Frank Sinatra Demanded This Soda In Every Single Dressing Room

Top performers are particular about how their dressing rooms are set up and stocked, and their contracts with venues lay out exactly what they want. As an example, rock band Van Halen famously demanded that brown M&M's be removed from candy bowls. But while legendary blue-eyed crooner, Frank Sinatra, had more reasonable requirements, the Chairman of the Board did demand that there always be Coca-Cola in his dressing room.

Sinatra's contract specifically called for 24 regular and diet sodas that had to include Coke. He also wanted a bottle each of Absolut Vodka, Beefeater Gin, Jack Daniels, Chivas Regal, Courvoisier, and red and white wine. Other non-alcoholic beverages on the rider included mixers like ginger ale, club soda, and tonic water, as well as Evian spring water, and coffee. Some of the many other items he required included sandwiches, fruit, cheese, miniature Tootsie Rolls, cherry Lifesavers, a color TV, and an upright piano.

There is other testimony to Sinatra's love of Coca-Cola, as well. Someone who worked at Dodger Stadium as a kid in the late 1970s posted on Facebook that the legendary singer always had a bottle of Coke in his hand at Dodgers games in Los Angeles. He also said that even though vendors used to pour soda into cups for fans, Sinatra always got his Coke in the bottle. Tony Oppedisano, a close friend of Sinatra's in his later years, said Sinatra preferred his Coke flat, and often left it in the fridge to make it less bubbly.

Sinatra had a top choice when it came to the harder drinks, too, reportedly once calling Jack Daniels the "nectar of the gods," onstage. But he didn't mix Jack Daniels with his soft drink fave for a classic Jack & Coke. Instead, he drank two fingers of the Tennessee Whiskey over three ice cubes with a splash of water.

Sinatra's Coca-Cola devotion amounted to one icon's affinity for another, as Coke grew to become one of the world's most famous brands. The syrup for the soft drink (Coke originally also had cocaine in it) was created by Atlanta pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton in 1886, who sold it at a downtown pharmacy for five cents. Less than a decade later, it was available in every U.S. state. Part of its phenomenal growth was driven by advertising, which the company was already spending more than $1 million on annually, in 1912. One of its creative ad campaigns even helped shape the Coca-Cola Santa Claus we all know and love.

After World War II, during which Coca-Cola supplied U.S. troops with more than five billion bottles, the soda giant had some 60% of U.S. market share in 1948. That kind of overwhelming industry dominance declined with the rise of competition from more brands, but Coca-Cola has remained the market leader for decades. The original soda now has just over a 19% share of the U.S. soft drink market, which is still more than double that of other competitors like Pepsi and Dr. Pepper.