Sinatra dies

"Ol' Blue Eyes", as Sinatra was known, was pronounced dead in the emergency room of Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.His family, including his wife, Barbara, was with him when he died.

Sinatra, known to millions of fans as Chairman of the Board and whose trademark song was My Way, had not been seen in public since a heart attack in January, 1997.

A master craftsman and ranked as one of the most influential singers in history, Sinatra's music led the evolution from Big Band to vocal American music.

The blunt, often aggressive son of Italian immigrants, born on December 12, 1915, in a tough, working-class neighbourhood of Hoboken, New Jersey, communicated across generations with love songs filled with a rare mix of vulnerability and verve - from Strangers in the Night to One For My Baby.

Sinatra said he never took voice lessons except to extend his range, and never learned to read music.

Lifelong York fan 'shattered'

Stacey Brewer, former show business and television columnist at the Evening Press, said he was shattered by the news of 'Ol' Blue Eyes' death.

"I have been a fan of his all my life and I am really sad that this musical light has gone out of my life," he said.

"It is a tremendous loss to the world of music, show business and entertainment. I am shattered. I heard him singing live at the Royal Albert Hall and he had this immense presence.

"Most singers get a big build up and introduction, but at this particular concert there was none. Everyone was talking as usual and he just appeared and this huge silence fell across the Albert Hall and then, of course, there was enormous applause.

"That was the measure of the man that he could produce this effect on people without even singing a note, and then when he did sing, it was magic."

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