Bennett, Tony
Tony Bennett
Singer
Tony Bennett “is a deceptively low-key performer who can make the biggest hall seem intimate,” according to Chet Flippo in New York magazine. “He also has unrivaled taste in song selection: He has long been known as the ‘standard singer,’ because any song he does becomes a standard…. His personal crusade has been to keep alive the music of composers like Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, and Jerome Kern, simultaneously retaining some of the fire of such torch singers as Billie Holiday and Lena Home.” Best known for his trademark song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” Bennett first rose to fame as a balladeer in 1950, with the quick hit “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” He had many other successful releases during the next five years, but the advent of rock and roll—which he refused to be a part of—took away much of his popular audience until he recorded “San Francisco” in 1962. That hit permanently elevated Bennett to the level of major international entertainment figures such as Frank Sinatra, and he has been drawing crowds in the world’s best nightclubs and concert halls ever since.
Bennett was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Queens, New York. The death of his father when Bennett was nine years old left his family impoverished; his mother worked as a seamstress during the Great Depression to support them. When Bennett was old enough, his burgeoning vocal talents won him a job as a singing waiter at the Yukon, a prestigious New York City restaurant. Also interested in sketching and painting, the young man planned a future in commercial art, but World War II intervened. Bennett served in the infantry with the U.S. Army in Europe; throughout his hitch, he sang with various military bands. After the war he used the benefits to which he was entitled under the G.I. Bill to study voice at the professional school of the American Theatre Wing. At this time, Bennett began to land small nightclub engagements, but still had to supplement his income by working as an elevator operator at New York City’s Park Sheraton Hotel.
Eventually, Bennett won a chance to appear on Arthur Godfrey’s television show, “Talent Scouts.” Even though he finished second to singer Rosemary Clooney on the program, the exposure led to a spot on comedian Jan Murray’s “Songs for Sale,” and to a 1950 Greenwich Village nightclub engagement with featured singer Pearl Bailey. Going by the stage name Joe Bari, Bennett so impressed comedian Bob Hope, who was an audience member, that Hope had him sing at his own show at the Paramount Theatre. As Bennett told interviewer Ben Gross in the New York Sunday News, “Right then and there, [Hope] announced that my name thereafter would
For the Record…
Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, August 3, 1926, in Queens, New York, N.Y.; son of John (a tailor) and Anna (a seamstress; maiden name, Suraci) Benedetto; married Patricia Ann Beech, February 11, 1952 (divorced, 1971); married Sandra Grant, December 29, 1971 (marriage ended, 1979); children: (first marriage) D’Andrea, Daegal (son); (second marriage) Joanna, Antonia.
During teens worked as a singing waiter in Queens, N.Y.; employed as an elevator operator; nightclub performer, c. 1948—; recording artist, 1950—. Hosted own television variety show, summer, 1956; appeared in motion picture The Oscar, 1965. Also an artist, exhibits paintings under name Anthony Benedetto.
Awards: Numerous gold records; recipient of two Grammy Awards, for best record of the year and for best male solo vocal performance, both 1963, both for “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” ; named variety performer of the year, 1964, by the American Guild of Variety Artists.
be Tony Bennett and that I’d accompany him on his nationwide tour.”
Meanwhile, Bennett had made a demonstration record of a song called “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and submitted it to Mitch Miller, an executive at Columbia Records. Miller liked what he heard, and immediately offered the young singer a recording contract. “Boulevard” became Bennett’s first hit, and although its time on the charts was short lived, it was quickly followed by two million sellers—” Because of You,” and a pop rendition of country artist Hank Williams’s “Cold, Cold Heart.” As Flippo pointed out, the latter was quite an achievement for Bennett, because “he was the man who sang the first country-and-western crossover smash hit.”
Bennett continued to score gold records throughout the first half of the 1950s, including “Rags to Riches” and “Stranger in Paradise” in 1953, but the new sounds of rock and roll took his young audience away from him in the latter half of the decade. He told Flippo: “The change came in 1955. No, it wasn’t just Elvis [Presley]. All of a sudden, everybody was impressed by Detroit and the idea of obsolescence…. They didn’t want records that would last, they didn’t want lasting artists, they wanted lots of artists. It became like a supermarket: Go with the next, the next. So they started discarding people like me and [bandleader] Duke Ellington and [composer] Leonard Bernstein.”
But Bennett continued playing smaller clubs, and at one such engagement at San Francisco, he was looking for a number with local appeal when he stumbled upon the song by Douglass Cross and George Cory that became his ticket to lasting success. Of course, he recorded “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in 1962, and it sold over 1,500,000 copies. The song also won Bennett two Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1963—one for best record of the year, and another for best solo vocal performance by a male singer—and became a classic standard of American popular music. Bennett followed up “San Francisco” with three other hits: “I Wanna Be Around,” “The Good Life,” and “This Is All I Ask.” He became a featured performer at the best clubs, such as New York City’s Copacabana, The Dunes in Las Vegas, and Chez Paree in Chicago. As Flippo noted, Bennett’s “popular appeal cuts across all class lines.” After a gap in his recording career because of differences with Columbia, he issued the album The Art of Excellence on that label in 1986, garnering much critical applause: among others, Eric Levin of People magazine called it “superb.”
Bennett has also been successful with his other creative talent, art. He signs his real name, Anthony Benedetto, to his paintings; they sell well, and he has exhibited his work in major galleries in every city he tours as a singer. Singing, however, will probably be Bennett’s forte for a long time. As he explained to Levin, “My teachers, when I was young, taught me how to save my voice. Most singers peak out when they’re around 35. But I have this ambition to actually sing better as I get older.” Musician and singer Ray Charles echoed for Levin Bennett’s prediction of future success. “There are just a few male singers in this world who I feel can sing forever—Perry Como, Sinatra, if he wants to, and Tony Bennett,” declared Charles. “Tony has such an even flow of all his notes, and they’re so effortlessly produced. He’s always had the tools, but his maturity is that what he thinks of, he can do easier now. I’m happy he’s recording again, because it’s always good to listen to goodness.”
Selected discography
Singles; released by Columbia
“The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” 1950.
“Because of You,” 1951.
“I Won’t Cry Anymore,” 1951.
“Cold, Cold Heart,” 1951.
“Blue Velvet,” 1951.
“Solitaire,” 1951.
“Here in My Heart,” 1952.
“Have a Good Time,” 1952.
“Rags to Riches,” 1953.
“Stranger in Paradise,” 1953.
“There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight,” 1954.
“Cinnamon Sinner,” 1954.
“Can You Find It in Your Heart,” 1956.
“Happiness Street,” 1956.
“From the Candy Store on the Corner to the Chapel on the Hill,’1956.
“Just in Time,” 1956.
“The Autumn Waltz,” 1956.
“One for My Baby,” 1957.
“In the Middle of an Island,” 1957.
“I Am,” 1957.
“Ca, c’est I’amour,” 1957.
“Young and Warm and Wonderful,” 1958.
“Firefly,” 1958.
“Smile,” 1959.
“Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” 1959.
“I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” 1962.
“I Will Live My Life for You,” 1963.
“I Wanna Be Around,” 1963.
“The Good Life,” 1963.
“Spring in Manhattan,” 1963.
“This Is All I Ask,” 1963.
“True Blue Lou,” 1963.
“Don’t Wait Too Long,” 1963.
“The Little Boy,” 1963.
“When Joanna Loved Me,” 1964.
“It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie,” 1964.
“A Taste of Honey,” 1964.
“Who Can I Turn To?” 1964.
“If I Ruled the World,” 1965.
“Fly Me to the Moon,” 1965.
“Love Theme From The Sandpipers,” 1965.
“Georgia Rose,” 1966.
“For Once in My Life,” 1967.
LPs
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Columbia, 1962.
The Art of Excellence, Columbia, 1986.
Also has released over eighty other albums, including TonySings for Two, Alone Together, Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen, Blue Velvet, My Heart Sings, In Person, Mr. Broadway,I Wanna Be Around, This Is All I Ask, Don’t Wait Too Long,The Many Moods of Tony Bennett, and Tony Bennett at Carnegie.
Sources
Jet, September 15, 1986.
New York, May 11, 1981.
People, June 23, 1986.
—Elizabeth Thomas
Bennett, Tony
Tony Bennett
Singer
Showed Early Artistic Aspirations
Tony Bennett, the man who left his heart in San Francisco, experienced a sparkling resurgence in both popularity and record sales 40 years after first making his name in the entertainment business. Bennett, who was 57 years old when MTV first hit the airwaves, found an unlikely new audience in the younger flannel-clad generation and resurfaced with his familiar grace intact. Highlighting his return to music’s inner circle, Bennett shared the stage with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 1993 MTV Music Awards. It seems that the definition of hip has evolved to include martinis, skinny ties, and torch songs—in short, all things Bennett. Even though he was once well-known for his criticism of rock music and its culture of delinquence, he embraced its audience with a performance on MTV’s Unplugged, singing with Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Lemonheads heartthrob Evan Dando, and J. Mascis of the prototype grunge band Dinosaur Jr. When asked by the Observer to explain his popularity with fans born two decades after his 1951 recording debut, he remarked “They see me as a guy who’s never given in, like a fighter who never took a dive. And I think they like me because I don’t try to do what they do, and because I sing in an honest way.”
Urged into the alternative arena by his son and manager, Danny, Bennett was at first wary of the new turn his career was taking. “I was playing Carnegie Hall or the Merv Griffin resorts and then he had me going on Letterman, and I finally said, ’What are you doing?’ But he said he knew something that I didn’t realize. And what he knew is that there is a huge audience that likes me even more than their parents,” Bennett told Salt Lake City’s Tribune. Danny Bennett sensed a growing tolerance for musical styles dynamically opposed to the screaming guitars and pounding drums that marked the tastes of the MTV set. His suspicion proved correct when Spin magazine publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. published an editorial piece that affirmed the merits of traditional crooners, Bennett included, and their silken voices. Danny Bennett commented to the Chicago Tribune, “We are living at a time when young people are expanding their horizons. It’s a time when Frank Sinatra can share the top of the charts with Pearl Jam.” He pushed his father toward a younger audience with appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, SCTV, and even The Simpsons. Danny also capitalized on the knowledge that members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers were closet Bennett fans. He arranged a meeting between the group and his father and the result was a brief tour, with Bennett’s halcyon vocal musings opening for the Chili Peppers’ frenetic, bass-driven rock.
When Bennett’s The Art of Excellence hit the music stores in 1986, few would have predicted that two Grammy Awards were in the near future. Danny Bennett
For the Record…
Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, August 13, 1926, in Astoria, Queens, NY; son of an Italian grocer and American seamstress; married Patricia Beech, 1952 (divorced, 1971); married Sandra Grant, 1971 (divorced, 1984); children: Danny (Bennett’s manager) Daegal, Antonia, and Joanna.
Career began in New York City’s Greenwich Village nightclubs at the start of the 1950s; appeared in Pearl Bailey’s reviews at the Greenwich Village Inn; discovered by Bob Hope and brought to New York’s Paramount Theater; landed Columbia recording contract, 1951; quickly rose to fame as one of America’s best practioners of the torch song; early hits included “Because of You,“I Won’t Cry Anymore,” and “Blue Velvet”; recorded “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” in 1961; song became a worldwide hit; released over 80 albums on Columbia Records before departing label in 1971; started Improv Records; toured actively around the world; retained son, Danny, as manager in 1979; career picked up with appearances on television shows The Late Show with David Letterman, SCTV, and The Simpsons; re-signed by Columbia Records in 1985; released string of successful albums beginning with The Art of Excellence (1986); also an accomplished painter; works shown worldwide and have sold for as much as (U.S.) $40,000.
Selected awards: Received Grammy Awards in 1993 for Steppin Out, in 1992 for Perfectly Frank, and in 1962 for Left My Heart In San Francisco.
Addresses: Home —New York, NY. Record company —Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment, 550 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022-3211.
and Columbia, however, had a hunch. Perfectly Frank and Steppin’Out captured Grammy Awards, the music business’s most coveted honors, in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The first covered lesser-known Frank Sinatra songs and the second paid tribute to songs sung by Fred Astaire in his movies. Both records captured the svelte Bennett style, unchanged over the years. Though some critics diminish Bennett’s resurrection as a kitsch-laden fad among younger music listeners and the growing lounge music scene as pure camp, Columbia vice-president of marketing Jay Krugman feels otherwise. He told Billboard, “This is no novelty, but a real artist spanning the decades, permeating the culture. His stature and sales perspective will continue to spread from the more traditional older audience to the MTV demo.” And when the word “comeback” was used to describe his recent career history, Bennett demurely remarked to the New York Times, “Comeback? What comback?… I never went anywhere.”
Strictly speaking, Bennett is correct. Though the 1970s proved to be a difficult period for artists of Bennett’s ilk, he never gave up touring and still logs 200 days a year on the road. “When I stopped recording,” Bennett told the Washington Post, “I also stopped all the deadlines, and I suddenly had the freedom to think about performing, to take that energy and concentrate on what I have to do to entertain people.” The only change for Bennett was the size of the room in which he performed—he retained his urbane charm and velvet delivery. Danny took over his father’s management duties in 1979 with some thoughts on how to bring in a new audience and the pieces began falling into place. By 1995, Bennett was never in greater demand. “Today’s young people are the most enthusiastic audience I’ve ever had,” he told Good Housekeeping, “and all I’m doing is what I’ve always done—sing good songs.”
Showed Early Artistic Aspirations
Born to an Italian-born father and American mother, Bennett was raised in Astoria, Queens, a borough of New York City. Early on, Bennett was not the family’s strongest prospect for a career in entertainment. His older brother John was a member of Metropolitan Opera Boys’ Chorus and showed potential as an opera singer. Tony Bennett lightheartedly remarked to the Washington Post, “It was that whole Italian family pride, y’know—’he’s an opera singer, this is serious.’ How could I compete?” While his father worked as a grocer and his mother as a seamstress, Bennett showed a propensity for painting and drawing and a knack for imitating comedy acts he heard on radio such as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. The family’s joviality quickly ended, though, after the death of Bennett’s father when Bennett was only nine. Young Tony was sent to live with an uncle while his mother recuperated from the passing of her husband. The boy proved an unwelcome addition to his uncle’s household and was forced to sleep on the floor and given unpleasant tasks. When his mother was ready to receive him, he happily returned to his Astoria neighborhood and attended New York’s High School for the Industrial Arts, where he anticipated a career in commerical art.
When Bennett graduated, he joined the Army’s 63rd Infantry Division and saw combat action in Germany in World War II. The war, as was the case for a generation of men and women, had a dramatic effect on the young New Yorker with hopes of a career in entertainment. “I saw men die there…. All the innocence goes out of you,” he remarked to the Observer. Furthering his distaste for military life was a run-in with a sergeant who took a dislike toward Bennett after he had Thanksgiving dinner with a black soldier. Bennett was demoted, then given the duty of recovering bodies from mass graves left by the Germans. Despite his dislike of military service, Bennett remained for a second tour, this time as an entertainer, to sing for the troops still stationed in Europe at war’s end.
Bennett returned from Europe to New York and set out to build a career in show business. In addtion to taking singing lessons on the G.I. Bill, he found a job as a singing waiter at the Pheasant Tavern in Astoria, Queens, and adopted the stage name Joe Bari. Working for $15 a week, Bennett told Life, was a wonderful experience. “I loved the job. I figured, if I do this for the next 20 years, fine. I get to sing.” Though Bennett’s work satisfied his professional aspirations, his mother felt that he could do better and she implored her son to find more lucrative employment. Since falling to the status of lower-middle-class after Bennett’s father’s death, the family needed every dollar. Bennett satisfied his mother’s concerns and found a job as an elevator operator at a New York hotel, but he also continued working toward his own goal.
Performing in nightclubs in Greenwich Village in New York were the likes of Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, and the little-known Joe Bari. Bennett worked hard on the club circuit, first grabbing attention by placing second to Rosemary Clooney on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, a variety show in the same vein as Ed McMahon’s Star Search. That effort resulted in an invitation from Pearl Bailey to perform at her Greenwich Village Inn. Bari caught his next break when Bob Hope saw his act and brought him to the Paramount Theater to join Hope’s show. Bennett’s name, though, caused Hope some concern. “Just before I’m going on,“Bennett told Life,”Hope tells me the name’s no good. He asks what my real name is. I say Anthony Benedetto. That doesn’t do it for him either. So he goes out and and says to the audience, “And here’s this new singer, Tony Bennett!” He had to introduce me twice, ’cause I didn’t know who he was talking about.”
Saw Both Sides of Fame
In 1951, again with Bob Hope’s assistance, Bennett landed a recording contract with Columbia. Just months later, Bennett’s “Because of You” rocketed to number one on the U.S. charts. Quick to follow were two more hits, “I Won’t Cry Anymore” and “Blue Velvet.” Bennett rapidly became one of the most popular American singers and a member of the illustrious “brat pack.” With Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr., Bennett immortalized the romantic era of American music with dozens of albums and hundreds of performances worldwide. Bennett also found time to marry Patricia Beech in 1952. Their relationship lasted 20 years before ending in divorce with Bennett on the road most of the time and constantly in the spotlight. A second marriage to Sandra Grant in 1971 met with the same fate. As he told London’s Daily Mail, “The adulation put pressure on my marriages. I got too much too soon. It takes a long time to learn to live with the helium in the brain and you just kind of float away. You need lead weights to hold you down.”
After a brief lull brought on by the onset of rock and roll and its new stars—with Buddy Holly and Elvis leading the way—his career was in need of a boost. What transpired in 1962 was a renewed explosion in Bennett’s popularity after the release of what would become Bennett’s signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” He told the Washington Post,”I’ve sung it for presidents and royalty, and I’ve been invited all over the world. It’s sustained me right through the years and to hear that reaction every night when I sing it…. “The rock and roll revolution, though, could not be assuaged forever and Bennett hit a professional and personal low in the early 1970s.
The Painter
In 1971 Clive Davis, Columbia’s president, urged Bennett to bring his style in line with the rock and roll artists who were beginning to dominate pop audiences. After releasing over 80 albums for the label based on a simple strategy of quality material and his own voice, Bennett refused. Davis reportedly told him, “No one who leaves this label is ever heard from again,” wrote Robert Sullivan in Life. As rock and roll flourished and Beatle-mania swept the United States, however, Bennett considered updating his act. He confessed to Life, “I asked Count Basie if I should try rock. Basie told me in that sly, wise way of his, ’Why change an apple?’” Dark days in Bennett’s professional career mirrored a steady downturn in his personal life. Alcohol and drug use conspired with changing musical tastes to leave Bennett behind. Without a recording contract, Bennett spent his time on the road. Late one night during a stay in Las Vegas and still awake from a post-performance party, Bennett gazed down from his hotel terrace and noticed a man walking the streets. The moment proved to be an epiphany for the bleary-eyed singer. “It was like a light bulb went off in my head. Very quickly I came to realize all I needed to make me happy was a drumroll, a band, and some people who want me to sing,” Bennett told Good Housekeeping. “Looking back, I know I grew up only when I was already in my forties.”
Giving up the trappings of stardom and staying true to his talent, Bennett managed a most unlikely return to grace. With his companion, Susan Crow, a jazz agent, Bennett spends those few days when he is not on the road at their New York apartment, reading voraciously and painting. For his second art form, he retains his given name, Anthony Benedetto, and carries brushes, canvas, and an easel on the road with him. Bennett’s works have sold for $40,000, and are shown in both major and minor galleries. The father of four children continues to devote himself to both his painting and music with no indication that he will give up either any time soon. Bennett told the Saturday Evening Post, “The great jazz-blues singer Joe Williams told me once, ’What people don’t realize about you is not that you want to sing. You have to sing.’”
Selected discography
Released on Columbia Records
Treasure Chest of Songs, 1955.
Tony, 1957.
Blue Velvet, 1959.
To My Wonderful One, 1960.
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, 1963.
I Wanna Be Around, 1963.
16 Most Requested Songs, 1986.
Bennett/Berlin, 1987.
Tony Bennett Jazz, 1987.
The Movie Song Album, 1989.
Astoria, 1990.
Forty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett, 1991.
The Art of Excellence, 1992.
Perfectly Frank, 1992.
The Essence of Tony Bennett, 1993.
Steppin’Out, 1993.
In Person! With Count Basie and His Orchestra, 1994.
Unplugged, 1994.
Here’s to the Ladies, 1995.
Released on Roulette Records
Count Basie Swings, Tony Bennett Sings, 1958.
Bennett and Basie Strike Up the Band, 1961.
Sources
Books
All Music Guide, edited by Michael Erlewine, Chris Woodstra, and Vladimir Bogdanov, Miller Freeman Books, 1994.
Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, edited by Colin Larkin, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
Periodicals
Billboard, October 21, 1995.
Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1994.
Daily Mail (London), May 7, 1993.
Good Housekeeping, April 1995.
Independent (London), May 19, 1994.
Irish Times (Dublin), May 14, 1993.
Life, February 1995.
Los Angeles Times, November 26, 1995.
Maclean’s, August 1, 1994.
New York, August 22, 1994.
New York Times, May 1, 1994.
Observer (London), March 5, 1995.
Orlando Sentinel, February 12, 1995.
Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 1994.
Saturday Evening Post, January/February 1995.
Washington Post, June 30, 1991.
—Rich Bowen
Bennett, Tony
Tony Bennett
Singer
Best known for his signature song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Tony Bennett experienced an unparalleled resurgence in both popularity and record sales 40 years after first making his name in the entertainment business. Bennett, who was 57 years old when MTV first hit the airwaves, found an unlikely new audience in the younger generation, and resurfaced, familiar grace intact. Highlighting his return to music's inner circle, Bennett shared the stage with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 1993 MTV Music Awards. Once well known for his criticism of rock music, he now embraced its audience with a performance on MTV's Unplugged, singing with Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Lemonheads heartthrob Evan Dando, and J. Mascis of the prototype grunge band Dinosaur Jr. When asked by the London Observer to explain his popularity with fans born two decades after his 1951 recording debut, he remarked, "They see me as a guy who's never given in, like a fighter who never took a dive. And I think they like me because I don't try to do what they do, and because I sing in an honest way."
Urged into the alternative arena by his son and manager, Danny, Bennett was at first wary of the new turn his career was taking. "I was playing Carnegie Hall or the Merv Griffin resorts and then he had me going on Letterman, and I finally said, ‘What are you doing?’ But he said he knew something that I didn't realize. And what he knew is that there is a huge audience that likes me even more than their parents," Bennett told Utah's Salt Lake Tribune. Danny Bennett sensed a growing interest on the part of the public for the musical styles that had marked the elder Bennett's career. His suspicion proved correct when Spin magazine publisher Bob Guccione Jr. published an editorial piece that applauded the music of traditional crooners, Bennett included. Danny Bennett commented to the Chicago Tribune, "We are living at a time when young people are expanding their horizons. It's a time when Frank Sinatra can share the top of the charts with Pearl Jam." He urged his father to present his music to a younger audience, through appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, SCTV, and even The Simpsons. Danny also arranged a meeting between his father and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who were Bennett fans. The result was a brief tour, with Bennett's halcyon vocal musings opening for the Chili Peppers' frenetic, bass-driven rock.
When Bennett's The Art of Excellence hit the music stores in 1986, few would have predicted that two Grammy Awards would be the result. Danny Bennett and Columbia, however, had a hunch. Perfectly Frank and Steppin' Out captured Grammy Awards in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The first covered lesser-known Frank Sinatra songs and the second paid tribute to songs sung by Fred Astaire in his movies. Both records captured the svelte Bennett style, unchanged over the years. Though some critics tried to diminish Bennett's resurrection by calling it simply a kitsch-laden fad among younger music listeners, Columbia vice- president of marketing Jay Krugman felt otherwise. He told Billboard, "This is no novelty, but a real artist spanning the decades, permeating the culture. His stature and sales perspective will continue to spread from the more traditional older audience to the MTV demo." And when the word "comeback" was used to describe his recent career history, Bennett demurely remarked to the New York Times, "Comeback? What comeback?… I never went anywhere."
Strictly speaking, Bennett is correct. Although the 1970s proved a difficult period for old-school crooners, he never gave up touring and still logs 200 days a year on the road. "When I stopped recording," Bennett told the Washington Post, "I also stopped all the deadlines, and I suddenly had the freedom to think about performing, to take that energy and concentrate on what I have to do to entertain people." The only change for Bennett was the size of the room in which he performed—he retained his urbane charm and velvet delivery. Danny took over as his father's manager in 1979, and the pieces began falling into place. By 1995 Bennett was once again in great demand, and by 2006 he was openly acknowledged as a true American classic. "Today's young people are the most enthusiastic audience I've ever had," he told Good Housekeeping, "and all I'm doing is what I've always done—sing good songs."
Bennett's Italian-born father was a grocer, and his American mother was a seamstress. Bennett was raised in Astoria, Queens, a borough of New York City. Early on, Bennett was not the family's strongest prospect for a career in entertainment. His older brother John was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Boys' Chorus and showed potential as an opera singer. Tony Bennett lightheartedly remarked to the Washington Post, "It was that whole Italian family pride, y'know—‘he's an opera singer, this is serious.’ How could I compete?" Bennett showed a propensity for painting and drawing and had a knack for imitating comedy acts he heard on radio, such as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. The family's joviality quickly ended, though, after the death of Bennett's father when Bennett was only nine. Young Tony was sent to live with an uncle while his mother recovered from the tragedy. The boy was not a welcome addition in his uncle's household, and as soon as his mother was able, he happily returned to his Astoria neighborhood and attended New York's High School for the Industrial Arts, where he originally planned a career in commercial art.
For the Record …
Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 13, 1926, in Astoria, Queens, NY; son of Giovanni "John" Benedetto (an Italian grocer) and Anna Suraci (a seamstress); married Patricia Beech, 1952 (divorced, 1971); married Sandra Grant, 1971 (divorced, 1984); children: Danny (Bennett's manager), Daegal, Antonia, and Joanna.
Career began in New York City's Greenwich Village nightclubs during the 1940s; recorded for Leslie records as Joe Bari, 1947; discovered by Bob Hope and brought to New York's Paramount Theater; landed Columbia recording contract, 1950; appeared in film The Oscar, 1966; released over 80 albums on Columbia Records before departing label in 1971; recorded for Verve and Phillips, 1971-73; started Improv Records, 1973; resigned by Columbia Records, 1986; co-wrote autobiography, The Good Life, with Will Friedwald, 1998.
Awards: Grammy Awards: Best Pop Male Vocal and Record of the Year, for "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," 1962; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, for Perfectly Frank, 1992, and for Steppin Out, 1993; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year, for MTV Unplugged, 1994; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, for Here's to the Ladies, 1996; for On Holiday, 1997; and for Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, 1999; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, for Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues, 2002; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (with k.d. lang), for A Wonderful World, 2003; Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, for The Art of Romance, 2005; Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists (with Stevie Wonder), and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, for Duets: An American Classic, 2006; named member of the National Endowment for the Arts Class of 2006, Jazz Masters; Billboard Century Award, 2006.
Addresses: Record company—Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment, 550 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022-3211, website: http://www.sonymusic.com. Gallery—Benedetto Arts, LLC, 48 West 10th St., Ste. B, New York, NY 10011, phone: 516-487-8921, fax: 212-397-1371, website: http://www.benedettoarts.com
After Bennett graduated he joined the Army's 63rd Infantry Division and saw combat action in Germany in World War II. The war, as was the case for a generation of men and women, had a dramatic effect on the young man. "I saw men die there. … All the innocence goes out of you," he remarked to the Observer. During his military service Bennett had a run-in with a sergeant, who took a dislike to Bennett after the young man had Thanksgiving dinner with a black soldier. Bennett was demoted, then given the duty of recovering bodies from mass graves left by the Germans. Despite his experience, Bennett remained for a second tour, this time as an entertainer, to sing for troops still stationed in Europe at the war's end.
Pursued Singing
Bennett returned to New York and set out to build a career in show business. In addition to taking singing lessons on the G.I. Bill, he found a job for $15 a week as a singing waiter at the Pheasant Tavern in Astoria, Queens, and adopted the stage name Joe Bari. Bennett told Robert Sullivan in Life, "I loved the job. I figured, if I do this for the next 20 years, fine. I get to sing." Although Bennett's work satisfied his professional aspirations, his mother felt that he could do better, and she urged her son to find more lucrative employment. Since the elder Bennett's death, the family needed every dollar. Bennett found a job as an elevator operator at a New York hotel, but he also continued working toward his own goal.
Performing in nightclubs in Greenwich Village in New York were such names as Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, and the little-known Joe Bari. Under that name, Bennett first recorded for the New Jersey-based Leslie Records label in 1947. Bennett worked hard on the club circuit, first gaining attention by placing second to Rosemary Clooney on the popular television variety show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. That effort resulted in an invitation from Pearl Bailey to perform at her Greenwich Village Inn. Bennett caught his next break when Bob Hope saw his act and brought him to the Paramount Theater to join Hope's show. The name Bari, however, caused Hope some concern. "Just before I'm going on," Bennett told Sullivan, "Hope tells me the name's no good. He asks what my real name is. I say Anthony Benedetto. That doesn't do it for him either. So he goes out and says to the audience, "And here's this new singer, Tony Bennett!' He had to introduce me twice, 'cause I didn't know who he was talking about."
In 1950, again with Bob Hope's assistance, Bennett landed a recording contract with Columbia. The following year, Bennett's "Because of You" rocketed to number one on the U.S. charts. Quick to follow were two more hits, "I Won't Cry Anymore" and "Blue Velvet." He was also among the first major artists to record a rendition of a song written by country superstar Hank Williams, the two million-selling hit "Cold Cold Heart." Bennett soon became one of America's most popular singers and a contemporary of such crooners as Jerry Vale, Al Martino, Vic Damone, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr. He also immortalized the romantic era of American music, cutting dozens of albums and making hundreds of appearances worldwide.
Bennett married Patricia Beech in 1952. Their relationship lasted 20 years before ending in divorce. A second marriage to Sandra Grant in 1971 met with the same fate. As Bennett told London's Daily Mail, "The adulation put pressure on my marriages. I got too much too soon. It takes a long time to learn to live with the helium in the brain and you just kind of float away. You need lead weights to hold you down."
After the onset of Elvis Presley and rock and roll, his career was in need of a boost. A renewed explosion in Bennett's popularity occurred after the release of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," which would become Bennett's signature song. He told the Washington Post, "I've sung it for presidents and royalty, and I've been invited all over the world. It's sustained me right through the years." The rock and roll revolution, though, could not be assuaged forever, and Bennett hit a professional and personal low in the early 1970s.
Refused to Change
In 1971 Clive Davis, Columbia's president, urged Bennett to bring his style in line with the rock and roll artists who were beginning to dominate pop audiences. After releasing over 80 albums for the label based on a simple strategy of quality material coupled with his own velvety voice, Bennett refused to change. Davis reportedly told him, "No one who leaves this label is ever heard from again," according to Sullivan. As rock and roll flourished and Beatlemania swept the United States, however, Bennett did consider updating his act. He confessed to Sullivan, "I asked Count Basie if I should try rock. Basie told me in that sly, wise way of his, ‘Why change an apple?’"
Dark days in Bennett's professional career reflected a steady downturn in his personal life. Bennetts's alcohol and drug use, coupled with the public's changing musical tastes, conspired to leave Bennett behind. Without a recording contract, Bennett spent his time on the road and was constantly mired in debt. Late one night, during a stay in Las Vegas and still awake from a post-performance party, Bennett gazed down from his hotel terrace and noticed a man walking the streets. The moment proved to be an epiphany for the bleary-eyed singer. "It was like a light bulb went off in my head. Very quickly I came to realize all I needed to make me happy was a drumroll, a band, and some people who want me to sing," Bennett told Good Housekeeping. "Looking back, I know I grew up only when I was already in my forties."
Giving up the trappings of stardom and staying true to his talent, Bennett has managed a most unlikely return to grace. With his companion, Susan Crow, a jazz agent, Bennett now spends those few days when he is not on the road at their New York apartment, reading voraciously and painting. For his second art form, he has retained his given name, Anthony Benedetto, and carries brushes, canvas, and an easel on the road with him. Bennett's works have sold for as much as $40,000 and are shown in both major and minor galleries. The father of four children—his daughter has started to make inroads as an entertainer in her own right—he has continued to devote himself to both his painting and music, with no indication that he will give up either any time soon.
Once the lounge, swing, and Rat Pack revivals of the late 1990s and early 2000s ended, it would have seemed logical that Bennett's resurgence would fade. However, the singer continued touring, recording prolifically, and winning major awards at an astounding clip. With many of his contemporaries either retired or deceased, he remains one of the last icons of cool from the early 1950s who can still deliver the goods. In 2006 a slew of pop music stars, ranging from Barbara Streisand, Bono, and Tim McGraw to Diana Krall, Michael Buble, and the Dixie Chicks flocked to record with him on the award-winning album Duets: An American Classic. In late 2006 he appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch in which guest host Alec Baldwin did a devastating impression of the singer, while the genuine article portrayed a Bennett impersonator named "Anthony Benedetto." Lest anyone think he was there just for laughs, he ended the show by singing a jazzy showstopping duet with the young superstar Christina Aguilara. Even though he has passed the age of 80, Bennett's life seems to be dictated by the following anecdote: "The great jazz-blues singer Joe Williams told me once," Bennett related to the Saturday Evening Post, "‘What people don't realize about you is not that you want to sing. You have to sing.’"
Selected discography
Singles
"Cold Cold Heart," Columbia, 1951.
"Because of You," Columbia, 1951.
"I Won't Cry Anymore," Columbia, 1951.
"Blue Velvet," Columbia, 1951.
"Rags to Riches," Columbia, 1953.
"Can You Find It In Your Heart," Columbia, 1956.
"From the Candy Store on the Corner to The Chapel On the Hill," Columbia, 1956.
"Happiness Street (Corner Sunshine Square)," Columbia, 1956.
"The Autumn Waltz," Columbia, 1956.
"Just in Time," Columbia, 1956.
"Ca, C'est L'amour," Columbia, 1957.
"In the Middle of an Island," Columbia, 1957.
"Firefly," Columbia, 1958.
"Young and Warm and Wonderful," Columbia, 1958.
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Columbia, 1962.
"I Wanna Be Around," Columbia, 1963.
"The Good Life," Columbia, 1963.
"Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)," Columbia, 1964.
"If I Ruled the World Love," Columbia, 1965.
"A Time for Love," Columbia, 1966.
"Just in Time," Sony, 2006.
Albums
Because of You, Columbia, 1952.
Cloud 7, Columbia, 1955.
The Beat of My Heart, Columbia, 1957.
Tony, Columbia, 1957.
(With Count Basie) Basie Swings, Bennett Sings, Roulette, 1958.
Long Ago and Far Away, Columbia 1958.
Alone at Last with Tony Bennett, Columbia, 1959.
Because of You, Columbia, 1959.
Blue Velvet, Columbia 1959.
Hometown, My Hometown, Columbia, 1959.
In Person!, Columbia, 1959.
(With Basie) Strike Up the Band, Roulette,1959.
A String of Harold Arlen, Columbia 1960.
Alone Together, Columbia, 1960.
To My Wonderful One, 1960.
Tony Sings for Two, Columbia, 1960.
(With Basie) Bennett and Basie Strike up the Band, Roulette, 1961.
My Heart Sings, Columbia, 1961.
At Carnegie Hall, Columbia, 1962.
Mr. Broadway, Columbia, 1962.
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, 1962.
I Wanna Be Around, 1963.
This is All I Ask, Columbia, 1963.
The Many Moods of Tony, Columbia, 1964.
When the Lights Are Low, Columbia, 1964.
Who Can I Turn To, Columbia, 1964.
If I Ruled the World: Songs for the Jet Set, Columbia, 1965.
A Time for Love, Columbia, 1966.
Singer Presents Tony Bennett, Columbia, 1966.
The Movie Song Album, Columbia, 1966.
(Original Soundtrack) The Oscar, Columbia, 1966.
For Once in My Life, Columbia, 1967.
Tony Makes it Happen, Columbia, 1967.
Yesterday I Heard the Rain, Columbia, 1968.
Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, Columbia, 1968.
Just One of Those Things, Columbia, 1969.
I've Gotta Be Me, Columbia, 1969.
Tony Bennett's Something, Columbia, 1970.
Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!, Columbia, 1970.
Get Happy with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Columbia, 1971.
Summer of '42, Columbia, 1972.
With Love, Columbia, 1972.
Tony!, Columbia, 1973.
Sunrise, Sunset, Columbia, 1973.
The Rodgers and Hart Songbook, Improv / DRG, 1973.
Let's Fall in Love with the Songs of Harold Arlen and Cy Coleman, Improv / DRG, 1975.
Life is Beautiful, Improv / Concord Jazz, 1973.
The Tony Bennett - Bill Evans Album, Improv / Fantasy, 1975.
Together Again, Improv / DRG, 1976.
Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs, Improv, 1976.
Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers & Hart, Improv, 1976.
Tony Bennett with the McPartlands and Friends Make Magnificent Music, Improv / DRG, 1977.
The Special Magic of Tony Bennett, DRG, 1979.
The Art of Excellence, Columbia, 1986.
16 Most Requested Songs, Columbia/ Legacy, 1986.
Bennett/Berlin, Columbia, 1987.
Tony Bennett Jazz, Columbia, 1987.
Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, Columbia, 1990.
Forty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett, Columbia/Legacy, 1991.
The Art of Excellence, Columbia, 1992.
Perfectly Frank, Columbia, 1992.
The Essence of Tony Bennett, 1993.
Steppin' Out, Columbia, 1993.
In Person! With Count Basie and His Orchestra, 1994.
Unplugged, 1994.
Fifty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett, Columbia/ Legacy,1995.
Here's to the Ladies, Columbia, 1995.
The Playground, Sony, 1995.
On Holiday, Columbia, 1996.
Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, Columbia, 1999.
Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues, Columbia, 2001.
A Wonderful World, RPM Records/Columbia, 2002.
The Complete Improv Recordings, Concord, 2004.
The Art of Romance, RPM Records/Columbia, 2004.
Perfectly Frank: An American Classic Celebrates, Sony, 2006.
Duets: An American Classic, RPM/Columbia, 2006.
Classic Collection [Box Set], Sony, 2007.
Video
Tony Bennett Sings, Sony, 1981.
Tony Bennett Live: Watch What Happens, Sony, 1991.
A Family Christmas, Sony, 1992.
Unplugged [live], Sony, 1994.
Art of the Singer, Sony, 1995.
Special Evening with Tony Bennett [live], Image, 1999.
New York, Eagle Eye, 2000.
Live by Request, Sony, 2001.
It Don't Mean a Thing: In Concert [live], Unlimited Media, 2002.
Wonderful World: Live in San Francisco, Sony, 2002.
An Intimate Night [live], K.C. Sales, 2003.
In Concert: I Left My Heart in San Francisco [live], Immortal, 2005.
An American Classic, RPM, 2006.
Duets: The Making of an American Classic [live], RPM, 2006.
The Music Never Ends, RPM, 2007.
Sources
Books
Bennett, Tony, with Will Friedwald, The Good Life, Pocket Books, 1998.
Erlewine, Michael, et al, editors, All Music Guide, Miller Freeman Books, 1994.
Larkin, Colin, editor, Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
Periodicals
Billboard, October 21, 1995.
Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1994.
Daily Mail (London, England), May 7, 1993.
Good Housekeeping, April 1995.
Independent (London, England), May 19, 1994.
Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland), May 14, 1993.
Life, February 1995.
Los Angeles Times, November 26, 1995.
Maclean's, August 1, 1994.
New York, August 22, 1994.
New York Times, May 1, 1994.
Observer (London, England), March 5, 1995.
Orlando Sentinel, February 12, 1995.
Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 1994.
Saturday Evening Post, January/February 1995.
Washington Post, June 30, 1991.
Online
Official Tony Bennett Website,http://www.tonybennett.net (February 28, 2007).
"Tony Bennett," All Music Guide,http://www.allmusic.com (February 28, 2007).
"Tony Bennett," Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com (February 28, 2007).
Bennett, Tony
TONY BENNETT
Born: Anthony Dominick Benedetto; New York, New York, 3 August 1926
Genre: Vocal
Best-selling album since 1990: MTV Unplugged (1994)
Hit songs since 1990: "Steppin' Out with My Baby"
The renewed popularity of Tony Bennett across multiple generations crowns a remarkable career that has spanned more than half a century of American popular music. A vocalist in the Sinatra tradition where word meaning, phrasing, and mood are paramount, Bennett's jazz sensibility contributes to the swing and swagger that he brings to his interpretations as well as to the use of his voice as a vocal instrument. He remains one of the last of the seminal artists who came to prominence in the post–World War II pre-rock era who is still successfully performing in the new millennium.
Neighborhood Origins and Early Successes
Born to Italian-born immigrants in the Astoria section of Queens, New York City, Bennett displayed considerable talent and affinity for singing and painting from an early age. A neighborhood grocer, Bennett's father had been a singer in Collabra, Italy, where it was said he had a voice so beautiful that he could stand on a mountain-top and mesmerize an entire valley below. Bennett's mother was left to raise her three children alone during the Great Depression by working as a seamstress after her husband passed away.
The young Bennett began singing in school, at home, and at parties, even taking a job as a singing waiter after graduating from high school. After a stint in the army during the last days of World War II, Bennett began a struggling career in Long Island clubs supporting visiting stars of the day such as Al Cohn and Tyree Glenn.
The lean years came to an end in 1949 when the unknown Joe Bari—the stage name Bennett was using at the time—was heard by Bob Hope in a Pearl Bailey revue at the old Greenwich Village Inn. Hope invited Bennett to sing at the Paramount Theatre with him, but not before shortening Anthony Benedetto to Tony Bennett so that his name would fit on the theater marquee.
A year later, Bennett successfully auditioned for producer and arranger Mitch Miller at Columbia Records, and soon scored his first hit with "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (1950). This success was followed by a string of hit singles—"Because of You" (1951), "Cold, Cold Heart" (1951), "Stranger in Paradise" (1953), "Rags to Riches" (1953), and "Just in Time" (1956), among others—and culminated in Bennett's international hit and signature tune, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1962), which won three Grammy Awards, including Best Solo Vocal Performance—Male and Record of the Year. During his peak period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Bennett recorded no less than three albums a year and was in constant demand in the most posh clubs and concert halls in the country.
Shunned, Then Celebrated
After the British Invasion took hold and a new style of pop music emerged, Bennett was viewed as a dinosaur by a new breed of record executive who now saw rock music as the only meal ticket and Bennett as out of step with the times, because of his insistence on remaining with a repertoire made up of classic American popular songs. Bennett left Columbia Records rather than compromise his material by singing covers of songs by rock artists.
Equally unwilling to compromise his stage act by adding the glitz and paraphernalia so common to stage acts of the 1970s, Bennett soon found himself shut out of Las Vegas as well, despite having been one of the earliest regular solo performers to help establish that desert town as an oasis of entertainment. Bennett retreated to England for a time, and even formed his own record label during the disco era, though all the while Bennett's hardcore public remained as loyal to him as he remained to them.
By the mid-1980s, a new generation of performers such as Michael Feinstein and Harry Connick Jr. began making careers by singing American popular songs of yesteryear. Additionally, standards were now being recorded by many of the same pop stars whom a decade or two before had been singing the same rock material that Bennett had refused to record. Suddenly, posh music was fashionable again, and Bennett, who embodied the genre, once again found himself in high demand.
Bennett returned to his old label for a series of albums and firmly re-established himself as a consummate communicator of the classic American popular song. His albums from this period include The Art of Excellence (1986), Bennett/Berlin (1987), Astoria: Portrait of the Artist (1990), and his Grammy Award-winning tribute to his mentor Frank Sinatra, Perfectly Frank (1992).
Managed by his media-savvy son Danny, Bennett made a guest voice appearance on an episode of The Simpsons, appeared with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the MTV Music Awards, and became a regular guest on popular media outlets such as shows hosted by David Letter-man and Howard Stern. Such appearances served to introduce Bennett to a new generation of admirers, while never compromising Bennett's art form.
Spot Light: Tony Bennett on MTV's Unplugged
Tony Bennett's groundbreaking music video of Irving Berlin's "Steppin' Out with My Baby" was released in 1993 in collaboration with Bennett's Fred Astaire tribute album of the same name. Much to virtually everyone's surprise and thanks to the persistence of Bennett's manager/son Danny Bennett, the swinging video was shown on MTV and subsequently entered the regular MTV playlist rotation. The stage was set for an MTV Unplugged appearance with Bennett on April 14, 1994. Snapping his fingers and taking a few dance steps with young models against the backdrop of elaborate visual effects in a highly stylized music video was one thing, but could the then-sixty-eight-year-old postwar matinee idol of the bobby socks era really deliver the goods to their Generation X grandchildren in a no-frills live performance? Most doubted it, as the whole concept had absolutely no precedent. And so, as Bennett took a bare stage with his longtime pianist and arranger Ralph Sharon at the Steinway grand piano along with acoustic bassist Doug Richeson and drummer Clayton Cameron and began crooning "Old Devil Moon," Bennett knew a lot was at stake. The young crowd went wild listening to Bennett sing songs by legendary songwriters George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Irving Berlin, Victor Herbert, and others, as did a cross-generational nation of home viewers. The love affair between Bennett and his adoring young fans continued on throughout the evening, ironically faltering only slightly when k.d. lang and Elvis Costello came out and each sang a duet with Bennett. But in the end, the evening was Bennett's, and fans responded by eagerly snapping up MTV's Unplugged in both audio and video formats. Even Bennett's colleagues in the recording industry stood up and took notice, awarding the album two Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year.
In 1993 Bennett shattered all boundaries when his music video of Irving Berlin's "Steppin' Out with My Baby" charted on MTV and began appearing in regular rotation alongside standard MTV fare. This success culminated in Bennett's extraordinary appearance on MTV's Unplugged ; the resulting album earned Bennett a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
Bennett's MTV performance was followed by the A&E television special By Request . . . Tony Bennett, in which callers phoned in song requests to Bennett live. The success of this venture won Bennett a Cable ACE Award and an Emmy Award, as well as making the format a regular A&E staple.
An avid and respected painter, Bennett continues to paint under his own name and was "discovered" by no less than artist David Hockney. Bennett has regular exhibitions of his paintings in the country's major art galleries, where they sell from $5,000 to $40,000.
Bennett's extraordinary longevity as a vocalist is in no small part due to his refusal to compromise his material or his musical integrity. Bennett's mentor Sinatra had advised the singer to not compromise when Bennett came to him for advice early in his career, and Bennett never forgot. Bennett has always been at home performing for audiences of every age, a tradition that stems back to childhood Sunday family get-togethers that had him performing for relatives of every age. This, together with Bennett's consistent eagerness to please his public and his uncanny ability to both energize and be energized by an audience, is part of why Bennett has flourished when most of his contemporaries have long since disappeared.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
Forty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett (Columbia, 1991); Perfectly Frank (Columbia, 1992); Steppin' Out (Columbia, 1993); MTV Unplugged (Columbia, 1994); Here's to the Ladies (Columbia, 1995); On Holiday (A Tribute to Billie Holiday) (Columbia, 1997); At Carnegie Hall June 9, 1962 (Columbia re-release, 1997); The Playground (Columbia, 1998); Hot and Cool: Bennett Sings Ellington (Columbia, 1999). With Count Basie: Basie Swings, Bennett Sings (Columbia, 1958). With Bill Evans: The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album (Columbia re-release, 1991). With various artists: Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues (Columbia, 2001). With k.d. lang: What a Wonderful World (Columbia, 2002).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
T. Bennett, What My Heart Has Seen: Tony Bennett (New York, 1996); M. Hoffman, Tony Bennett: The Best Is Yet to Come (New York, 1997); T. Bennett with W. Friedwald, The Good Life (New York, 1998).
WEBSITE:
www.tonybennett.net.
dennis polkow
Bennett, Tony
BENNETT, Tony
(b. 3 August 1926 in Long Island City, New York), singer who, after an earlier career as a successful pop singles artist in the 1950s, reestablished himself in the 1960s as a masterful balladeer and concert performer, producing a series of highly regarded and commercially successful albums that flew in the face of the dominant rock music of the era.
Bennett was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, the second son and third child of John Benedetto, a grocer, and Anna Suraci, a homemaker who later became a seamstress. He began singing in amateur contests as a teenager, worked as a singing waiter, and began to get jobs in local clubs. Bennett attended but did not graduate from the High School of Industrial Arts in New York City.
Turning eighteen during World War II, Bennett joined the U.S. Army and spent two years in the infantry, seeing combat in Europe. After returning to the United States he studied at the American Theatre Wing and came in second to Rosemary Clooney on Arthur Godfrey's talent show. In 1949, while appearing with the singer Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village, he was spotted by the entertainer Bob Hope, who put him into his show and suggested the stage name of Tony Bennett.
In 1950 Bennett signed a contract with Columbia Records. The following year he scored his first hit when "Because of You" reached number one on the pop charts in September. It was succeeded at the top of the charts by his next single, a cover of Hank Williams's "Cold, Cold Heart." More hits followed before Bennett returned to number one in November 1953 with "Rags to Riches," followed by "Stranger in Paradise" in early 1954. With the rise of rock 'n' roll at mid-decade, musical tastes changed, and there was less of a market for the kind of big-voiced pop tenor represented by Bennett and others. He responded by moving more toward jazz and standards and began performing in nightclubs, where he was accompanied by the pianist Ralph Sharon. As he made the transition, his record sales fell, but he eventually found a whole new audience.
Bennett married Patricia Beech, with whom he had two children, on 12 February 1952. They divorced in 1971, and he married Sandra Grant on 29 December of that year. That marriage, which also produced two children, likewise ended in divorce, in 1984.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s Bennett released several impressive albums, including In Person!, recorded with Count Basie and His Orchestra, in 1959, and Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen in 1960, neither of which reached the charts. It was at this point that Sharon showed him "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," a song written in 1954 by Douglass Cross and George Cory. Bennett recorded it in January 1962, and Columbia released it as a single. Coming from an artist whose career on the charts had seemed to be over, it took a long time to catch on, and even then succeeded across the country on a regional basis, achieving only a top twenty ranking, even though it remained on the charts for almost nine months. Meanwhile, the I Left My Heart in San Francisco LP became a gold-selling top five hit, and Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, a live double album also containing the song, reached the top forty. Bennett won Grammy Awards for record of the year and best solo vocal performance for the single.
Coming more than a decade after Bennett's initial success, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" not only gave his career a second wind but also pushed it to a higher level. He was restored to commercial success on records, quickly scoring two more top-forty singles, "I Wanna Be Around" and "The Good Life," as well as the top-five LP I Wanna Be Around, and he was achieving this success with high-quality material. The arrival of the Beatles in February 1964 signaled another change in the direction of popular music, but Bennett at first continued to score with top-forty singles such as "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)," from the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd; and "If I Ruled the World," from the musical Pickwick, and such top-twenty LPs as The Many Moods of Tony and The Movie Song Album.
In 1965 Bennett temporarily split with Sharon and attempted to launch a movie career. But The Oscar, a universally panned flop released in 1966, turned out to be his only job as an actor. By 1967 the major record labels, recognizing the increased popularity of rock music, began to neglect classic pop artists such as Bennett. At Columbia Records company president Clive Davis encouraged the label's roster of pop singers to record contemporary material written by younger musicians. By 1969 Bennett was recording albums such as I've Gotta Be Me and Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today, which featured songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Jimmy Webb, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They did not restore his commercial fortunes, however, and in the early 1970s he parted ways with Columbia. At first he signed to MGM Records, then founded his own label, Improv. When it foundered, he stopped recording, although he continued to tour successfully during the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s.
In 1986, managed by his son Danny Bennett, Bennett re-signed to Columbia and issued his first album in nine years, The Art of Excellence. By now his cheery demeanor, classy appearance, and continuing affection for pop standards were able to attract a whole new audience and launch a third stage of his lengthy career. Perfectly Frank, a tribute album to Frank Sinatra released in 1992, went gold, as did the following year's Steppin' Out, a tribute to Fred Astaire. In 1994 Bennett appeared on MTV's Unplugged series with Elvis Costello and k. d. lang, and the resulting platinum recording won the Grammy for album of the year. In 2001 Bennett toured the country with lang and celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday by releasing a duets album, Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues.
In a sense, Bennett in the 1960s can be thought of as a throwback to an earlier time, given that the main trend in popular music was toward rock, with which he had no affinity. In fact, however, he achieved even greater renown during the decade than he had in the 1950s; he continued to find contemporary songs that benefited from his musical approach; and his commitment to quality allowed him to maintain his audience and, eventually, attract a new one not yet born or in its infancy in the 1960s.
Bennett told his own story in The Good Life (1998), written with Will Friedwald. Tony Jasper, Tony Bennett (1984), is a reasonable account of his life, although it misses his late renaissance. Whitney Baillett's excellent profile of Bennett, first published in The New Yorker, is reprinted in his book American Singers (1988). The author's own biographical article, "Tony Bennett: FortyYears of 'Pure American Music,'" appeared in Goldmine (10 Jan. 1992).
William Ruhlmann