Tony Bennett Biography

He was born under the name of Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett, on August 3, 1926, in Astoria, Queens, New York, (USA). He is a well-known singer. Son of shopkeeper John Benedetto and seamstress Anna Suraci. His father was born in Podàrgoni, Calabria, Italy and his mother in the United States. After his parents also emigrated from Calabria. He grew up with an older sister: Maria, and an older brother: John Jr. His father died when he was only 10 years old.

At that age, one of his uncles who was a tap dancer brought him closer to the world of entertainment. Since Anthony already sang.

In 1936, he acted before the mayor of New York at the inauguration of the Triborough Bridge. Thus, he began to sing while he was studying at the High School of Industrial Art where he not only studied music but also painting, an art he continues to practice successfully (his paintings are signed by Benedetto). But he had to abandon such studies at the age of 16 in order to help his family financially.

He started his musical career singing in several Italian restaurants in Queens. In 1944, when he was 18, he was enlisted to fight in Germany during World War II with the 63rd Infantry Division, where he took part in the liberation of the Landsberg concentration camp.

After the end of the conflict, he remained for a time in that country, forming part of a musical band that entertained the occupying forces. The hard experiences lived in the war, ended by reaffirming their pacifist ideology.

Back in the United States, Anthony continued singing without pretension until he was discovered by the actress and singer: Pearl Bailey, who chose him as the support act in a show that she offered in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. In such a show, he was seen by the popular Bob Hope, who immediately realized the great talent of the young man and decided to take him with him on a tour, but he suggested that he change his name: Anthony Benedetto would be called: Tony Bennett.

In this way, Bob Hope launched him to musical stardom in 1950 and that same year, he got a contract with CBS, in which he met Percy Faith, who since then became his musical producer. His first stage of great artistic and commercial reception embraced the 1950s and early 60s.

Some of his greatest hits are: “Stranger in Paradise” the recorded song to promote “Kismet” a Broadway musical, also the melody “Blue Velvet” hits that caused the hysteria of teenage fans as happened with Elvis Presley and Franz Sinatra. Such was his welcome at that time that he offered seven concerts a day (from 10:30 in the morning to 3 in the morning) at the Paramount Theater in New York.

“Blue Velvet” returned to the present thirty years later, with the homonymous film by David Lynch (Translated as Blue Velvet).

In the summer of 1956, Tony Bennett presented a weekly variety show on NBC television (The Tony Bennett Show), replacing Perry Como, and repeated two years later.

In 1957, he released the album “The Beat of My Heart” an approach to jazz that was well received and became the first popular music singer to collaborate with Count Basie and his orchestra.

In 1962, Tony Bennett got his first two Grammy Awards in the categories: Record of the Year and Best Male Vocal Performance as a Soloist with the song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

In the seventies and eighties, he made several collaborations with jazz figures such as Jimmy McPartland, Bill Evans, George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie and Dexter Gordon.

His formula for not losing force in the competitive music industry was to make new versions of classic jazz artists such as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. However, a few years later his success began to decline because then the public was more inclined towards The Beatles and Rock & Roll.

This decline led him to consume cocaine and suffer economic problems. In 1966, he tried his luck in the film with the movie “The Oscar” which received no good reviews and was not shoot again in thirty years.

Before these new musical trends, Tony Bennett was pressured by the president of CBS Records, to play a more youthful repertoire, but Tony was reluctant to enter the Rock world.

Finally, in 1970, he agreed to record an album of “Successes of today” which failed to convince anyone. Thus, in 1972, he left Columbia Records to sign with MGM Records, but he also did not have good results and soon he saw himself without a record company.

Then he founded his own label: “Improv” which failed because it did not have an adequate distribution network.

In this way, he ran out of manager and, seen only as an “old glory” was called exclusively to sing in the casinos of Las Vegas. Tired of this, he moved to the United Kingdom looking for a more receptive market, but again failed. In 1979, Tony bottomed out. He spent more money than he could, suffered a terrible overdose of cocaine that almost took his life, moreover his house in Los Angeles ran the risk of being seized by the US Treasury. Desperate, he asked for help from his sons Danny and Dae and undertook a progressive relaunch. Which led to that in December of the same year he made an amazing comeback, acting as a guest of honor celebrating his 40th professional anniversary.

His children had formed a musical group that did not work, as they lacked parental talent. However, they had a better eye for business; Danny became his manager and got his economic and artistic recovery. Also, thanks to a more rational management, managed to settle the debts with the US Treasury and in the early 80’s Tony reappeared in small stores in New York, trying to get rid of the decadent figure associated with Las Vegas. In 1986, Tony re-signed with the company of his greatest successes: Columbia Records, and expanded his audience towards a younger generation, all this, maintaining his musical style and his classic image of gentleman suit.

Thus, his resurgence was materialized with “The Art of Excellence” that entered in the best-selling lists in 1986, leaving behind the commercial failures. From then on, and wisely advised by his son Danny, Tony Bennett made several collaborations in radio and television that made him popular among the new generations: he participated in charity acts of small radio stations, went to the programs of David Letterman and the renowned Muppets and even came to appear in the animated series “The Simpsons”.

According to his own words, the young audience ignored all the melodic tradition of the early twentieth century that he carried with him, but he connected with that market. Tony Bennett has received 18 Grammy Awards in total, plus two Emmy Awards. He was married to Patricia Beech, a fan (1952 to 1971) with whom he had two children: Danny and Dae. After divorcing, he remarried Sandra Grant in 1971, and after divorcing again in 2007, he married Susan Crow that same year.