Are you ready, Nancy Sinatra fans? Start Walkin’! It’s Nancy’s 81st birthday today, and we’re celebrating with these incredible Sinatra facts.
Firstly, you know the song – but did you know the eldest daughter of Frank Sinatra wrote and sang it? That’s right, “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” is Nancy Sinatra’s most recognizable hit. Fittingly so, as the 1966 smasher is an absolute staple of popular music.
Yet Nancy’s life has been full of remarkable accomplishments outside her signature hits. So today, June 8, 2021, we’re celebrating the fascinating life of Frank Sinatra’s firstborn for the 81st birthday of one Nancy Sinatra.
From ‘The Frank Sinatra Show’ to ‘Boots’ to James Bond
Born Nancy Sandra Sinatra on June 8, 1940, the icon is famous as both a singer and actress. Her career began way back in 1957 with an appearance on her father’s ABC-TV variety show, The Frank Sinatra Show. From here, she would enter the 1960s with a bang – charting hits for the entire decade.
Alongside “Boots”, Nancy Sinatra also recorded the title song for You Only Live Twice, 1967’s entry in Sean Connery’s iconic James Bond run.
Much of Nancy’s work would come to define the Swinging Sixties look and sound for women across the globe. Alongside legendary arranger/conductor Billy Strange, Sinatra would chart with over a dozen hits for the time. Her dazzling go-go dancer-clad music video for “Boots” instantly became a defining image for the 1960s and one that continues to dominate pop culture concerned with the decade.
Chances are you know many more songs by Nancy Sinatra by heart, too. She gave the world “Sugar Town”, “Somethin’ Stupid” – a duet with father Frank Sinatra, “Summer Wine, and “Some Velvet Morning.”
Modern audiences, too, will know her voice from “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” which Quentin Tarantino used to open his 2003 epic, Kill Bill Volume 1.
Nancy Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Big Screen Heartthrobs
While she was recording away, Nancy Sinatra was also starring in Hollywood films. In Speedway, Sinatra co-starred with Elvis Presley, and the two got along famously. So much so, in fact, that rumors persist to this day of the two becoming an “item”.
Then, The Wild Angels saw her pair with Peter Fonda. She would even play a fictional father-daughter pairing with Frank Sinatra in Marriage on the Rocks.
Dozens more singles, albums, and musical ventures have followed for Nancy Sinatra – leading right up to this very day, her 81st birthday – including a 1995 photoshoot for Playboy her father approved of.
Yet nothing has managed to top “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” – and why should it? What a legacy to hold. Relive the iconic music video for the smash Sinatra hit below, and wish the one and only Nancy Sinatra a Happy Birthday with all of us here at Outsider!
“These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” is a pop song musically composed by Lee Hazlewood and first written and recorded by Nancy Sinatra. It was released in February 1966 and hit #1 in the United States and United Kingdom Pop charts.
Nancy Sinatra
