It’s Tony Bennett Day!
I’ve often been a sucker for a comeback story. Tony Bennett’s is a great one. Instead of changing with the times – his attempts to do so were disastrous – he returned to being who he’d always been, and the times changed with HIM.
He was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926 in Queens, New York, but was singing as Joe Bari when Bob Hope made a better suggestion.
Tony was one of those crooners I remember seeing on the variety shows hosted by Perry Como, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Danny Kaye, Andy Williams, and Dean Martin. Of course, he was on Ed Sullivan, where he appeared 18 times between 1952 and 1971.
While he didn’t entirely fade away, he became less relevant to the cultural conversation for a time.
Rebirth
As Wikipedia noted, his son Danny was pivotal in the change: “His father… had tremendous musical talent, but had trouble sustaining a career from it and had little financial sense. Danny signed on as his father’s manager.
“Danny got his father’s expenses under control, moved him back to New York City, and began booking him in colleges and small theaters to get him away from a ‘Vegas’ image. The singer had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director (and would remain with him until Sharon’s retirement in 2002).
“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.
“Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman… This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Sesame Street, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.” I specifically remember Capital City on the Simpsons; the song is on my Simpsons’ Songs in the Key of Springfield CD.
In the collection
I have several Tony Bennett albums, all but one from 1993 or later when the video of Steppin’ Out With My Baby from the album Steppin’ Out was in heavy rotation on MTV.
Then Tony had an MTV Unplugged special, which I watched. Elvis Costello and k.d. lang showed up for one song each. I own his two Duets albums with various collaborators and Tony and lang, Diana Krall, and Lady Gaga on whole albums.
Between 1963 and 1966, he was nominated for eight Grammys, winning two for I Left My Heart in San Francisco. From 1991 to 2022, he was nominated 33 times for a Grammy, receiving 17, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award. Many were songs or albums with artists decades younger than he, including Stevie Wonder and the late Amy Winehouse. He became the king of duets.
I had the pleasure of seeing Tony Bennett at Tanglewood, I believe, in the late 1990s. His opening act was Krall, and they performed songs together as well. Ralph Sharon was the pianist/musical director.
I was reading the 60 Minutes interview about Tony preparing for two concerts at Radio City Music Hall with Gaga. He was aided by his wife, Susan, while living with Alzheimer’s disease. The shows, which he did not remember only days later, were tremendous. It was recently rebroadcast on CBS.
American Songwriter called these the Top 10 10 Bennett songs. Check out his paintings.
Citations
Bennett was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame and received the United Nations “Citizen of the World” award.
The US Senate recently passed a resolution declaring August 3 as Tony Bennett Day. Senate Majority Chuck Schumer “cited Bennett’s service in World War II, as well as his decision to march with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama in 1965, ‘at a time when the agents of most entertainers discouraged them from marching in these kinds of things because they might lose some fans. But Tony didn’t care; he believed in equality.’” The House passed a similar measure.
Here is a life in pictures from The Guardian. Today would have been Tony Bennett’s 97th birthday. He was the gold standard for singers.