Frank Sinatra married his first wife, Nancy Barbato, in 1939. The couple wed on February 4 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City, New Jersey, Nancy’s hometown.
Sinatra had met Barbato in the summer of 1934 while working as a lifeguard in Long Branch, New Jersey. Their marriage began before Sinatra became a major solo star, during the early stage of his career as a singer and band vocalist.
They had three children: Nancy, born in 1940; Frank Sinatra Jr., born in 1944; and Tina, born in 1948. The family later moved to California as Sinatra’s career expanded. Although the marriage ended in divorce in 1951, Barbato remained an important figure in his personal and family life.
A common mix-up is confusing the year of Sinatra’s first marriage with the year he married Ava Gardner, his second wife. Sinatra and Gardner married in 1951, the same year his divorce from Nancy became final.