Concert: Tony Bennett

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Tony Bennett Concert Schedule

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Tony Bennett

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Background:

Tony Bennett has enjoyed a career with three distinct phases and each of them had been very successful. The three phases were from 50's to 60, from 60's to 80 and then from mid 80's till the present. In his first musical phase he scored a series of major hits that made him one of the most popular recording artists of the time. In the second phase he became famous for his adult albums, and in his third phase he achieved renewed popularity with generations of listeners who hadn't been born when he first appeared. The varying taste of people in music might have caused Tony's level of recognition to rise or fall, but he has been singing in the same deep and husky voice varying his timing and phrasing with a jazz fan's sense of spontaneity to bring out the melodies and lyrics of the songs effectively.

Bennett grew up in the Astoria section of the borough of Queens in New York City and was originally called Anthony Dominick Benedetto. His father was a grocer who died due to some undiagnosed lingering illness when Tony was about ten years old. The financial burden of feeding five members pushed Tony's mother to work as a seamstress. Though he was barely ten at that time but his singing capabilities were gaining him a lot of attention and he was being noticed as a singer, performing beside Mayor Fiorello La Guardia at the opening of the Triborough Bridge in 1936. as he grew up he made up his mind to choose singing as his career. After briefly attending the High School of Industrial Arts, he dropped out of school at 16 to earn money to help support his family, meanwhile also performing at amateur shows.

When he turned 18 in 1944, he was drafted into the army, and he saw combat in Europe during World War II. After serving the army for two years he went back to his original passion for music and he attended the American Theater Wing on the GI Bill. By the end of the 1940s, he had acquired a manager and was working regularly around New York. He got a break When Bob Hope saw him performing with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village he gave Tony his first break and put him into his stage show. He also suggested a name change to Tony Bennett. In 1950, Columbia Records A&R director Mitch Miller heard his demonstration recording of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and signed him to the label.

Bennett's first hit, "Because of You," topped the charts in September 1951, succeeded at number one by his cover of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." This was followed by five chart entries over the period of next two years. He did a comeback at the number one position in November 1953 with "Rags to Riches." This was followed by "Stranger in Paradise" from the Broadway musical Kismet. It was another chart-topper, and in 1954 Bennett also reached the Top Ten with Williams' "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight" and "Cinnamon Sinner." His popularity decreased like the rest o the singers as there was a rise in rock & roll type of music in the mid-'50s. Even with a rise in the rock music Tony continued to place singles in the charts regularly through 1960, and even reached the Top Ten with "In the Middle of an Island" in 1957. During the same time he developed a nightclub act that leaned more heavily on standards and was exploring album projects that allowed him to indulge his interest in jazz.

Bennett introduced "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," a ballad written by two unknown songwriters, George Cory and Douglass Cross, in 1962, who had pitched it to his pianist, Ralph Sharon. It was released as a single by Columbia, and even though it took time to get recognition it remained on one or the other of the national charts for almost nine months. It became Bennett's signature song and pushed his career to new heights. The album I Left My Heart in San Francisco reached the Top Five and went gold, and its hit single won Bennett Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance, Male. His next studio album, I Wanna Be Around, released in 1963 also made the Top Five, and its title track was another Top 20 hit, as was Bennett's next single, "The Good Life," also featured on the album. For the next three years, Bennett's albums consistently placed in the Top 100, along with a series of charting singles. In late 60's when the euphoria of Tony's music had subsided Clive Davis, head of Columbia parent CBS Records, encouraged him to record modern pop/rock material. The idea was not a huge hit and by the mid-'70s he was without a label affiliation so he decided to found his own record company, Improv, to record the way he wanted to. He made several albums for Improv, including a duet record with jazz pianist Bill Evans.

Bennett had become a legend by the late 70's and was not in need of any hit records to sustain his career. He performed in concerts all over the world. Bennett signed again with Columbia Records and released The Art of Excellence, his first chart album in 14 years. . Since his comeback in the early 90's he has won several Grammys.