Tony Bennett

The son of a grocer and Italian-born immigrant, Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born on August 3, 1926, in the Astoria section of Queens, New York. He attended the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan, where he nurtured his dual passions, singing and painting. His boyhood idols included Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, both big influences on Bennett’s easy, natural singing style. Tony sang while waiting tables as a teenager then performed with military bands throughout his overseas Army duty during World War II. After the war, the GI Bill enabled him to study vocal technique at the American Theatre Wing School. The first time he sang in a nightclub was 1946 when he sat in with trombonist Tyree Glenn at the Shangri-La in Astoria.

Tony’s big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village. As he recalls, Bob Hope came down to check out my act. He liked my singing so much that after the show he came back to see me in my dressing room and said, eCome on kid, you’re going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.’ But first he told me he didn’t care for my stage name (Joe Bari) and asked me what my real name was. I told him, eMy name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto,’ and he said, eWe’ll call you Tony Bennett.’ And that’s how it happened. A new Americanized name, the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for sixty years.

With worldwide record sales in the millions, and dozens of platinum and gold albums to his credit, Tony has received fifteen Grammy Awards including the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

His initial fame came via a string of Columbia singles in the early 1950s, including such chart-toppers as Because of You, Rags To Riches and a cover of Hank Williams’ Cold, Cold Heart. He has placed two-dozen songs in the Top 40, including I Wanna Be Around, The Good Life, Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) and his signature hit, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, which earned him two Grammy Awards. Tony Bennett is one of a handful of artists to have new albums chart in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and into the new millennium. He introduced a multitude of songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become pop music standards. He has toured the world to sold out audiences, winning rave reviews whenever he performs. Tony re-signed with Columbia Records in 1986 and released the critically acclaimed The Art Of Excellence. Since his show-stopping performance of When Do the Bells Ring for Me, from his Astoria album, at the 1991 Grammy Awards, he has been awarded Grammys for Steppin’ Out, Perfectly Frank, MTV Unplugged, Playin’ with My Friends, The Art of Romance and Duets: An American Classic. In celebration of his unparalleled contributions to popular music, Columbia/Legacy assembled Forty Years: The Artistry Of Tony Bennett. The four-CD boxed set, released in 1991, chronicled the singer’s stellar recording career and documents his growth as an artist, inspiring Time magazine to call the collection , the essence of why CD boxed sets are a blessing. Recently, thanks to Tony’s remarkable career longevity, the set has been updated and expanded, with the title changed from Forty Years to Fifty Years.

Tony Bennett became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005, and was named an NEA Jazz Master in January of 2006 and was also named the recipient of Billboard magazine’s elite Century Award, in honor of his outstanding contributions to music.

Tony has received the first of his two Emmy Awards to date and a Cable Ace Award for his groundbreaking television special, Live By Request…Tony Bennett, which featured a unique interactive format in which the viewing audience called in song requests during the program, a concept created by Bennett that evolved into a series the A&E network and was on the air for nine years. Tony has also authored three books: What My Heart Has Seen, a beautifully bound edition of his paintings published in 1996; The Good Life, his heartfelt autobiography released in 1998; and Tony Bennett In the Studio, a sumptuous salute to his dual career as singer and painter, published in 2007.

Throughout his career, Tony Bennett has always put his heart and time into humanitarian concerns. He has raised millions of dollars for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, which established a research fund in his name. His original paintings each year grace the cover of the American Cancer Society’s holiday greeting card, proceeds from which are earmarked for cancer research. He is active in environmental concerns and has performed at fundraisers for both the Walden Woods Foundation and the Save the Rainforest Foundation. The Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta bestowed upon him their Salute to Greatness Award for his efforts to fight discrimination. The United Nations presented him with their 2007 Humanitarian Award.

Tony Bennett turned 80 on August 3, 2006, an event which has generated a wide range of tributes and celebrations.

Notables from the worlds of music, stage, screen and politics were on-hand to help Tony celebrated his 80th birthday at a star-studded party at the Museum of Natural History in New York. The evening included heartfelt tributes from Harry Belafonte, Bruce Willis, Katie Couric and former President Bill Clinton.

As the world’s most boyish octogenarian, a vital musical artist, at the peak of his powers, Tony Bennett is living proof that, to steal a line from Sinatra, fairy tales can come true if you’re young at heart.