- Rare 1947 First Edition, 125 pages
- Cover by artist and illustrator Abe Birnbaum
- Based on a multi-part profile of Frank Sinatra in The New Yorker
- The first book to be published about the greatest popular singer of the 20th century
- Sinatra's nickname, “The Voice,” served as the inspiration for the title
The Making of a Legend
From the time he made hordes of hysterical fans swoon at the Paramount in 1942 up until the present day, Frank Sinatra has never been out of the public spotlight. With some 1,800 recordings, 60 film credits, two Oscars, numerous Grammys and a Grammy Legends Award, and the undying loyalty of millions of fans around the world, Sinatra has become a cultural icon.
In 1947, E.J. Kahn Jr. published this 125-page book based on a multi-part profile of Frank Sinatra that had appeared in The New Yorker the preceding year. “Sinatra’s fans are overwhelmingly young women,” Kahn wrote in the magazine’s signature tone of slight condescension. “Their versions of the effect he has on them are, on the whole, more daintily phrased than the callous judgments of the psychologists.” The Voice was the first book to be published about the man who is now generally regarded as the greatest popular singer of the 20th century.
Offered is a rare 1947 First Edition by Ely Jacques Kahn Jr., writer with The New Yorker magazine for five decades. Cover art by Abe Birnbaum, an artist and illustrator who painted nearly 200 covers for The New Yorker.