The Jewish mum behind Sinatra’s first big hit

Before Frank Sinatra became one of the biggest stars in music history, the song that launched him to fame came from an unlikely source – a Jewish Canadian mother writing through grief.

In 1940, Sinatra’s recording of I’ll Never Smile Again with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra became his first major hit, spending 12 weeks at number one on Billboard’s inaugural national chart.

The woman behind the song was Ruth Lowe, a songwriter whose own heartbreak inspired the lyrics.

Lowe was born into a Jewish family in Toronto and began performing and writing music from a young age. Her life changed dramatically after the sudden death of her husband, Harold Cohen, only months after they married.

Struggling with her loss, Lowe wrote I’ll Never Smile Again as a deeply personal expression of grief. The song’s opening lines, “I’ll never smile again, until I smile at you,” reflected the sorrow she was experiencing after Cohen’s death.