Frank Sinatra Jr., the son of famed singer and actor
Frank Sinatra who carved out his own career as a singer and conductor, has died
at age 72, his sister said.

“The Sinatra family mourn the untimely passing of
their son, brother, father, uncle, Frank Sinatra, Jr. of cardiac arrest while
on tour in Daytona, Florida,” his sister, Nancy Sinatra, said on her
Facebook page. “Sleep warm, Frankie.”

Sinatra was set to perform several of his father’s songs
at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach on Wednesday night, but the event
was cancelled when the singer fell ill, the auditorium said in a statement on
Facebook.

“Frank Sinatra Jr. has passed away,” it said.
“Our love to his family and friends.”

At the age of 19, a group of men kidnapped Sinatra at
gunpoint in 1963 from a Lake Tahoe casino and held him captive until his father
paid a $240,000 ransom. The group was later arrested and the ransom recovered.

Sinatra was just starting his career in music at the
time and was kidnapped. His career never reached the starry heights of the
elder Sinatra, but he did act as conductor and musical director in the final
years of his father’s career.

Sinatra Jr. was in Daytona Beach on Wednesday and set to
perform his show “Sinatra Sings Sinatra,” which would have included
his renditions of his father’s greatest hits as well as first-hand recollections
of “Ol’ Blue Eyes.”

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that he died at
the Halifax Health Medical Center. Sinatra Jr. told the newspaper recently that
he never felt ashamed not reaching his father’s level of fame.

“I think in my generation, when I came along in the
early ’60s, the type of music that was in vogue in society in those days had
moved on to another kind of music,” he told the News-Journal. “I was
trying to sell antiques in a modern appliance store.”

As news of his death spread, entertainers took to social
media to pay their respects.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of
Frank Sinatra Jr and send my sympathy to (sisters) Tina and Nancy and the
Sinatra family,” crooner Tony Bennett said on his Twitter account.

– Reuters