FRANK SINATRA AND WILLIE NELSON
By Mahnuel Muñoz
In the early 1980s, Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson formed an unlikely friendship. The two did a series of NASA space research public service announcements, and Nelson in 2018 recorded a collection of Sinatra classics on his album “My Way,” which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
The two singers met after playing a series of shows in Las Vegas in the early ’80s. Both artists respected each other and became friends over time. Nelson always had a penchant for the standards of the Great American Songbook and even covered several on his 1978 album “Stardust,” which included interpretations of songs by Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, George and Ira Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael and many more.
“Making the Sinatra record was easy because he knew all of his songs,” Nelson said, adding: “There’s a reason they’re called standards. There’s a melody and a lyric that millions of people feel and hear.” .
Sinatra once invited Nelson to hang out at his house after a show. Unfortunately, Nelson was on tour and could not accept the invitation.
In addition to being a friend, Nelson considered Sinatra one of his “heroes” in music. “He was a great friend, but he was also my favorite singer,” Nelson said. “I loved his taste in choosing songs. I loved his lifestyle. I loved the way he acted.”
In 1994, Nelson performed a duet with Sinatra on the album “Duets II,” sharing verses from George and Ira Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day.” Originally, the Gershwins wrote the song for the 1937 film “A Damsel in Distress,” starring Fred Astaire. Sinatra first covered the song on his 1953 album, “Songs for Young Lovers.”
“Since Sinatra has always been one of my heroes,” Nelson said at the time, “doing a song with him is the ultimate.”
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