Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American singer and actress of Italian descent.
The elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra (née Barbato), she began her career in November 1957 with an appearance on her father's ABC-TV variety series. She initially achieved success only in Europe and Japan until the release of her best known hit in 1966, "These Boots are Made for Walkin". The song's promo TV clip featuring her in high boots, accompanied by colourfully dressed go-go dancers, became an iconic piece of the Swinging Sixties. Other hits of hers include her cover of Cher's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", the eponymous theme song for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, "Sugar Town" and "Hotel California".
She's also had a short film acting career between 1964 and 1968 with the likes of Peter Fonda and Elvis Presley as co-stars.
Filmography:
- For Those Who Think Young (1964)
- Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)
- Marriage on the Rocks (1965)
- The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)
- The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966)
- The Oscar (1966)
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966)
- You Only Live Twice (1967) — Theme song
- Movin' With Nancy (1967 TV special)
- The Wild Angels (1966)
- Speedway (1968)
- Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (1968)
- China Beach (1988)
- The Sopranos (2007)
Tropes & Trivia about her career:
- Age-Progression Song: "Bang Bang", with such lyrics as: "I was five and he was six"; "When I grew up I called him mine"; "Just for me the church bells rang"; "Now he's gone".
- As Herself: She appeared as herself in China Beach (episode "Chao Ong") and The Sopranos (episode "Chasing It").
- Falling Bass: "These Boots Are Made for Walkin". Technically speaking, the song is a subversion of the chromatic scale because if you listen carefully, upright bass player Chuck Berghofer is playing in microtonal increments that are smaller than semitones; according to the Other Wiki
, Lee Hazlewood specifically asked him to do this. - Iconic Outfit: In The '60s, she famously wore short miniskirts, shift dresses, jumpers, hot pants and patent leather go-go boots, which at the time were something considered as risqué.
- Let's Duet:
- Lee Hazlewood wrote and produced most of her hits in The '60s and The '70s and sang with her on several duets.
- "Somethin' Stupid" (1967), a Cover Version duet with her father.
- Also did one with David McCallum in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
- Real-Life Relative: In Marriage on the Rocks, her father and her played a fictional father and daughter.
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Referenced by...: The seventh chapter of Juniper's Christmas is titled "These Boots Were Made For Walking". - Stock Trailer Music: French people hear "These Boots Are Made For Walkin" quite frequently due to its relentless use in Guerlain's "La Petite Robe Noire" perfume commercials, which are quite ubiquitous on TV and in movie theaters since The New '10s.
- Title Theme Tune: She performed "You Only Live Twice" for the eponymous James Bond film's Title Sequence.
- Trope Namer: For the page "These Tropes Are Made for Walking".
- Troubled Production: When she recorded "You Only Live Twice", Nancy was so nervous about doing it that it took twenty-five different takes (by her own admission, she "sounded like Minnie Mouse"). The final song used in the film was made up of the best parts from each recording. At one point, she asked the crew "Are you sure you wouldn't rather have Shirley Bassey?".
- What Could Have Been:
- The character of Sugar Kane from the film Beach Blanket Bingo was written for her, but because the role involved an attempted kidnapping, and her brother Frank Jr. had been the victim of one a few months previously, she felt uncomfortable and dropped out.
- Her father was first asked to perform "You Only Live Twice" and refused.
