Tony Bennett, legendary singer and musician, dies at 96 – KMBC Kansas City

Tony Bennett, the traditional pop and jazz singer known for songs such as “The Way You Look Tonight” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” has died. He was 96 years old.Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press, saying he died in his hometown of New York.In February 2021, Bennett’s team confirmed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.Bennett gave the pop music community over five decades of success, earning a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, as well as a total of 41 Grammy nominations and 19 wins. He has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Bennett began his career in the late 1940s after serving in World War II. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 and served in Germany through the end of the war. He was also an accomplished painter.Bennett was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on Aug. 3, 1926, in Queens, New York. His father, Giovanni Benedetto, was a grocer, and his mother, Anna Maria, was a seamstress. His parents were both immigrants from Calabria, Italy, a region in the southwestern part of Italy. Bennett studied music and painting at the New York High School of Industrial Arts. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 to help support his family by performing as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants.Bennett served on the front lines of World War II until 1945 and notably aided with the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp in Landsberg, Germany. After the war, he sang in an Army band until he returned to the States in 1946. He then attended the American Theater Wing and studied Bel Canto singing.At the beginning of his professional career, Bennett drew from influences such as legends like Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, among others, but he eventually created his own style of singing. He became known for using jazz-style phrasing in his singing by imitating instrumental techniques with his own vocals.Bennett appealed with an easy, courtly manner and an uncommonly rich and durable voice – “A tenor who sings like a baritone,” he called himself – that made him a master of caressing a ballad or brightening an up-tempo number.”I enjoy entertaining the audience, making them forget their problems,” he told The Associated Press in 2006. “I think people … are touched if they hear something that’s sincere and honest and maybe has a little sense of humor. … I just like to make people feel good when I perform.”One of Bennett’s first major gigs was a concert tour opening up for Bob Hope, who was the first to suggest he use the name “Tony Bennett” instead of his birth name. Bennett officially signed a record contract with Columbia Records and released his first big hit “Because of You” in 1950. It sold over 1 million copies and reached the No. 1 spot on the 1951 pop charts. He had other No. 1 hits with “Blue Velvet,” “Rags to Riches” and “Stranger in Paradise.”He also hosted “The Tony Bennett Show: for one season in 1956, in which he would perform with special guests such as Chaz Chase and The Mills Brothers. Bennett performed what is now remembered as a landmark concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June 1962. The show featured 44 songs. Later that year, he released the classic “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” which held a spot on the charts for a year and is remembered as one of his signature songs. Bennett was praised often by his peers, but never more meaningfully than by what Frank Sinatra said in a 1965 Life magazine interview: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.”In recent years, Bennett is most well-known for his work with pop megastar Lady Gaga. The pair recorded an album together in 2014 called “Cheek to Cheek” which led to critical acclaim for both vocalists. The album debuted at No. 1 in the U.S. and won the Best Traditional Pop Album award at the 57th Grammy Awards. Following the release of “Cheek to Cheek,” the pair embarked on a concert tour to promote the album. Gaga and Bennett released a second traditional pop duo album in 2021, this one titled “Love For Sale.” This album was released shortly after Bennett’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis became public. “Love For Sale” made him the oldest person to release an album of new material at the age of 95 years and 60 days, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.Bennett announced his retirement from performing and hosted his final concerts at Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 3 and 5, 2021. Bennett leaves behind four children and his wife Susan Crow, whom he married in 2007. Crow, who is 40 years younger than Bennett, was once the head of the Bay Area chapter of a Tony Bennett fan club. Bennett’s two oldest children, D’Andrea “Danny” and Daegal “Dae,” were born to Bennett’s first wife Patricia Beech in 1954 and 1955. Danny worked as his father’s manager for many years.Bennett had his two youngest children with his second wife, actress Sandra Grant, who he met while filming the movie “The Oscar.” Their daughter Joanna was born in 1970 and another daughter Antonia, who is also a singer, was born in 1974. Bennett was also a grandfather to four children. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source link

Source: News