Frank Grande

Frank Grande
General information
Birth name	Francesco Anthony Grande
Born	October 23, 1923 New York City, New York, U.S.A
Died	July 22, 2014 (aged 90) Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.A.
Gender	Male
Nicknames	Grandpa
Occupation	Retired soldier

Francesco "Frank" Anthony Grande (born October 23, 1923 - died July 22, 2014) was an Italian-American retired soldier. He was the son of Anthony Grande and Philomena Lavenditto, and also Marjorie's husband, Judy and Joan's dad and Lani, Frankie and Ariana's grandpa. Ariana loved him very much and posted pictures of him often, usually of her kissing him on his cheek.

He passed away on July 22, 2014, after a long battle with cancer, aged 90.

Life

His daughter is Joan Grande, Ariana's mother. He first met Ariana's grandmother when they were children because they lived in the same neighborhood. When they got older they started to date. Frank was enlisted in the military, and when he got back they got engaged and later married in 1946. He lived in Ariana's hometown, Boca Raton.

Relationship with Ariana

Frank with Ariana when she was a baby

Frank with Nonna

• He called Ariana "bellissima", which means gorgeous in Italian, for her whole life.
  • Ariana later got a tattoo with the word bellissima on it.
• In December 2012, he stayed in L.A. for the holidays to spend time with Ariana and watch her perform in A Snow White Christmas.
• The audio bit at the end of Ariana's song "Daydreamin'" is her grandparents telling the story of how they fell in love.
• For his 90th birthday, a big party was thrown that had a guest list including of Nathan Sykes, Isaac Calpito, Frankie Grande, and Jones Crow among many others.
• Ariana took a spontaneous flight to Boca to surprise her grandparents on May 6, 2014.
• She helped her grandpa in his office sometimes.
• Ariana posted a video of her grandpa singing to her on the phone.
• Frank had been battling cancer for a long time, but in late May 2014 he became very ill so Ariana cancelled performances to go home and visit him.
• Ariana announced a couple weeks later that he had finally beaten his cancer.
• In early July however, he became sick again and Ariana went to see him.
• Frank passed away on July 22, 2014. Ariana tweeted about it the next day.
• The song My Everything is about him.
• Ariana wore a dress to the Grammys that was made by one of his favorite Italian designers.
• During the Honeymoon Tour, an audio recording of Frank talking to Ariana was used as an interlude before she plays My Everything.
• His best friend, Bob Gaudio wrote the song An Angel Cried, Ariana covered that song and named it Raindrops as an intro for Sweetener. During her interview at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Ariana said her grandfather sent her a sign that the album was finished with this song.

Gallery

“deep breaths, tight chest, life, death” To view the Frank Grande gallery, click here.