Why Frank Sinatra will always be The Voice As the years rolled by and Sinatra went from being plain ol" Frankie to the Chairman of the Board just about everyone has suggested he was the archetypal overnight sensation. Authors and cultural commentators have insisted that the Paramount was full to capacity with 5,000 screaming fans all going nuts and chanting F.R.A.N.K.I.E. While there is no doubting Frank's success at his first Manhattan engagement without the backing of Tommy Dorsey's band it seem more likely that the hysteria was nothing like as wild. In reality it was largely George Evans, the man who had been hired as Sinatra's press agent, who worked a little magic and spun the web of creative PR. While it was Evans's efforts that were the impetus the speed with which Frank became SO popular was a revelation to everyone, even to Frank who had a full tank of self-belief. Many people have hypothesised as to why it happened. Psychiatrists have studied the phenomenon, other performers have tried to repeat what he did, and a multiplicity of managers have encouraged their rising stars to try to emulate "the Voice." The Truth is that Frank had learned well from his time with both the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands. When you are not the one that people have come to see, yet you want them to notice you, you try a little harder to get the audience's attention. Frank had been developing his stagecraft, working on his little mannerisms and making everything he did on stage count. People have talked about the way Frank seemed to sing just to them, holding them with his blue eyes. There is no question that some of it was gift, but an awful lot more of it was down to sheer hard work and determination. It is PR man Evans who generally gets credited with naming Frank "The Voice" but there are some who insist that it was actually Harry Kilby, Frank's agent. It's true that it was Kilby that added the strap line, "the Voice that Has Thrilled Millions" to the Paramount billing - so there's an element of truth on both sides. Kilby's somewhat overblown statement definitely came first but it was Evans who had the savvy to shorten it to "The Voice." Critics were soon likening Sinatra's voice to "worn velveteen" or as another suggested, "it was like being stroked by a hand covered in cold cream." Fans wondered whether he tucked his voice under his armpit between numbers, another suggested he had musk glands where his tonsils ought to be. George Evans defied the first rule of PR - there is no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right. He crafted a whole new section of the dictionary to describe the Sinatra effect. Besides dubbing him "The Voice," and calling the girls Sinatratics, he called Frank, Swoonatra. His was also the unsubtle linking of the effect that Frank had on some of the girls that he called it "Sinatrasm" - no doubt some did. It's just a pity Evans never wrote a book on image making; it would have been a best seller. Much of what he did was simply old tricks of the trade. Inventing stories about Frank's growing up, taking a few years off his age, running competitions with radio stations under the guise of Frank Sinatra day, adding noughts to what Frankie was being paid and playing up the happy family angle - he never ever missed an opportunity to get his "boy's" name in the newspapers. Evidence of Frank's popularity was everywhere, especially in the number of local fan clubs that were formed. They grasped every titbit that George Evans fed them, and of course they also bought Sinatra's records. With the passing of the years it is difficult to unravel fact from fiction. Was there really a Frank Sinatra Fan and Mahjong Club? A club at which a group of middle aged Jewish women got together to play mahjong and listen to Frank's records? Over the course of the next few years everyone wanted to say that they had been at that first Paramount show, or at least been there during the first week. Over the decades memories fade and a little embellishment goes an awful long way. Given the fact that Frank played the Paramount a number of times in 1943 and "44 it is probable that people adjusted their truth. When the run, which had been extended by several weeks, finally came to an end on February 20th Frank had become the Bobby Soxer's idol; within a year he was arguably, the original pop idol. In wartime America Frankie was the main man to hundreds of thousands of lovelorn women. He sang to them of love, loss, and longing; he provided the soundtrack to their imaginary idyll. Frank was the Sultan of Swoon as the opening chapters of his legend were written. Soon after appearing at the Paramount Sinatra was in Tinsel Town featuring in movies, he was also dodging the draft, according to some, to others, notably the FBI, he was "consorting with known criminals" and he was gaining a reputation as a ladies" man being seen in Hollywood with Lana Turner and Marilyn Maxwell. Both of whom spent more time than a single gal ought to with a married man - a fact that some of Hollywood's most vicious columnists would exploit to their advantage. But no one could or can take away the fact that Frank Sinatra in being dubbed "The Voice" became the voice through which songwriters spoke to people all over America and soon the world. His really is "The Voice" that has thrilled millions and continues to do so to this day. George Evans and Harry Kilby's creativity have inspired in other ways; yet no matter how many contests and competitions there are, there will never be anyone who can really compete with - The Voice. Richard Havers is a music producer and writer.