The Letter Frank Sinatra Wrote to a Young Yet Jaded George Michael: “Loosen Up”

Fame and fortune are the very things many aspiring musicians strive for. However, the price of it can’t be paid with the money earned. Rather, it has to be paid with the mind, body, and spirit. In the music business, this story has reared its ugly head regularly for decades. One person who tragically became part of the common narrative is George Michael.

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George Michael was one of the most famous male vocalists of the 1980s and 1990s. Like any celebrity of this status, Michael had the world at his fingertips and had acquired everything he ever wanted. But this prize of fame ended up being a curse, and Michael pulled back the curtain on that curse in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Michael’s interview with the publication revolved around his disillusionment with fame. He told the LA Times, “After all, everybody wants to be a star. I certainly did, and I worked hard to get it. But I was miserable, and I don’t want to feel that way again.”

Michael’s feelings are certainly valid, but one individual who showed George Michael some tough love about his plight was none other than Frank Sinatra.

Sinatra’s Response to George Michael’s Celebrity Grievance

Shortly after the LA Times ran the interview, Frank Sinatra wrote a letter to the publication, diving into George Michael’s troubles with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove. The five-paragraph letter praised Michael’s talent. But he also criticized his negative perspective on the gifts he’d naturally obtained and earned.

Sinatra wrote in the start the second paragraph of the letter, “I don’t understand a guy who lives ‘in hopes of reducing the strain of his celebrity status.’ Here’s a kid who ‘wanted to be a pop star since I was about 7 years old.’ And now that he’s a smash performer and songwriter at 27, he wants to quit doing what tons of gifted youngsters all over the world would shoot grandma for — just one crack at what he’s complaining about,” continued Sinatra.

“Come on, George. Loosen up. Swing, man. Dust off those gossamer wings and fly yourself to the moon of your choice and be grateful to carry the baggage we’ve all had to carry since those lean nights of sleeping on buses and helping the driver unload the instruments.”

Finally, Sinatra concluded, “Talent must not be wasted…Trust me, I’ve been there.”

To read the whole letter, click HERE.

Photo: Courtesy of High Rise PR