The day Sinatra lost his voice…to find a new one
We are at the dawn of the 1950s. Frank is going through a delicate professional and even more precarious personal moment. His relationship with Ava Gardner corrodes him, the continuous rumors of the actress’s love affairs torment him, and he also doesn’t know how to face the situation. He attempts to maintain his status in the music scene with a merciless agenda that matches his unmoderate lifestyle. He tries to alleviate his insomnia with sleeping pills, alcohol, or both, which has the consequence that many nights he goes on stage in a worrisome state that has nothing to do with the impeccable image to which we are accustomed.
THE DAY SINATRA LOST HIS VOICE
In the early morning of April 26, 1950, at the Copacabana in New York, a Sinatra whose squalor and deterioration contrast with the exquisite elegance of his tuxedo and the dazzling polish of his shoes approaches, hesitantly, the microphone. He dedicates his opening song, “I Have But One Heart” to Ava Gardner, who is in Spain shooting a movie and probably getting intimate with Spanish bullfighter Mario Cabré. He feels a pang in his chest… The audience applauds him fervently and he smiles charmingly as a collapse is imminent inside him. In the second piece, “It All Depends On You,” The Voice’s legendary voice begins to splinter until he breaks down and becomes completely silent. It is a new and terrifying situation for Sinatra, who had always had his voice no matter what the conditions or circumstances were. He tries to sing again but there is only a tense, burning silence. He notices moisture at the corner of his mouth: it’s blood. “I have never been so scared in my life,” he later said. “I remember looking at the audience. There was absolute, imposing silence. Finally I whispered ‘Good night’ and left the stage.”
The diagnosis was hemorrhage in the submucosa of the throat. Frank canceled his pending commitments and retired to Miami to take a two-month rest under medical prescription. At that time, he had to communicate by writing on a notepad.
Frank Sinatra Radio
In July, with his throat restored thanks to high-level medical treatment in Los Angeles, Sinatra flies to London to perform at the London Palladium. The concert is a success and Ava is sitting in the front row, which undoubtedly inspires and gives strength to Frank. There are still a couple of years of disappointment before his definitive artistic resurrection in “From Here to Eternity” and on the Capitol label, but Sinatra’s return begins to take shape at his Palladium concert. At the end of 1950 he will be able to offer thrilling performances. A new voice, a new heart, with golden scars, like a kintsugi.
