June 8: Nancy Sinatra - "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" - is 71 years-old today.

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Nancy Sandra Sinatra is the daughter of the Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. For her fourth birthday, Phil Silvers and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)," which her father recorded.

Nancy was sent to the airport on behalf of her father to welcome Elvis when his plane landed. On the special, Nancy and her father danced and sang a duet, "You Make Me Feel So Young/Old." That same year she married teen idol, Tommy Sands.The marriage lasted five years.

In the late 1950s, Sinatra began to study music, dancing, and voice at the University of California in Los Angeles. She dropped out after a year, and made her professional debut in 1960 on her father's television special with Elvis Presley, home from the army.

Sinatra signed with her father's label, Reprise Records, in 1961. Her first single, "Cuff Links and a Tie Clip," didn't chart. However, subsequent singles charted in Europe and Japan.

Without a hit in the U.S. by 1965, her singing career received a boost with the help of Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for ten years, notably with Duane Eddy.

Hazlewood became Sinatra's inspiration. He had her sing in a lower key and crafted pop songs for her. Bolstered by an image overhaul — including bleached-blonde hair, frosted lips, heavy eye make-up and Carnaby Street fashions — Sinatra made her mark on the American (and British) music scene in early 1966 with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," its title inspired by a line in Robert Aldrich's 1963 western comedy 4 for Texas starring her father and Dean Martin.

One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy Award nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

The promo clip for the song featured a big-haired Sinatra and six young women in loose sweaters, go-go boots and hot pants.

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A run of chart singles followed, including the two 1966 Top 10 hits "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" (#7) and "Sugar Town" (#5). "Sugar Town" became her second million seller.

The ballad "Somethin' Stupid" — a duet with her father — hit #1 in the U.S. and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard's easy listening chart. It earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the U.S. It became Sinatra's third million-selling disc.

Other records of hers worth noting are "Friday’s Child," which reached #36 in 1966, and the 1967 hits "Love Eyes" (#15) and "Lightning’s Girl" (#24). Also in 1967 she released "Tony Rome", the title track from the detective film Tony Rome starring her father — which peaked at #83. Her first solo single in 1968 was the more wistful "100 Years" (#69).

Sinatra also enjoyed duets with the husky-voiced, country-and-western-inspired Hazlewood, starting with "Summer Wine" (originally the B-side of "Sugar Town"). Their biggest hit was a cover of the country song, "Jackson." The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1967, when Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash also made the song their own.

In December they released the "MOR"-psychedelic single "Some Velvet Morning," regarded as one of the more unusual singles in pop, and the peak of Sinatra and Hazlewood’s vocal collaborations. It reached #26 in the U.S.

In 1967 she recorded the theme song for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice. In 1971, she signed with RCA, resulting in three albums: Nancy & Lee – Again, Woman, and a compilation of some of her Reprise recordings, This Is Nancy Sinatra.

In the autumn of 1971 Sinatra and Hazlewood’s duet "Did You Ever?" reached number two in the UK singles chart.
In 2004 she collaborated with former Los Angeles neighbour Morrissey to record a version of his song "Let Me Kiss You," which was featured on her autumn release Nancy Sinatra.

September 2009 saw the release of Nancy's digital-only album Cherry Smiles: The Rare Singles, featuring previously unreleased tracks and songs only available on 45.

Nancy now hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio - Siriusly Sinatra.

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