In his 91st year, Tony Bennett still lives — as he once sang — the good life.
“My whole life has been singing and painting,” Bennett said recently after receiving the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. “I can’t really ask for a better life.
“I wake up and say: ‘What should I create today? What a feeling.”
What a life.
What a singer.
Tony Bennett – who performs at The Sharon on Wednesday, Feb. 7 — is more than a performer; he is an American cultural treasure. He is a living, breathing, singing testament to the history of American popular music from Louis Armstrong to Lady Gaga.
“Tony Bennett is what music is all about,” said Villager Hope Magee, a dancer with Music In Motion. That dance company will offer a show on the history of music in Savannah Center, Feb. 13-15.
“Someone like Tony Bennett is open to all styles of music,” Magee said. “He represents all generations and their love of music, and what music means in our lives. I saw him in concert once, and I’ll never forget it.”
Here’s Bennett singing “The Good Life”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x3i4zvwN60
Tony Bennett’s story starts out in Queens, New York.
“We ended up in Astoria,” Bennett said during a PBS special for the Gershwin Prize. His real name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto. His father worked as a grocer and his mother was a seamstress.
“My father (John) loved music, and that’s what he gave to me, I love it,” Bennett said. His father died when Tony was 10. “My mom (Anna) raised us. We were completely impoverished. But my mom fought for us and had dignity, and loved life.”
At the end of World War II, Bennett cut his first record, “Fascinating Rhythm.” He has been creating beautiful music and hit records ever since.
“This is about love for Tony,” Michael Buble’ said during the Gershwin Award ceremony. “This song explains how I feel about him, better than I ever could.” Buble’ then sang “The Very Thought of You.”
“Tony’s one of my all-time favorite singers,” Willie Nelson said. One of the highlights was a video of Bennett singing “Body and Soul” with Amy Winehouse.
Lady Gaga teamed with Bennett for a best-selling album a few years ago and in an interview with Parade, described his influence this way:
“I tell Tony every day that he saved my life….I was so sad. I couldn’t sleep. I felt dead. And then I spent a lot of time with Tony. He wanted nothing but my friendship and my voice.”
Bennett has said, Lady G is “a wonderful person and a wonderful artist. Here is a video of them singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPAmDULCVrU
Their album of jazz standards, “Cheek to Cheek,” won a Grammy Award and hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Such is the magic of Tony Bennett.
And it extends beyond show business.
Bennett and his wife, Susan Crow, co-founded the “Exploring the Arts” charity, which promotes arts in education.
“We go to different schools throughout America and encourage young artists to become permanent artists,” Bennett told PBS. Bennett opened his first school in Astoria, Queens called “The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts.”
It was named after Tony’s good buddy and singing pal.
“We started that school, and now we have 35 schools throughout America,” Bennett said.
In addition to singing, he has a passion for painting.
“Here I am at 91 and I’m still (painting) every day,” Bennett said on PBS. Bennett studied painting at the New York School of Industrial Art.
Bennett’s painting of Central Park is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His painting of Duke Ellington is also in the Smithsonian. His painting of Ella Fitzgerald is in the National Museum of American History.
He signs his paintings, “Benedetto.”
“It’s almost as if I have two careers,” Bennett told PBS. “I have Tony Bennett as an entertainer. When I paint I just say Benedetto.”
Bennett takes the same approach to painting, as he does with music. It has been that way since he started so long ago.”
“The whole premise was to do everything with quality,” he said during the Gershwin ceremony. “I didn’t do any cheap songs just to make a buck. Stay with quality.”
That philosophy has paid off with 19 Grammy Awards, sold tens of millions of albums and is a Kennedy Center honoree. His hits include: “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” “Stranger in Paradise,” “The Good Life,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “Because of You,” “Rags to Riches,” and “Smile.”
Here’s his big one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsCRk7-zd9I
But Bennett’s legacy involves more than the arts.
“This man is not just a great artist, but also a great citizen,” said jazz artist Wynton Marsalis on PBS. “Deep down in his soul, Tony Bennett believes in the very best in our country.
“His family instilled in him, an abiding faith in equality. When that faith was challenged…Tony Bennett proudly answered the call.” During the 1960s, Bennett marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
“I dislike racial prejudice; I disliked it then, and I dislike it now,” Bennett said during the Gershwin ceremony.
“You were vocal during the civil rights struggle and you have a history of standing up at the right times,” Bono of U2 told Bennett on PBS.
“Long before it was popular…you stepped out and you spoke on (racial prejudice),” added Stevie Wonder. “I have to say I have much respect for you as a human being and as a man.”
Dr. Carla Hayden, head Librarian of Congress, said it best presenting the Gershwin Award to Bennett.
“In the music world, Tony Bennett has given new meaning to the words timeless and immortal.”
Bennett was emotional on stage that night.
“I just know how much I love the United States of America,” he told the audience. “I perform all over the world, and they still haven’t topped us. We are the best country in the world.”
The time for speeches ended.
Tony Bennett sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” and the story of his artistry and impact on American music was complete.
