Grammy-winning singer Tony Bennett, beloved across generations, dies at 96

Singer Tony Bennett, who became one of the most popular interpreters of jazz, pop and Broadway standards with his delightfully moving classics such as “Rag to Riches,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and signature “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” died Friday, his representative confirmed to CBS News. he was 96 years old.

A 19-time Grammy Award winner during his 70-year career, Bennett has recorded 60 studio albums and dozens of live albums and compilations. Seven of his albums have entered the top ten on the Billboard charts.

But he was more closely tied to one song than the other. It was the first song we rehearsed without ever setting foot in San Francisco.


[I Left My Heart] in San Francisco To
Tony Bennett – Topics upon
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Bennett recalled: “Sunday Morning” in 2014 How his music director, Ralph Sharon, found the song when he first headed to San Francisco. One afternoon, the two rehearsed the song at a nightclub in Little Rock, Arkansas. “Then the bartender said, ‘I don’t want to get in your way, but if you record this, I’ll be the first to buy the record for you.’ And we felt a little encouraged! And when we got to San Francisco, I started singing it in rehearsal, and everyone ran up to me and said, ‘We have to record this song.'”

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was actually released as the B-side to Bennett’s 1962 record “Once Upon a Time”. But it was the B-side that won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and Bennett won a Grammy for the performance. It became his signature song.

“Most artists get mad when they’re tied to one famous thing. Why should it be the only one thing? What about the other things I do?” Bennett told Sunday Morning. “But I don’t feel like it. I love a song called ‘San Francisco.’ I sing it every night like the first time I sang it.”

He also sang the song in 1994 when he appeared on “MTV Unplugged” with Elvis Costello and kd lang. The concert recording went platinum and won two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

Bennett’s endurance as a performer wasn’t solely due to his superb pipe set. He also took the stage with great joy to share The Great American Songbook, the work of George and Ira Gershwin, EY Hearburg, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Johnny Mercer.

“Best in Industry”

Bennett recalled advice he received from Frank Sinatra in 1956 when he visited the chairman backstage at the Paramount Theater. Bennett was an early success and received offers to appear on alternative TV shows over the summer. “I had never met him. I walked into his dressing room and he said, ‘What the hell is that, boy?’ “If people see you scared, they will come and help you even more.”

“And he changed my whole attitude. The public is not your enemy. They are your friends. You perform for them, and the more you perform for them, the more they try. He taught me how to perform with just one word.”

Bennett credited Sinatra with raising his profile, citing a 1965 Life magazine interview in which Sinatra said, “In my opinion, Tony Bennett is the best in this industry.”

“He changed my career,” Bennett told Sunday Morning. “All his fans wanted to know what he was talking about, and since that day I’ve been sold out everywhere in the world.”

In 2014, at the age of 88, Bennett teamed up with singer Lady Gaga, who is 60 years his junior, for the duets album Cheek to Cheek, which included songs like “Anything Goes,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” Recorded standard songs and gained a new generation of fans. The album went No. 1 and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.


cheek to cheek To
Tony Bennett – Topics upon
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In 2015, the duo toured Europe and North America. Bennett will record his second album with Lady Gaga, ‘Love for Sale’, and a collection of duets with Diana Krall, ‘Love Is Here To Stay’.

queens boy

Born in Long Island, New York on August 3, 1926, Anthony Dominique Benedetto grew up in Astoria, Queens, when his father became seriously ill and was unable to work. John Benedetto died when Anthony was ten years old. His mother Anna worked as a seamstress.

As a young student, Bennett developed artistic expression through both music and art. “All my relatives told me, ‘I like the way you sing and I like the way you draw,'” Bennett told Sunday Morning in 2014.

He remembered an art teacher telling him at Manhattan’s Industrial Arts High School.And he pissed off all the other teachers because [I’m] You should be studying art, not music! ”


Tony Bennett talks art and music studies To
CBS Sunday Morning upon
YouTube

He dropped out of school to help his family and earned money singing in restaurants and bars. After World War II, thanks to the GI Bill, Bennett attended the American Theater Wing and took vocal classes. He has made his singing career astonishingly successful. But his paintings were never late. “And to this day, I study music and art every day, and I love it.”

This watercolor and gouache of singer Ella Fitzgerald is one of three Bennett works of art (credited to Anthony Benedetto) in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Anthony Mason of CBS News said, “It’s great to have two things you love and to be able to flip back and forth between them.”

“Let’s go!” Bennett laughed.

“From rags to riches”

Singer Pearl Bailey asked Bennett to open for her while performing in Greenwich Village, New York. There he caught the attention of Bob Hope, who suggested to Anthony Benedetto that he shorten his stage name to Tony Bennett.

Bennett’s first single, signed to Columbia, “Because of You”, reached number one in 1951. It followed with hits such as “Cold Cold Heart,” “Lags to Riches,” “There Le Be No Teardrops Tonight,” “Stranger in Paradise,” and “Can You Find It in Your Heart?”

The 1957 album The Beat of My Heart marked the beginning of Bennett’s collaboration with jazz pianist and arranger Ralph Sharon, and changed Bennett’s direction from lavish orchestral accompaniment such as “Rag to Riches” to a more percussive style. Musicians such as Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton, Herbie Mann, Billy Exiner, and Cuban bongo player Candido participated in the record, and songs such as “Broadway Lullaby,” “Crazy Rhythm,” and “Just One of the Things” were stylistically closer to Ella Fitzgerald’s swing jazz.


Tony Bennett – Love For Sale (Audio) To
Tony Bennett VEVO upon
YouTube

Bennett’s subsequent hits include “The Good Life,” “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me),” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and “For Once In My Life.”


Tony Bennett (feat. Woody Herman Orchestra) “For Once In My Life” on The Ed Sullivan Show To
The Ed Sullivan Show upon
YouTube

Summarize this content to 100 words Singer Tony Bennett, who became one of the most popular interpreters of jazz, pop and Broadway standards with his delightfully moving classics such as “Rag to Riches,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and signature “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” died Friday, his representative confirmed to CBS News. he was 96 years old.A 19-time Grammy Award winner during his 70-year career, Bennett has recorded 60 studio albums and dozens of live albums and compilations. Seven of his albums have entered the top ten on the Billboard charts. But he was more closely tied to one song than the other. It was the first song we rehearsed without ever setting foot in San Francisco.

[I Left My Heart] in San Francisco To
Tony Bennett – Topics upon
YouTube

Bennett recalled: “Sunday Morning” in 2014 How his music director, Ralph Sharon, found the song when he first headed to San Francisco. One afternoon, the two rehearsed the song at a nightclub in Little Rock, Arkansas. “Then the bartender said, ‘I don’t want to get in your way, but if you record this, I’ll be the first to buy the record for you.’ And we felt a little encouraged! And when we got to San Francisco, I started singing it in rehearsal, and everyone ran up to me and said, ‘We have to record this song.'”

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was actually released as the B-side to Bennett’s 1962 record “Once Upon a Time”. But it was the B-side that won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and Bennett won a Grammy for the performance. It became his signature song.”Most artists get mad when they’re tied to one famous thing. Why should it be the only one thing? What about the other things I do?” Bennett told Sunday Morning. “But I don’t feel like it. I love a song called ‘San Francisco.’ I sing it every night like the first time I sang it.”

He also sang the song in 1994 when he appeared on “MTV Unplugged” with Elvis Costello and kd lang. The concert recording went platinum and won two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. Bennett’s endurance as a performer wasn’t solely due to his superb pipe set. He also took the stage with great joy to share The Great American Songbook, the work of George and Ira Gershwin, EY Hearburg, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Johnny Mercer.”Best in Industry”Bennett recalled advice he received from Frank Sinatra in 1956 when he visited the chairman backstage at the Paramount Theater. Bennett was an early success and received offers to appear on alternative TV shows over the summer. “I had never met him. I walked into his dressing room and he said, ‘What the hell is that, boy?’ “If people see you scared, they will come and help you even more.””And he changed my whole attitude. The public is not your enemy. They are your friends. You perform for them, and the more you perform for them, the more they try. He taught me how to perform with just one word.”

Tony Bennett Jazz Art

21 photos

Bennett credited Sinatra with raising his profile, citing a 1965 Life magazine interview in which Sinatra said, “In my opinion, Tony Bennett is the best in this industry.”

“He changed my career,” Bennett told Sunday Morning. “All his fans wanted to know what he was talking about, and since that day I’ve been sold out everywhere in the world.”In 2014, at the age of 88, Bennett teamed up with singer Lady Gaga, who is 60 years his junior, for the duets album Cheek to Cheek, which included songs like “Anything Goes,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” Recorded standard songs and gained a new generation of fans. The album went No. 1 and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

cheek to cheek To
Tony Bennett – Topics upon
YouTube

In 2015, the duo toured Europe and North America. Bennett will record his second album with Lady Gaga, ‘Love for Sale’, and a collection of duets with Diana Krall, ‘Love Is Here To Stay’.queens boyBorn in Long Island, New York on August 3, 1926, Anthony Dominique Benedetto grew up in Astoria, Queens, when his father became seriously ill and was unable to work. John Benedetto died when Anthony was ten years old. His mother Anna worked as a seamstress. As a young student, Bennett developed artistic expression through both music and art. “All my relatives told me, ‘I like the way you sing and I like the way you draw,'” Bennett told Sunday Morning in 2014.He remembered an art teacher telling him at Manhattan’s Industrial Arts High School.And he pissed off all the other teachers because [I’m] You should be studying art, not music! ”

Tony Bennett talks art and music studies To
CBS Sunday Morning upon
YouTube

He dropped out of school to help his family and earned money singing in restaurants and bars. After World War II, thanks to the GI Bill, Bennett attended the American Theater Wing and took vocal classes. He has made his singing career astonishingly successful. But his paintings were never late. “And to this day, I study music and art every day, and I love it.”

This watercolor and gouache of singer Ella Fitzgerald is one of three Bennett works of art (credited to Anthony Benedetto) in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Anthony Mason of CBS News said, “It’s great to have two things you love and to be able to flip back and forth between them.” “Let’s go!” Bennett laughed.”From rags to riches”Singer Pearl Bailey asked Bennett to open for her while performing in Greenwich Village, New York. There he caught the attention of Bob Hope, who suggested to Anthony Benedetto that he shorten his stage name to Tony Bennett. Bennett’s first single, signed to Columbia, “Because of You”, reached number one in 1951. It followed with hits such as “Cold Cold Heart,” “Lags to Riches,” “There Le Be No Teardrops Tonight,” “Stranger in Paradise,” and “Can You Find It in Your Heart?” The 1957 album The Beat of My Heart marked the beginning of Bennett’s collaboration with jazz pianist and arranger Ralph Sharon, and changed Bennett’s direction from lavish orchestral accompaniment such as “Rag to Riches” to a more percussive style. Musicians such as Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton, Herbie Mann, Billy Exiner, and Cuban bongo player Candido participated in the record, and songs such as “Broadway Lullaby,” “Crazy Rhythm,” and “Just One of the Things” were stylistically closer to Ella Fitzgerald’s swing jazz.

Tony Bennett – Love For Sale (Audio) To
Tony Bennett VEVO upon
YouTube

Bennett’s subsequent hits include “The Good Life,” “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me),” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and “For Once In My Life.”

Tony Bennett (feat. Woody Herman Orchestra) “For Once In My Life” on The Ed Sullivan Show To
The Ed Sullivan Show upon
YouTube

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-bennett-dies-age-96-grammy-winning-singer/ Grammy-winning singer Tony Bennett, beloved across generations, dies at 96

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