Frank Sinatra Jr. Is Dead at 72

Singer Frank Sinatra Jr., 72, died Wednesday in Daytona Beach, Florida, the AP has reported. Sinatra Jr., who followed his father Frank Sinatra into the music business, was scheduled to perform “Sinatra Sings Sinatra: A Centennial Celebration” at Daytona Beach’s Peabody Auditorium on Wednesday evening but suffered a heart attack.

In 1963, as a 19-year-old singer launching his own solo career, Sinatra Jr. made headlines when he was kidnapped from his dressing room at Harrah’s Club Lodge in Lake Tahoe. Sinatra Sr. paid the ransom money, but the kidnappers were later captured and convicted. Sinatra Jr.’s recording career spanned a half-century, from 1965’s Young Love for Sale to That Face! in 2006. He also worked as his father’s musical director and conductor prior to Frank Sinatra Sr.’s 1998 death. In recent years, he appeared on television, with cameos on The Sopranos, Family Guy, and The Defenders. He is survived by his son Michael Sinatra, his sisters Tina Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra Jr., and his mother, Nancy Barbato Sinatra.