Sammy Davis Jr. Bridges to Cross" in 1954. In 1956, he starred in the Broadway musical "Mr. Wonderful" . In 1959, Davis became a member of the Rat Pack, led by his friend Frank Sinatra, which included fellow performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, a brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering "the Clan", but Davis voiced his opposition, saying that it reminded people of the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit". One long night of poker that went on into the early morning saw the men drunken and disheveled. As Angie Dickinson approached the
Starring Sammy Davis Jr. released five months later. The Allmusic review by William Ruhlmann awarded the album three and a half stars and said that the final track "The Birth of the Blues", "succeeded in giving the listener a sense of what Davis was like in live performance". Starring Sammy Davis Jr. Starring Sammy Davis Jr. is the debut studio album by Sammy Davis Jr., recorded in 1955. Five of the songs on "Starring Sammy Davis Jr." had been previously released as singles ("Hey There," "And This Is My Beloved," "Because of You," "Glad to Be Unhappy," and "Birth of the Blues"), one of