Ongoing History Daily: Artists who were kidnapped

If you want an artist to play a private gig, normally you would arrange something through that artist’s manager. Or you could just kidnap them.

In December 1963, Frank Sinatra Jr., the singing son of the more famous Sinatra, was kidnapped and held for $240,000 ransom. The ransom was paid, he was released, and the two kidnappers were sent to jail. But he was far from the first.

In 1926, jazz star Fats Waller was kidnapped by Al Capone’s gang and presented to Capone as a birthday present. For three days, he was held captive and forced to play at Capone’s birthday party. He was released unharmed.

But then there’s the case of Orlando de Lassaus, a composer from the mid-1500s. He was such a talented singer that he was kidnapped by three rival choirs to get him to sing for them.