Nancy Sinatra

• Genre: '60s Oldies

About

Frank Sinatra's offspring never inherited their father's galaxy-sized talent, but daughter Nancy has had the most interesting career and her work has been consistently strong in its own right. Nancy Sinatra started off having a nice run as a go-go crazed pop/rock singer and got hooked up with the eccentric, off-kilter songsmith Lee Hazelwood in 1966. Together, they released a whole slew of oddly tough and sexy singles, including the immortal chart-topper "These Boots Were Made For Walking" and the theme to one of the best of the James Bond pictures, You Only Live Twice. Considered kitsch in its day, Sinatra and Hazelwood's dramatic, Technicolor recordings have aged very well and are now widely covered and imitated by many of today's musical acts. Tan and curvaceous, Sinatra was the PG-rated, American version of Brigitte Bardot (and Nancy could at least carry a tune), but her career faded during the later half of the Nixon years. She made headlines in the '90s by proudly appearing in Playboy at more than twice the age of the average playmate and the stunt worked -- Nancy Sinatra is recording and touring once again, even recording songs written especially for her by fans such as Morrissey and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker. Sinatra has also written two massive, coffee-table-sized tomes about her father and has acted in numerous films and TV shows over the years.

- Nick Dedina