Overview[]
Frank Sinatra was a popular American singer, bandleader, actor and producer. Sinatra was one of the most popular musicians of the 20th century. Sinatra was particularly beloved in his native New Jersey, where he was born, raised, returned to several times, and ultimately spent the last years of his life after Doomsday.
On Doomsday, Sinatra was performing at the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City, and thus survived with the rest of the city. His dear friend Dean Martin was also present, as he was scheduled to make a surprise appearance to perform a cover of "When You're Smiling" with Sinatra at the end of the concert.
During the last years of Sinatra's life, Atlantic City and the majority of New Jersey were under the jurisdiction of Delmarva.
Pre-Doomsday[]
"This Town": Early Life in Hoboken[]
Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915 in an upstairs tenement in Hoboken, New Jersey. His mother Natalina "Dolly" Garaventa Sinatra was a midwife and Democratic political activist. She was a dominant figure in shaping young Frank's personality. Sinatra's father, Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra, was a Hoboken firefighter and bantamweight boxer who fought under the name Marty O'Brien. He owned a Hoboken tavern under this name as well, and young Frank got an early taste of music by singing atop the tavern's piano for spare change. During the Depression, his mother Dolly saved up enough to give Frank money for outings with friends and for expensive clothes; neighbors would later describe him as "the best-dressed kid in the neighborhood."
Sinatra's uncle, Domenico, gave him a ukulele for his 15th birthday, and he began performing at family gatherings. Young Sinatra also began arranging bands at his school, the AJ Demarest High School (later renamed Hoboken High). However, Sinatra did not graduate, being expelled for "general rowdiness." Dolly arranged for Frank to work at the Jersey Observer newspaper, where his godfather Frank Garrick worked. Sinatra began performing in Hoboken social clubs and singing for free on local radio stations such as WAAT in nearby Jersey City.
"Fly Me to the Moon": Rise to Fame[]

Sinatra began picking up popularity in the 1940's.
Super-stardom[]
As the 1940's progressed, Sinatra continued to rise in fame, and began to expand his fanbase beyond teenage bobbysoxers.
"Luck Be a Lady": Surviving Doomsday[]
Sinatra enjoyed a friendly relationship with the management of Atlantic City's Golden Nugget Casino, appearing in commercials for the resort by 1983. On September 25, 1983, Sinatra was performing at the Nugget. Sinatra would be joined by his pal Dean Martin during the scheduled final song of the set.
However, the performance was interrupted (to Sinatra's initial rage, then shock when he heard what the interruption was about) by an usher who came on stage to announce the news of the Soviet attack on New York and Washington, soon followed by many more across the region.
"And now, the end is near": Later years and death[]
The Golden Nugget would allow Sinatra and Martin to remain in the penthouse suites indefinitely. The titanically strong local goodwill towards the Rat Pack and to Frank Sinatra in particular in New Jersey allowed the pair to remain as honored guests of Atlantic City for the rest of their days.
After spending the initial years of the post-Doomsday world keeping a relatively low profile, the pair began performing again for free to boost local morale. In the late 1980's and early 90's, at the encouragement of local authorities, Sinatra and Martin would record new music memorializing Doomsday in New Jersey and the swirl of emotions around it, creating the records in a repaired studio at a local radio station.
Sinatra would help jumpstart a rebirth of the local music scene in South Jersey during his Atlantic City years. As local singers sought him out as a mentor, Sinatra began hosting recording sessions for artists he deemed worthy at the recording studio of the local radio station. Sinatra would eventually found the New Jersey Music Festival in 1993 to boost local morale and keep the spirit of the Jersey Shore Sound going.
However, the years had taken their toll. Dean Martin died in 1992, and Frank Sinatra mourned the loss of his dear friend. Sinatra himself would pass away in 1997 in his suite in the Golden Nugget, leaving behind a tremendous legacy of music and style.
"My Way": The Legacy of Frank Sinatra[]

The album cover for a collection of Sinatra's hits, collected from archives by a DJ in Atlantic City.
Sinatra's legions of admirers mourned his death. However, the continued idolization of Sinatra has not been exclusive to those who were alive during his heyday: In the 21st century, the younger generations that have been born in the decades since Doomsday have come to revere Frank Sinatra as an almost mythical figure, an icon of pre-Doomsday American glamour and style.
Old records of Sinatra's pre-Doomsday music have remained in circulation throughout all parts of America and the world due to their ubiquitous sales before Doomsday, and there is now a lucrative market in many parts of the world for making and selling new copies of these older recordings. In recent decades, as it becomes more common to travel further distances, merchants from Delmarva have begun selling records of Sinatra's post-Doomsday performances in 1980's/90's New Jersey, in marketplaces up and down the East Coast.