Frank Sinatra released his debut album, "The Voice of Frank Sinatra", in 1946. Sinatra's professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best known residency performers as part of the Rat Pack. His career was reborn in 1953 with the success of "From Here to Eternity", with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955), "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" (1956), "Come Fly with Me" (1958), "Only the Lonely" (1958) and
Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music Sinatra, and "A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim" (1967), starring Ella Fitzgerald and Antonio Carlos Jobim. An album by Sinatra, also titled "A Man and His Music", was released at around the same time as the special. By modern standards, especially, the format of the original show was profoundly simple. It consisted only of Frank Sinatra in a television studio singing many of his hit tunes (such as "It Was a Very Good Year") in front of a live audience. There were no guests on this first program. The orchestra was conducted by long-time Sinatra arrangers Nelson