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Tony Bennett (born August 3, 1926) is an United
States|American traditional pop music|popular
music, pop standards|standards, and jazz singer
who is widely considered to be one of the best
interpretative singers in these genres.  

After having achieved artistic and commercial
success in the 1950s and early 1960s, his career
suffered an extended downturn during the height of
the rock music era.  However, Bennett staged a
remarkable comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s,
expanding his audience to a younger generation
while keeping his musical style intact.  He
remains a popular and critically praised recording
artist and concert performer in the 2000s.

Tony Bennett is also a serious and accomplished
painting|painter.

== Early life ==

Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born in the
Astoria, New York|Astoria section of Queens, New
York|Queens in New York City.  (Though some
records show that the first name on his birth
certificate is Antonio.)  His father was a grocer
and his mother a seamstress.

He grew up listening to Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor,
Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and jazz artists such
as Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, and Joe
Venuti.  An uncle was a tap dancer in vaudeville,
giving him an early window into show business.

By age 10 the young Benedetto was already singing,
performing at the opening of the Triborough
Bridge.
He attended New York's High School of Art and
Design|High School of Industrial Arts where he
studied music and painting (an interest he would
always return to as an adult), but dropped out at
age 16 to help support his family.  He then set
his sights on a professional singing career,
performing as a singing waiter in several Queens
Italian restaurants.

== World War II and after ==


This was interrupted when Benedetto was drafted
into the United States Army in 1944 during World
War II.  He served as a replacement infantryman in
the U.S. 63rd Infantry Division in France and
Germany, moving across France during the winter,
then fighting on the front lines in March and
April 1945 as the Germans were pushed back across
the Rhine.  Benedetto narrowly escaping death
several times.  He would later write, "Anybody who
thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone
through one." At the war's conclusion he was
involved in the liberation of a Nazi concentration
camp near Landsberg (district)|Landsberg.  

Benedetto stayed in Germany as part of the
occupying force, but was assigned to an informal
Special Services band unit that would entertain
nearby American forces.  Later some remarks he
made against the Army's racial segregation
policies led to his being demoted and reassigned
to Graves Registration duties, leading to a
further dislike of the military.
http://www.military.com/Careers/Content1?file=tran
s_tony_bennett.htm&area=Content  
Subsequently he sang with the
Service_bands#Army_Band|Army military band under
the stage name Joe Bari and played with many
musicians who would have post-war careers.

Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the
States in 1946 he studied at the American Theater
Wing on the GI Bill.  He was taught the bel canto
singing discipline, which would keep his voice in
good shape for his entire career.  He continued to
perform wherever he could, including while
waiter|waiting tables.  He developed an unusual
style of phrasing that involved imitating other
musicians – such as Stan Getz's saxophone or
Art Tatum's piano – as he sang, thus
allowing him to improvise as he interpreted a
song.

In 1949 Pearl Bailey spotted his talent and asked
him to open for her in Greenwich Village.  She had
invited Bob Hope to the show; Hope decided to
bring Bari on the road with him, but suggested he
use his real name simplified to Tony Bennett.  In
1950 Bennett cut a demo and was signed to Columbia
Records by Mitch Miller.

== First successes ==

Warned by Miller not to imitate Frank Sinatra (who
was just then leaving Columbia), Bennett began his
career as a crooner singing traditional pop
music|commercial pop tunes.  His first big hit was
"Because of You", a ballad produced by Miller with
a lush orchestral arrangement from Percy Faith. 
It started out gaining popularity on jukeboxes,
then reached #1 on the pop charts in 1951 and
stayed there for 10 weeks, selling over a million
copies.  
This was followed to the top later that year by a
similarly-styled rendition of Hank Williams'
"Cold, Cold Heart", which helped introduce
Williams and country music in general to a wider,
more national audience.  The Miller and Faith
tandem continued to work on all of Bennett's early
hits.  Bennett's recording of "Blue Velvet" was
also very popular and attracted screaming teenage
fans at concerts in the famed Paramount Theatre in
New York (Bennett did 7 shows a day, starting at
10:30 a.m.) and elsewhere.


In 1952 Bennett married Ohio art student and jazz
fan Patricia Beech, whom he had met the previous
year after a nightclub performance in Cleveland. 
Two thousand female fans dressed in black gathered
outside the ceremony at New York's St. Patrick's
Cathedral, New York|St. Patrick's Cathedral in
mock mourning.  Bennett and Beech would have two
sons, D'Andrea (Danny) and Daegal (Dae).

A third #1 came in 1953 with "Rags to Riches
(song)|Rags to Riches".  Unlike Bennett's other
early hits, this was an up-tempo big band number
with a bold, brass instrument|brassy sound and a
double tango music|tango in the instrumental
break; it topped the charts for eight weeks.
Later that year Bennett began singing show tunes
to make up for a New York newspaper strike;
"Stranger in Paradise (song)|Stranger in Paradise"
from the Broadway theatre|Broadway show Kismet
(musical)|Kismet reached the top, as well as being
a #1 hit in the United Kingdom and starting
Bennett's career as an international artist.

Once the rock and roll era began in 1955, the
dynamic of the music industry changed and it
became harder for existing pop singers to do as
well commercially.  Nevertheless Bennett continued
to enjoy success, placing 8 songs in the Billboard
(magazine)|Billboard Top 40 during the latter part
of the 1950s, with "In the Middle of an Island"
reaching the highest at #9 in 1957.

In 1956 Bennett hosted the television variety show
The Tony Bennett Show as a summer replacement for
The Perry Como Show.

== A growing artistry ==


In 1955 Bennett released his first long-playing
album, Cloud 7, which showed Bennett's jazz
leanings.
In 1957 Ralph Sharon became Bennett's pianist and
musical director.  Sharon told Bennett that a
career singing "sweet saccharine songs like 'Blue
Velvet'" wouldn't last long, and encouraged
Bennett to focus even more on his jazz
inclinations.

The result was the 1957 album Beat of My Heart. 
It used well-known jazz musicians such as Herbie
Mann and Nat Adderley, with a strong emphasis on
percussion from the likes of Art Blakey, Jo Jones,
Latin star Candido, and Chico Hamilton.  The album
was both popular and critically praised.

Bennett followed this by working with the Count
Basie|Count Basie Orchestra, becoming the first
male pop vocalist to sing with Basie's band.  The
albums Basie Swings, Bennett Sings (1958) and In
Person! Tony Bennett/Count Basie and his Orchestra
(1959) were the well-regarded fruits of this
collaboration, with "Chicago" being one of the
standout songs.

Bennett also built up the quality and reputation
of his nightclub act; in this he was following the
path of Sinatra and other top jazz and standards
singers of this era.  Bennett also appeared on
television; he sang on the first night of both the
Johnny Carson The Tonight Show and The Merv
Griffin Show.  In June 1962 Bennett staged a
highly-promoted concert performance at Carnegie
Hall, using a stellar lineup of musicians
including Al Cohn, Kenny Burrell, and Candido, as
well as the Ralph Sharon Trio.  The concert
featured 44 songs, including favorites like "I've
Got the World on a String" and "The Best Is Yet To
Come".  It was a big success, and further cemented
Bennett's reputation as a star both at home and
abroad.


Also in 1962 Bennett released the song "I Left My
Heart in San Francisco".  Although this only
reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100, it spent
close to a year on various other charts and
increased Bennett's exposure.  The album of the
same title was a top 5 hit and both the single and
album achieved RIAA certification|gold record
status.  The song won Grammy Awards for Grammy
Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year
and Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance,
Male|Best Male Solo Vocal Performance, and over
the years would become known as Bennett's
signature song.  In 2001 it was ranked 23rd on an
RIAA/National Endowment for the Arts|NEA list of
the most historically significant Songs of the
Century|Songs of the 20th Century.

Bennett's following album, I Wanna Be Around
(1963) was also a top 5 success, with the title
track and "The Good Life" reaching #14 and #18
respectively on the singles chart.

The next year brought The Beatles and the British
Invasion, and with them still more musical and
cultural attention to rock and less to pop,
standards, and jazz.  Over the next couple of
years Bennett had minor hits with several albums
and singles based on show tunes – his last
top 40 single was the #34 "If I Ruled the World"
from Pickwick in 1965 – but his commercial
fortunes were clearly starting to decline.  An
attempt to break into acting with a role in the
1966 film The Oscar was not well received.

A firm believer in the American Civil Rights
movement, Bennett participated in the 1965 Selma
to Montgomery marches.
http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec59det.htm
l  Years later he would continue this commitment
by refusing to perform in apartheid South Africa.

== Years of struggle ==

Sharon and Bennett parted ways in 1965.  There was
great pressure on singers such as Lena Horne and
Barbra Streisand to record "contemporary" rock
songs, and in this vein
Columbia Records' Clive Davis suggested that
Bennett do the same.  Bennett was very reluctant,
and when he tried, the results pleased no one. 
This was exemplified by Tony Sings the Great Hits
of Today! (1969), which featured misguided
attempts at Beatles and other current songs and a
ludicrous psychedelic art|psychedelic cover.
http://www.franklarosa.com/vinyl/Exhibit.jsp?Album
ID=2

Years later Bennett would recall his dismay at
being asked to do contemporary material, comparing
it to when his mother was forced to produce a
cheap dress.  By 1972 he had departed Columbia for
MGM Records, but found no more success there, and
in a couple more years he was without a recording
contract.

Bennett and his wife Patricia had been separated
since 1965, their marriage a victim of too much
time on the road among other factors, and in 1971
their divorce became official.  Bennett had been
involved with aspiring actress Sandra Grant since
filming The Oscar, and in 1972 they married.  They
would have two daughters, Joanna and Antonia.

Hoping to take matters into his own hand, Bennett
started his own record company, Improv.  He cut
some songs that would later become favorites, such
as "What is This Thing Called Love?", and made two
well-regarded albums with jazz pianist Bill Evans,
The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (1975) and
Together Again (1976), but by 1977 Improv was out
of business.  A stint of living in England like
other American jazz expatriates did not change his
fortunes.

As the decade neared its end, Bennett had no
recording contract, no manager, and was not
performing any concerts outside of Las Vegas.  His
second marriage was failing (they would divorce in
1980).  He had (like many musicians) developed a
drug addiction, was living beyond his means, and
had the Internal Revenue Service trying to seize
his Los Angeles home.  He had hit bottom.

== Turnaround ==

After a near-death cocaine drug overdose|overdose
in 1979, Bennett called his sons Danny and Dae for
help.  "Look, I'm lost here," he told them. "It
seems like people don't want to hear the music I
make."

Danny Bennett, an aspiring musician himself, also
came to a realization.  The band Danny and his
brother had started, Quacky Duck and His Barnyard
Friends, had foundered and Danny's musical
abilities were limited.  However he had discovered
during this time, that he did have a head for
business.  His father, on the other hand, had
tremenedous musical talent but was having trouble
sustaining a career from it.  Danny signed on as
his father's manager.

Danny got his father's expenses under control,
moved him back to New York, and began booking him
in colleges and small theatres to get him away
from a "Vegas" image.  Also in 1979, Tony Bennett
reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and
musical director.

By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia
Records, this time with creative control, and
released The Art of Excellence.  This became his
first album to reach the charts since 1972.

== An unexpected audience ==

By the mid-1980s, the excesses of the disco, punk
rock, and New Wave music|new wave eras had given
many artists and listeners a greater appreciation
for the classic American song.  Rock stars such as
Linda Ronstadt began recording albums of
standards, and such songs began showing up more
frequently in movie soundtracks and on television
commercials.
    
Danny Bennett felt strongly that younger
audiences, although completely unfamiliar with
Tony Bennett, would respond to his music if only
given a chance to see and hear it.  More
crucially, no changes to Tony's appearance
(tuxedo), singing style (his own), musical
accompaniment (The Ralph Sharon Trio or an
orchestra), or song choice (generally the Great
American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.

Accordingly, Danny began to book his father on
shows with younger audiences, such as David
Letterman's talk shows, The Simpsons, and various
MTV programs.  The plan worked; as Tony later
remembered, "I realized that young people had
never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin
– they were like, 'Who wrote that?' To them,
it was different. If you're different, you stand
out."

During this time, Bennett continued to record,
first putting out the acclaimed look back Astoria:
Portrait of the Artist (1990), then emphasizing
themed albums such as the Sinatra homage Perfectly
Frank (1992) and the Fred Astaire tribute Steppin'
Out (1993).  The latter two both achieved gold
status and won Grammies for Grammy Award for Best
Traditional Pop Vocal Performance|Best Traditional
Pop Vocal Performance (Bennett's first Grammies
since 1962) and further established Bennett as the
inheritor of the mantle of a classic American
great. 


As Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards
shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot
Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his
"Steppin' Out With My Baby" video received MTV
airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times
said, "Tony Bennett has not just bridged the
generation gap, he has demolished it. He has
solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on
rock. And there have been no compromises." 

The new audience reached its height with Bennett's
appearance in 1994 on MTV Unplugged.  Featuring
guest appearances by rock and country stars Elvis
Costello and k.d. lang (both of whom had a
profound respect for the standards genre), the
show attracted a considerable audience and much
media attention.  The resulting album went RIAA
certification|platinum and, besides taking the
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy
award for the third straight year, also won the
top Grammy prize of Grammy Award for Album of the
Year|Album of the Year.  At age 68, Tony Bennett
had come all the way back.

== No retirement ==


Since then Bennett has continued to record and
tour steadily.  In concert Bennett often makes a
point of singing one song without any microphone
or amplification, demonstrating to younger
audience members the lost art of vocal projection.
 One show, Tony Bennett's Wonderful World: Live
From San Francisco, was made into a PBS special. 
Bennett also created the idea behind, and starred
in the first, of the A&E Network's Live By Request
series, for which he won an Emmy Award.

A series of albums, often based on themes (Duke
Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, blues,
duets) have met with good acceptance; Bennett has
won five more Best Traditional Pop Vocal
Performance or Grammy Award for Best Traditional
Pop Vocal Album|Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Grammies in the subsequent years, most recently in
2003.  According to his official biography,
Bennett has now sold over 50 million records
worldwide during his career.

In addition to numerous television guest
performances, Bennett has had cameo appearances as
himself in films such as The Scout, Analyze This,
and Bruce Almighty.


Tony Bennett's career as a painter has also
flourished.  He followed up his childhood interest
with serious training, work, and museum visits
throughout his life.  He sketches or paints every
day, even of views out of hotel windows when he is
on tour.  Painting under his real name of
Benedetto, he has exhibited his work in numerous
galleries and has been commissioned by the
Kentucky Derby and the United Nations.  His
painting "Homage to Hockney" (for his friend David
Hockney) is on permanent display at the highly
regarded Butler Institute of American Art in
Youngstown, Ohio as is his "Boy on Sailboat,
Sydney Bay" at the National Arts Club in Gramercy
Park in New York.  His paintings have been
featured in ARTNews and other magazines.  Many of
his works were published in the art book Tony
Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen in 1996.

Bennett also published The Good Life:  The
Autobiography of Tony Bennett in 1998.

For his contribution to the recording industry,
Tony Bennett has a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame at 1560 Vine Street.

Bennett was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz
Hall of Fame in 1997.

Bennett received a lifetime achievement award from
the American Society of Composers, Authors, and
Publishers (ASCAP) in 2002.

In 2002 Q_(magazine)|Q magazine named Tony Bennett
in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You
Die".

Bennett frequently donates his time to charitable
causes, to the extent that he is sometimes
nicknamed "Tony Benefit".
http://www.osia.org/public/newsroom/pr05_13_99.asp

Bennett has not remarried, but has a long-term
relationship with Susan Crow, a former New York
City educator.  Together they founded (and named
after Bennett's friend) the Frank Sinatra School
of the Arts in Queens, a public high school
dedicated to teaching the performing arts which
opened in 2001.  It was a tribute in return, for
in a 1965 Life magazine|Life magazine interview
Sinatra had said that:
:"For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in
the business.  He excites me when I watch him.  He
moves me.  He's the singer who gets across what
the composer has in mind, and probably a little
more."

Danny Bennett continues to be Tony's manager while
Dae Bennett is a recording engineer who has worked
on a number of Tony's projects and who has opened
Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey.  Tony's
younger daughter Antonia is an aspiring jazz
singer.

== Discography ==

For a detailed discography, see Tony Bennett
discography.

== References ==

*
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:2x
6cmp939ffo William Ruhlmann's All Music Guide
biography
*
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:b1
uh6jph71t0 All Music Guide entry on Ralph Sharon
*
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/entertainment/Articles
/a2003-06-18-bennett.html AARP interview, 2003
*
http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/b
ennett.html NPR interview, c. 2001
* http://www.cleveland.oh.us/wmv_news/jazz66.htm
Web News Cleveland article, 2001
*
http://www.rosemaryclooney.com/goodhousekeeping95.
html Good Housekeeping interview, 1995
* Whitburn, Joel.  The Billboard Book of Top 40
Hits.  Billboard Pubs, 1983.  ISBN 0823075117.
* Liner notes for The Essential Tony Bennett. 
Columbia Records, 2002.

* imdb name|id=0004746|name=Tony Bennett

*
http://www.dickkleinmanfineart.com/Artists/Bennett
/Bennett.htm Art biography

== Books ==

* Bennett, Tony.  Tony Bennett : What My Heart Has
Seen.  Rizzoli, 1996.  ISBN 0847819728.
* Bennett, Tony, with Will Friedwald.  The Good
Life: The Autobiography Of Tony Bennett.  Pocket
Books, 1998.  ISBN 0671024698.

== See also ==

* List of best selling music artists

==External links==

* http://www.tonybennett.net Official Tony Bennett
music website
* http://www.benedettoarts.com Official Tony
Bennett art website
* http://www.exploringthearts.org/school.php Frank
Sinatra School of the Arts