In 1998, a man the world called “Ol’ Blue Eyes” closed his eyes one last time. Frank Sinatra was 82 years old when he passed away, but he left a legacy behind that will live on forever.
Towards the end of his long, illustrious career, Sinatra began recording for his album Duets. The plan was to have fellow legendary singers record his hit songs separately and then have their vocals put together for a virtual duet.
Frank Sinatra, way back when, was the first to do a duets album #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/2AE4Fp6Frd
— Anne-Marie⚠️ (@AnneDASHMarie) February 9, 2015
The 1993 album featured duets with Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Bono, and Barbra Streisand to name a few. The album did so well, he began recording a follow-up album, Duets II, and recruited more legendary singers. This album turned out to be the last recordings of his lifetime and featured Lorrie Morgan, Jimmy Buffet, Linda Ronstadt, and Willie Nelson.
On this date in 1993 Frank Sinatra began recording Duets II #Sinatra #Duets #Live #Vegas https://t.co/X36jS6zlbk pic.twitter.com/KPUC80H1FK
— Rick Michel (@RickMichel1) July 1, 2015
One song that was left off 1994’s Duets II was a collaboration with the King of Country, George Strait. Strait “had expressed a preference for ‘Luck Be a Lady,’ from Guys and Dolls, but instead decided to go with ‘Fly Me to the Moon.'”
According to Rolling Stone, Strait recorded his vocal track on May 24, 1994, but producers of Duets II chose to use another version of “Fly Me To The Moon” featuring Brazilian singer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Although Strait was hurt that his version wasn’t on Sinatra’s album, he decided to put it on his own album a year later, a four-CD collection, Strait Out Of The Box.
Their duet is not like any song we’ve heard Strait sing before! He embraces the big band-type of background sound and completely transforms himself into a standards singer!
Enjoy Sinatra and Strait’s duet below!
