Sinatra Jr. remembered by longtime manager, music journalist
Thirty-one years is a long time for any relationship.
In the music business, it’s an eternity.
But 31 years wasn’t long enough for Andrea Kauffman, a respected, influential South Jersey music executive who personally managed Frank Sinatra, Jr., who may have lived in the biggest shadow of anyone in the history of music.
When Sinatra, Jr., died unexpectedly in 2016 at the age of 72, Kauffman didn’t lose a client, she lost a family member. She was shattered … still is.
And that’s why it took her 10 years to finally share her story, her memories, her life in “Let Me Be Frank: The Extraordinary Life and Music of Frank Sinatra, Jr.” which was released by University Press of Mississippi last month.
“When I went with Frank, it was kind of an ultimatum to some degree that you’ve got to put your efforts into me,” said Kauffman, who gave up working with other artists to concentrate on Sinatra, Jr. “Thirty-one years that was filled with Frank. Every day I spoke to him. And not just, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ Or, “Is there anything you need from me today?’ It was a conversation. And (his death) was tough, because he was a big presence in my life. Every day. Some of the wounds have healed …”
Most haven’t.
Kauffman knew it would be painful to excavate those memories, to go through the photos that are featured inside the book and to put all of those complex feelings into words, so she enlisted someone she knew could help her through the process.
Enter Bruce Klauber, a longtime friend and associate of Kauffman, a respected music journalist and a columnist for Shore Local. He has written previous books about Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, but a musician who knew Sinatra, Jr., well.
“What’s interesting was far as Bruce is concerned … one of the things that Frank adored about Bruce was he had a musical background,” Kauffman said. “He knew the music. He could discuss arrangers. He could discuss drummers. There was nobody else that could sit with him and go one to one with him about music the way Bruce could.”
Together, Kauffman and Klauber have created “Let Me Be Frank,” an excellent biography about Sinatra, Jr., a singer, composter and actor — remember how stellar he was in “The Sopranos?” — whose incredibly successful career was always eclipsed by his father, who along with Elvis and Michael Jackson was arguably the most popular musician of all time.
“Let Me Be Frank” is the first book ever published about Sinatra, Jr., and there are no two better people to tackle the subject than Kauffman and Klauber, who don’t hold back and share intimate, never-before-known stories about the musical legend and how he dealt with professional struggles, personal demons and endless comparisons with his father to emerge as a thriving performer who finally made peace with the name “Sinatra.”
“Let Me Be Frank” talks about Sinatra, Jr.’s 1963 kidnapping, his notorious womanizing, his challenging relationship with his father and how he despised the comparisons and lost work because he refused to sing his father’s songs.
But even though Klauber’s and Kauffman’s stories would be enough, “Let Me Be Frank” delves much deeper, including more than 40 interviews with Sinatra, Jr’s friends, family and colleagues while offering an in-depth analysis of four decades of music, including recordings and live performances.
It was time
With the death of Sinatra, Jr. coming on 10 years in 2026, it seems timely to write a book, but this process actually began four years ago as Kauffman struggled with the way his family did not celebrate his life. Upon Sinatra, Jr.’s death, there was no funeral or memorial service, something that still irks Kauffman today.
“Had he had some memorial, had his family gotten together and said, ‘Let’s do something so we can all have closure, celebrate him, get together one last time, I may not have written the book,” Kauffman said. “But with the resistance from his sisters about not doing anything … there wasn’t even a funeral, right? Not a funeral. As a matter of fact, his ashes still remain in Tina’s closet, in his sister Tina’s closet. That was horrible, absolutely horrible. No memorial, nothing. We even said, let’s go to Capitol, where his father used to record. Frank recorded there. Let’s just all get together. Put his ashes on a desk. I don’t care. So, I needed to celebrate him somehow. Some closure.”
Sinatra, Jr. actually began to write his own autobiography. He got as far as Chapter 5 when he passed away. Kauffman possesses those chapters, and Klauber nicely incorporated some of that material in “Let Me Be Frank.”
So, what took four years?
“It was difficult for me emotionally to sit down and think about it every day,” Kauffman said. “So, I would take periods. I needed space from it. I was mourning. And that was difficult. So, it took four years.”
Was it therapeutic in the long run?
“No,” Kauffman said with a smile. “No, shoot … you know, I really was hoping there would be some … I think to some degree it did help.”
No subject is off-limits for Kauffman in the book.
“I always called him Sinatra without the ring-a-ding-ding,” Kauffman said. “But there was a time when he wore a pinky ring, he wore a pompadour, he smoked Marlboros, he drank, everything happened between him and his father. That’s in the book.”
So is Kauffman’s relationship with her late friend’s family.
“I never really ever talked about Tina and Nancy the way I do in the book,” Kauffman said. “And Michael, his son, wrote a whole introduction for us. It is the first and only time that he has ever really publicly spoken about his father in this depth.”
On Sinatra, Jr.’s ex-wife Cynthia McMurry, who he was married to for about two years: “His wife just destroyed him financially. She took … she abused it — more than abused it — and he fought her and won his case in court 21 days after he died. That’s in the book.”
Impressions of a legend
Klauber’s 40 interviews over 238 pages brought him some unbelievable knowledge and entertainment that he translates to the written page, but there was one thing that really stood out about the interview process.
“Almost, without fail, everyone that I spoke to — that we spoke to — by the end of the interview was in tears,” Klauber said. “That says something about the man.”
There are also a bunch of great photos Kauffman shared, including some with her and Sinatra, Jr., among them her favorite with President Bill Clinton and a stunned-looking Sinatra, Jr.
“We did this benefit, and it was us and Tony Bennett and my Frank and Bill Clinton,” Kauffman explained. “I was wearing a tuxedo, but it was just the jacket. No vest. No blouse underneath. No bra, but it was three buttons. It was a little low for me … I usually dress a little more conservative, but this was more social than it was work. Clinton is talking to us, and he’s looking down my shirt the whole time. We’re about to take a picture, and Frank sees him looking and gets right between us.”
Kauffman and Klauber are proud of “Let Me Be Frank,” and they should be. It’s a fantastic read whether you are a Sinatra, Jr. fan or not.
Most importantly, Kauffman thinks her longtime friend and client would be happy she finished it.
“I think he probably, wherever he is, is going, ‘Yay, you did it, Andrea,’” she said. “‘You stuck it up their butts, meaning his sisters. Yay, you did it!’”
“Let Me Be Frank” is available wherever you buy books online, including Amazon, and is also available locally at BAM — Books-A-Million — in Mays Landing. For more information an special events, including an appearance Nov. 18 in Ocean City, go to Let Me Be Frank: The Extraordinary Life and Music of Frank Sinatra Jr. on Facebook or LetMeBeFrankBook.com.
Scott Cronick is an award-winning journalist who has written about entertainment, food, news and more in South Jersey for nearly three decades. He hosts a daily radio show – “Off The Press with Scott Cronick” – 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on Newstalk WOND 1400-AM, 92.3-FM, and WONDRadio.com. He can be reached at scronick@comcast.net.
