (1968), Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1969–70), and Movin’ with Nancy, a 1967 special for which she also served as executive producer. Her films include For Those Who Think Young (1964), Get Yourself a College Girl (1964), The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966), The Wild Angels (1966), and, alongside Presley, Speedway (1968). During the Vietnam War, she frequently performed for U.S. troops overseas and visited soldiers in field hospitals.

Later Sinatra wrote two books about her father, Frank Sinatra, My Father (1985) and Frank Sinatra: An American Legend (1995), and recorded the album One More Time (1995). Several of her songs from the 1960s found new audiences in the late 20th and early 21st centuries—notably “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” which was recorded by singer Billy Ray Cyrus, singer Jessica Simpson, heavy metal band Megadeth, and singer Kacey Musgraves, and “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” which played over the opening credits of director Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003).

In 2006 Sinatra received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The following year, she was honoured by the Vietnam Veterans of America with the President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2020 “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ ” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Start Walkin’ 1965–1976, a 23-track retrospective compilation of Sinatra’s music, was released in 2021.