We tend to think of Frank Sinatra at the mature performer, easing through hit after hit in venues all over the world. However, the 1940s were his formative years in the limelight, beginning as a vocalist with band leader Tommy Dorsey.

Sinatra's first solo success came in 1943 and he rode of wave of huge popularity - largely with teenage girls called 'bobby-soxers' - for more than five years. A lucrative contract with MGM also led to a sequence of high-profile movie roles. Yet towards the end of the decade, his fortunes faltered and Sinatra was pulled down by scandal after scandal. He was a philanderer and as a hard-drinker he was a volatile presence in public. By contrast, as a passionate advocate of liberal causes, he was accused of communist sympathies. But worst of all, associations with the mafia began to take their toll on his public image. By 1950, his records and voice faltering and his contract with MGM cancelled, his career seemed at an end. While his sensational comeback in the 1950s is well documented, Sinatra's first, colourful years as an American phenomenon in the 1940s are rather less discussed.

Using both contemporary and more recent accounts, Stephen Lambe expertly picks his way - year by year - through the ups and downs of this legendary performer.