Singer’s forthright statements initially popular at Academy (5,7)

I believe the answer is:

frank sinatra

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'singer's forthright statements' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'initially popular at academy' is the wordplay.
'initially' becomes 'franks' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'popular' becomes 'in' (something that's 'in' is fashionable).
'academy' becomes 'RA' (abbreviation for Royal Academy).
'franks'+'in'+'at'+'ra'='FRANK SINATRA'

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(Another definition for frank sinatra that I've seen is " entertainer".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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