Sinatra according to Kitty Kelley

Kitty Kelley is American phenomenon, best selling author who calls her work "investigative journalism" and writes unauthorised biographies of celebrity icons, exposing so much warts, scandals and skeletons from the closets that reader can help but wishing to kick some butt after reading this.The original Rita Skeeter, Kelley does some heavily research and goes deep, deep inside all sorts of archives, interviews, dusty corners and what not, exposing not-so-likable portraits of people who are considered untouchable, protected with agents, security and big walls. God help me if Kitty ever writes a book about me, she would describe me in such nasty colours that everybody would hate me.

My first introduction to Kitty Kelley was completely unwitting: I was working as a journalist and got a job to write about than recently deceased Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, so I grabbed Kelley's book thinking it will provide some information. Wrong. Unintentionally I was influenced by this and wrote a nasty portrait, which readers probably loved because this is what they wanted in the first place. Down with rich and famous, because we are not. Small people united in hate of privileged few. It was much, much later when I realised Kelley was not exactly the first person one would go for objective information about anybody - her speciality is on contrary, to throw mud on her subjects.

Sinatra is easy target, since his short temper and hatred of journalists (no doubt, created from first-hand experiences) was well documented and world known. Like all of us, he probably had some positive and negative sides - Kelley however is not interested in anything positive and she weaves a portrait so unflattering that it makes one wonder why anybody ever liked this man in the first place. His life work - music - is described only trough financial perspective and influence this creates, which of course shows author's tunnel vision - she went in for gossip, dirty secrets, nastiness and hidden portrait in the attic. Almost grudgingly she admits Sinatra also helped a lot of people along the way, but hey, this book is not about good Sinatra, next page she switches on another fight, insult and abuse. She can be very persuasive sometimes, when someone finally punches him and breaks his teeth, I almost cheered. It does not diminish my pleasure in his music, but once you read Kelley you never see her subject with same eyes.

What Kitty Kelley does - and very successfully - is to fight against surreal celebrity cult that grows stronger every day in tabloid America. She uses all weapons in her disposal to throw mud on Icons lot of people actually worship simply because they are famous, there is a interesting psychological idea behind this and like it or not, there are people who actually believe that TV stardom (of any kind) will make them happy. Like all of us, Sinatra was a mortal who used the time given to cope with his share of troubles and Kelley surely focuses on troubles only.