Junior Sure Ain't Senior

"Nobody remembers Shakespeare’s children."
William Faulkner


Part I of a Trilogy: From the "Father of all music" to the "King"


Children of the arts - whatever the medium - must inherently contend with the legacy of their pedigree. Take, for instance, Jakob Dylan (right), the youngest son of, according to the online bio at Billboard.com, "one of the most influential, innovative, eccentric, and unique songwriters in the history of Western pop music."

Being the progeny of Bob Dylan may have opened some doors for Jakob, who was born in 1970, but the fact is, he was raised by his mother in Los Angeles after his parents’ 1977 divorce. After attending private schools on both coasts, Jakob quietly ventured into the music business as frontman for a band called the Wallflowers in the late 1980s, which released a self-titled debut album in 1992, featuring what Billboard called "a classic heartland sound that was closer to Tom Petty, or John Mellencamp, than it was to anything Bob Dylan recorded." The album sold poorly, and the band was dropped by Virgin Records.

The Wallflowers regrouped, losing and gaining band members, and in 1996 released the sophomore album "Bringing Down the Horse," under the guidance of prolific record producer T-Bone Burnett (the man behind the success of the Robert Plant-Allison Krauss collaborative CD "Raising Sand"). The album sold over four million copies (twice as many as Bob Dylan’s "Blood on the Tracks" sold in over 20 years), resulting in the Top Ten hit "One Headlight." Although media attention was inevitably drawn to Jakob’s iconic lineage, producer Burnett pointed out, "I can’t imagine having larger footsteps to follow in. But Jakob’s character is clearly defined, and he handles success with grace." Burnett added, "I don’t think Jakob sold a single record because he is Bob’s son. . .I wonder how many Wallflowers fans even know who Bob Dylan is."

Turning back the pages of history to the 18th century, we wondered what it would have been like to be the son of Johann Sebastian Bach (left). Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (below right), second son of the great German Baroque composer and wife Maria, abandoned his university schooling in jurisprudence for a life in music. He was renowned as one of the finest clavier-players in Europe and by the age of 26 had become a member of the royal orchestra for Frederick II ("Frederick the Great") of Prussia. His compositions, which date from 1731 (when he was 17), included 30 sonatas and concert pieces for harpsichord and clavichord. In 1746, four years before his father’s death, C.P.E. Bach was elevated to the post of chamber musician, enjoying the favor of the king for the next two decades.

Bach’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedmann Bach (left), fell short of his younger brother’s accomplishments and acclaim, although he himself was acknowledged as a talented composer, organist and improviser. His father’s personal influence secured him an important appointment as a church organist without the traditional "audition," but J.S. Bach’s death in 1750 seemingly removed a stabilizing presence, and his troubled personality led to a life of wandering and erratic employment before he died, impoverished, in Berlin.

Wilhelm and brother Carl had provided essential material for the first official biography of their father. The older son, however, was a less than fastidious caretaker of Johann’s library of music, inherited in part on his father’s death. While a good deal of Wilhelm’s share of these compositions disappeared altogether, he reportedly claimed credit for music written by his father.

As for C.P.E. Bach’s legacy, throughout the late 18th century, his reputation soared. Haydn’s training was based largely from study of Emmanuel’s work. Beethoven, who called J.S. Bach the "original father of harmony," expressed his regard and admiration for the younger Bach, while Mozart said of him, "He is the father, we are the children." His name declined into neglect during the 19th century, at a time when composer Robert Schumann bluntly stated that "as a creative musician, he remained very far behind his father." Papa Bach was once allegedly asked what he thought of his sons' musical talents, which he brusquely compared to purple, in so much as that color proverbially fades.

Which brings us back to the present and a musical scion of whom it was noted, "Junior sure ain’t Senior!" Born in 1944, Frank Sinatra Jr. performed a number of times in Las Vegas in the shadow of his papa, prompting negative comparisons like the above quote from Forbes Magazine editor Malcolm Forbes. When Frank Jr. hosted a replacement series while the Chairman’s pal Dean Martin’s variety show was on hiatus in the summer of 1968, it only invited more talk of nepotism.

In the waning years of the senior Sinatra’s career, Frank Jr. was his father’s musical director and conductor. In 2000, he played himself on "The Sopranos," in an episode where the character Paulie Walnuts calls him the "Chairboy of the Board." He also provided the voice of the "Member of the Board" on a 2006 episode of "Family Guy," performing a number of songs with Stewie and Brian, as well as singing the show’s theme over the closing credits.

The year 2006 also saw the release of a new album by Frank Jr. called "That Face," which included the self-penned "Spice." "While he’s never really attempted to shed his birthright, claiming to be happy to stand in the shadow of his legendary father," reviewer Jeff Tamarkin of All Music Guide noted, "neither has Sinatra Jr. ever deliberately attempted to mimic his dad as closely as he does on this collection of Tin Pan Alley-type classics and wannabe classics." Tamarkin curtly stated, "Jr.’s chops ultimately fall far short of Dad’s," adding that "one can’t help but feel that the singer here is a lesser talent, a weaker, less original interpreter than his father and an artist short on ideas." The review concluded, " ‘That Face’ will never convince hard-liners that the ‘kid’ is his dad’s equal."

Speaking of spice, it was Frank Jr.’s older sister, Nancy Sinatra (born 1940), who left her own distinctive stamp on the music charts, with no less than 13 hit singles between 1966 and 1967. For her fourth birthday, songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen and comedian Phil Silvers wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)," which was recorded by her father.

Nancy’s singing career began in the early 1960s, but she was marginally successful only in Europe and Japan, until she hooked up with Lee Hazelwood, a songwriter-producer-arranger who significantly remodeled her vocal style and eye appeal with the 1966 hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin’," featuring the singer with big hair of dyed blond, heavy eyeliner and frosted lips, wearing Carnaby Street-inspired miniskirt and go-go boots.

In 1967, she recorded a duet with her father, "Somethin’ Stupid," which became her second #1 single. It was Frank who sagely advised her early in her recording career, "Own your own masters," so it’s not surprising that she, in fact, either possesses or has a viable interest in most of her work.

In 1968, she costarred with Elvis Presley in "Speedway" and 27 years later, at the age of 54, posed nude for Playboy magazine. Nancy reportedly said that when she told papa her fee, he responded, "Double it!" Like her kid brother, she portrayed herself on an episode of "The Sopranos."

Dean Martin’s son, Dean Paul Martin (born 1951), was only 13 when he, Desi Arnaz Jr. and William Hinsche formed the pop group Dino, Desi & Billy. The trio recorded a handful of minor hits between 1965 and 1968, two of which landed in the Top 30. Fourteen years after Dean Paul’s untimely death in a 1987 jet fighter crash, his youngest brother, Ricci Martin (born 1953), joined Arnaz and Hinsche for live performances as Ricci, Desi & Billy.

Bing Crosby’s four sons from his first marriage to singer Dixie Lee, Gary, Dennis, Phillip and Lindsay, briefly performed as a harmony ensemble called The Crosby Boys (below) on television during the 1950s and ‘60s, including a noteworthy appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Growing up Crosby presumably had lingering trauma, since two of the boys, Lindsay and Phillip, later ended their lives at the business end of a shotgun.

Liza Minnelli was born in 1946 to legendary singer Judy Garland and renowned MGM director Vincente Minnelli. At the age of three, she made her first screen appearance in the final scene of the 1949 musical "In the Good Old Summertime," starring her mother. Liza started performing professionally in 1963 when she was 17. The next year, she was invited by her mother to sing with her at the London Palladium. By all accounts, she enjoyed a warm relationship with her mother at home, although Judy, who couldn’t help but acknowledge her daughter’s talent, sensed an atmosphere of competitiveness. "I was onstage with my mother, but suddenly, she wasn’t Mama," Minelli later remembered, "she was Judy Garland."

The London performance sparked Liza’s concert career, and she subsequently recorded a number of studio albums for A&M and Capitol Records. Throughout her storied show business life, she has endured a number of publicized struggles with substance abuse and has undergone several rehab treatments, inevitably inviting comparisons to Judy’s personal demons.

Liza’s role in Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film "New York, New York" provided her with what became known as her signature tune. Coincidentally, two years later, Frank Sinatra recorded his own rendition of "New York, New York," which he adopted as his signature song, occasionally performing it as a duet with Liza.

Natalie Cole (born 1950) was 15 when her father, famed crooner Nat King Cole, died of lung cancer. She had begun performing at the age of 11, having been exposed to jazz, blues and soul greats throughout her childhood. Her 1975 debut album garnered her a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

After a career detour in the early 1980s stemming from drug addiction, she entered rehab and by 1985 launched a successful (and healthy) comeback. Early in her career, she was reluctant to capitalize on her father’s name, opting instead to create a soulful identity of her own. She allegedly considered performing his songs a personally painful experience. However, she will undoubtedly be best remembered for her 1991 album, "Unforgettable," featuring her hit "duet" with her father on the title track,

More recently, Natalie has emerged as a regarded stylist of smooth jazz. Continuing the legacy, Natalie’s son, Robert Yancy, who was born in 1977, is a musician who tours with her. In July of 2008, she revealed she has the liver disease hepatitis C, likely caused by her drug use, and in September, she was hospitalized as a result of side effects from her medications and an exhaustive promotional tour for her recent album, "Still Unforgettable."

Shari Belafonte (born 1954), the daughter of Harry Belafonte, the man forever revered for "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)," got her first big break as a popular cover girl model, appearing on over 300 magazines, which led to commercial assignments and, eventually, acting roles, most memorably on Aaron Spelling’s 1980s TV series "Hotel." At the same time, she started her music career, recording a number of albums in Europe. Her stateside releases included "Eyes of Night" (1987) and "Shari" (1989). An avid photographer herself, the 46-year-old Belafonte, like Nancy Sinatra before her, posed naked for Playboy, in 2000.





Nine months to the day after Elvis Presley married Priscilla Wagner, Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, Tennessee, February 1, 1968. Doted on by an indulgent father, who called her "Injun" and "Buttonhead," she found herself dressed in fur, bedecked with jewels, even flown aboard a private jet dubbed "Lisa Marie" to Idaho just to play in snow. The sole heir to the King’s estate, she has, at the ripe old age of 40, been married four times. Marriage #2 was the highly publicized union with Michael Jackson, an eyebrow-raising curiosity that lasted less than two years. Her third hookup, to actor Nicolas Cage, was equally notorious because the divorce proceedings were actually longer than the 108-day marriage.

Elvis’ friend Jerry Schilling became Lisa Marie’s manager when she was in her early twenties, and she recorded a demo in 1992. She wrote all the lyrics for her first album, "To Whom It May Concern," which debuted #5 on the Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold in June 2003. Two years later, her second album bowed in at #9 in Billboard. In August of 2007, she recorded a "duet" with her father of the 1969 hit "In the Ghetto." Lisa Marie has reportedly started writing lyrics for her third recording.