Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages ofWorld War II as aU.S. Armyinfantryman in theEuropean Theater. Afterward, he developed his singing technique, signed withColumbia Records and had his first number-one popular song with "Because of You" in 1951. Several popular tracks such as "Rags to Riches" followed in early 1953. He then refined his approach to encompassjazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such asThe Beat of My Heart andStrike Up the Band. In 1962, Bennett recorded hissignature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". His career and personal life experienced an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era. Bennett staged a comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s, putting outgold record albums again and expanding his reach to theMTV Generation while keeping his musical style intact.
Bennett continued to create popular and critically praised work into the 21st century. He attracted renewed acclaim late in his career for his collaboration withLady Gaga, which began with the albumCheek to Cheek (2014); the two performerstoured together to promote the album throughout 2014 and 2015. With the release of the duo's second album,Love for Sale (2021), Bennett broke the individual record for the longest span of top-10 albums on theBillboard 200 chart for any living artist; his first top-10 record wasI Left My Heart in San Francisco in 1962. Bennett also broke theGuinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material, at the age of 95 years and 60 days.
In February 2021, Bennett revealed that he had been diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease in 2016.[2] Due to the slow progression of his illness, he continued to record, tour, and perform until his retirement from concerts due to physical challenges, which was announced afterhis final performances on August 3 and 5, 2021, atRadio City Music Hall.[3]
Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born on August 3, 1926,[4] at St. John's Hospital inLong Island City, Queens, in New York City.[5] His parents were grocer John Benedetto and seamstress Anna (née Suraci), and he was the first member of his family to be born in a hospital.[6] In 1906, John had emigrated fromPodargoni, a rural eastern district of thesouthern Italian city ofReggio Calabria; he was a member of the local ethnic Greek community (Griko people).[7] Anna had been born in the U.S. shortly after her parents also emigrated from theCalabria region in 1899.[6][7] Other relatives came over as well as part of themass migration of Italians to America.[6][7] Tony grew up with an older sister, Mary, and an older brother, John Jr.[8] With a father who was ailing and unable to work, the children grew up in poverty.[9] John Sr. instilled in his son a love of art and literature, and a compassion for human suffering,[10] but died when Tony was ten years old.[9]
Bennett attended New York'sSchool of Industrial Art where he studied painting and music[16] and would later appreciate their emphasis on proper technique.[17] But he dropped out at age 16 to help support his family.[18] He worked as a copy boy and runner for theAssociated Press inManhattan[19] and in several other low-skilled, low-paying jobs.[20] He mostly set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and enjoying a successful engagement at aParamus, New Jersey, nightclub.[15][20]
As theGerman Army was pushed back to its homeland, Benedetto and hiscompany saw bitter fighting in cold winter conditions, often hunkering down infoxholes as German88 mm guns fired on them.[24] At the end of March, they crossed theRhine and entered Germany, engaging in dangerous house-to-house, town-after-town fighting to clean out German soldiers;[24] during the first week of April, they crossed theKocher River, and by the end of the month reached theDanube.[25] During his time in combat, Benedetto narrowly escaped death several times.[9] The experience made him apacifist;[9] he would later write, "Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one",[23] and later say, "It was a nightmare that's permanent. I just said, 'This is not life. This is not life.'"[26] At the war's conclusion he was involved in the liberation of theKaufering concentration camp, a subcamp ofDachau, nearLandsberg, where some American prisoners of war from the 63rd Division had also been held.[25] He later wrote in his autobiography that "I saw things no human being should ever have to see."[27]
Benedetto stayed inGermany as part of theoccupying force but was assigned to an informal Special Services band unit that would entertain nearby American forces.[9] His dining with a black friend from high school—at a time whenthe Army was still racially segregated—led to his being demoted and reassigned toGraves Registration Service duties.[28] Subsequently, he sang with the314th Army Special Services Band under the stage name Joe Bari[29] (a name he had started using before the war, chosen afterthe city andprovince in Italy, and as a partialanagram of his family origins in Calabria).[30] He played with many musicians who would have post-war careers.[29]
Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, Benedetto studied at theAmerican Theatre Wing on theGI Bill.[13] He was taught thebel canto singing discipline,[31] which would keep his voice in good shape for his entire career. He continued to perform wherever he could, including while waiting tables.[9] Based upon a suggestion from a teacher at the American Theatre Wing, he developed an unusual approach that involved imitating, as he sang, the style and phrasing of other musicians—such as that ofStan Getz's saxophone andArt Tatum's piano—helping him to improvise as he interpreted a song.[18][32] He made a few recordings as Bari in 1949 for a small outfit called Leslie Records, but they failed to sell.[33]
Bennett (right) with Chicago columnist and talk show hostIrv Kupcinet, during the 1950s
Warned by Miller not to imitateFrank Sinatra[11] (who was just then leaving Columbia), Bennett began his career as acrooner ofcommercial pop tunes. His first big hit was "Because of You", a ballad produced by Miller with a lush orchestral arrangement fromPercy Faith. It started out gaining popularity onjukeboxes, then reached number one on the pop charts in 1951 and stayed there for ten weeks,[34] selling over a million copies.[33] This was followed to the top of the charts later that year[34] by a similarly styled rendition ofHank Williams's "Cold, Cold Heart", which helped introduce Williams and country music in general to a wider, more national audience.[35] The Miller and Faith tandem continued to work on all of Bennett's early hits. Bennett's recording of "Blue Velvet" was also very popular and attracted screaming teenage fans at concerts at the famedParamount Theater in New York (Bennett did seven shows a day, starting at 10:30 am)[36] and elsewhere.
A third number-one came in 1953 with "Rags to Riches". Unlike Bennett's other early hits, this was an up-tempobig band number with a bold,brassy sound and a doubletango in the instrumental break; it topped the charts for eight weeks.[34] Later that year, the producers of the upcomingBroadway musicalKismet had Bennett record "Stranger in Paradise" as a way of promoting the show during a New York newspaper strike.[37] The song reached the top, the show was a hit, and Bennett began a long practice of recordingshow tunes.[37] "Stranger in Paradise" was also a number-one hit in the United Kingdom a year and a half later.[38]
Once therock and roll era began in 1955, the dynamic of the music industry changed and it became harder and harder for existing pop singers to do well commercially.[13] Nevertheless, Bennett continued to enjoy success, placing eight songs in theBillboardTop 40 during the latter part of the 1950s, with "In the Middle of an Island" (which he vehemently hated) reaching the highest at number nine in 1957.[39]
For a month in August–September 1956, Bennett hosted anNBC Saturday night television variety show,The Tony Bennett Show, as a summer replacement forThe Perry Como Show.[40]Patti Page andJulius La Rosa had in turn hosted the two previous months, and they all shared the same singers, dancers, and orchestra.[40] In 1959, Bennett would again fill in forThe Perry Como Show, this time alongsideTeresa Brewer andJaye P. Morgan as co-hosts of the summer-longPerry Presents.[41]
In 1954, the guitaristChuck Wayne became Bennett's musical director.[42] Bennett released his first long-playing album in 1955,Cloud 7. The album was billed asfeaturing Wayne and showed Bennett's leanings towards jazz. In 1957,Ralph Sharon became Bennett's pianist, arranger, and musical director,[43] replacing Wayne. Sharon told Bennett that a career singing "sweet saccharine songs like 'Blue Velvet'" would not last long, and encouraged Bennett to focus even more on his jazz inclinations.[11][44]
Bennett also built up the quality and, therefore, the reputation of hisnightclub act; in this he was following the path of Sinatra and other top jazz and standards singers of this era.[13] In June 1962, Bennett staged ahighly promoted concert performance at Carnegie Hall, using a stellar lineup of musicians includingAl Cohn,Kenny Burrell, and Candido, as well as the Ralph Sharon Trio. Carnegie Hall had not featured a male pop performer until then (onlyJudy Garland one year before that).[46] The concert featured 44 songs, including favorites like "I've Got the World on a String" and "The Best Is Yet To Come". It was a big success and like Garland's, the concert was recorded for posterity, further cementing Bennett's reputation as a star both at home and abroad.[11][47] Bennett also appeared on television, and in October 1962 he sang on the initial broadcast ofThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[48]
"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."
The next year broughtthe Beatles and theBritish Invasion, and with them still more musical and cultural attention to rock and less to pop, standards, and jazz. Over the next couple of years, Bennett had minor hits with several albums and singles based onshow tunes; his last top-40 single was the number 34 "If I Ruled the World" from the musicalPickwick in 1965,[39] but his commercial fortunes were clearly starting to decline. An attempt to break into acting with a role in the poorly received 1966 filmThe Oscar met with middling reviews for Bennett; he did not enjoy the experience and did not seek further roles.[50][51]
A firm believer in theCivil Rights Movement,[31] Bennett participated in the 1965Selma to Montgomery marches.[52] He performed in the "Stars for Freedom" rally the night before Martin Luther King's "How Long, Not Long" speech.[53] At the conclusion of the march, Bennett was driven to the airport byViola Liuzzo, a mother of five from Detroit, who was murdered later that day by the Ku Klux Klan.[53]
Bennett refused to perform inapartheid South Africa.[16]
Ralph Sharon and Bennett parted ways in 1965.[43] There was great pressure on singers such asLena Horne andBarbra Streisand to record "contemporary" rock songs and, in this vein, Columbia Records'Clive Davis suggested that Bennett do the same.[13] Bennett was very reluctant and, when he tried, the results pleased no one. This was exemplified byTony Sings the Great Hits of Today! (1970),[13] before which Bennett became physically ill at the thought of recording.[54] It featured covers of Beatles and other current songs and a psychedelic art cover.[54][55]
Years later, Bennett would recall his dismay at being asked to do contemporary material, comparing it to when his mother was forced to produce a cheap dress.[56] By 1972, he had departed Columbia for theVerve division of MGM Records (Philips in the UK) and relocated for a stint in London, where he hosted a television show from theTalk of the Town nightclub in conjunction withThames Television,Tony Bennett at the Talk of the Town.[57][58][59] With his new label, he tried a variety of approaches, including some more Beatles material, but found no renewed commercial success, and in a couple more years he was without a recording contract.[13][60]
Taking matters into his own hands, Bennett started his own record company, Improv.[13] He recorded some songs that would later become favorites, such as "What is This Thing Called Love?", and made two well-regarded albums with jazz pianistBill Evans,The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (1975) andTogether Again (1976),[47] but Improv lacked a distribution arrangement with a major label and by 1977, it was out of business.[13][61]
As the decade neared its end, Bennett had no recording contract, no manager, and was not performing many concerts outside ofLas Vegas.[18] He had developed adrug addiction, was living beyond his means, and had theInternal Revenue Service trying to seize his Los Angeles home.[18][61]
After a near-fatalcocaineoverdose in 1979, Bennett called his sons Danny and Dae for help. "Look, I'm lost here", he told them. "It seems like people don't want to hear the music I make."[18]
Danny and Dae's band,Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends, had floundered and the former realized he was not musically talented but had a head for business. His father, on the other hand, 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.[61]
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.[18][61] After some effort, a successful plan to pay back the IRS debt was put into place.[61] The singer had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director[43] (and would remain with him until Sharon's retirement in 2002).[44] By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and releasedThe Art of Excellence. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.[13]
Henry Mancini's theme song "Life in a Looking Glass" from theBlake Edwards motion pictureThat's Life (1986), sung by Bennett, received a nomination at theOscars for Best Original Song.[62]
Danny Bennett felt that younger audiences who were unfamiliar with his father would respond to his music if given a chance.[63] No changes to Tony's formal appearance, singing style, musical accompaniment (The Ralph Sharon Trio or an orchestra), or song choice (generally theGreat American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.[13][64] Accordingly, Danny began regularly to book his father onLate Night with David Letterman, a show with a younger, "hip" audience.[63] This was subsequently followed by appearances onLate Night with Conan O'Brien,Sesame Street,The Simpsons,Muppets Tonight, and variousMTV programs.[16][18] In 1993, Bennett played a series of benefit concerts organized byalternative rock radio stations around the country.[63] The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, "I realized that young people had never heard those songs.Cole Porter,Gershwin—they were like, 'Who wrote that?' To them, it was different. If you're different, you stand out."[18]
During this time, Bennett continued to record, first putting out the acclaimed look-backAstoria: Portrait of the Artist (1990), then emphasizing themed albums such as the Sinatra homagePerfectly Frank (1992) and theFred Astaire tributeSteppin' Out (1993). The latter two both achieved gold status and won Grammys forBest Traditional Pop Vocal Performance (Bennett's first Grammys since 1962) and further established Bennett as the inheritor of the mantle of a classic American great.[63]
The new audience reached its height with Bennett's appearance in 1994 onMTV Unplugged.[61] (He quipped on the show, "I've been unplugged my whole career.") Featuring guest appearances by rock and country starsElvis Costello andk.d. lang (both of whom had an affinity for the standards genre), the show attracted a considerable audience and much media attention.[63] The resultingMTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize ofAlbum of the Year.[11][66]
Following his comeback, Bennett financially prospered; by 1999, his assets were worth $15 to 20 million. He had no intention of retiring, saying in reference to masters such asPablo Picasso,Jack Benny, and Fred Astaire: "right up to the day they died, they were performing. If you are creative, you get busier as you get older." He continued to record and tour steadily, playing a hundred shows a year by the end of the 1990s.[61] In concert, he often made a point of singing one song (usually "Fly Me to the Moon") without any microphone or amplification, demonstrating his skills atvocal projection.[64][67][68] One show,Tony Bennett's Wonderful World: Live From San Francisco, was made into aPBS special. He conceptualized and starred in the first episode of theA&E Network's popularLive by Request series, for which he won anEmmy Award.[61][66] He madecameo appearances as himself in films such asThe Scout,Analyze This, andBruce Almighty.[69]
In 1998, Bennett performed on the final day of a mud-soakedGlastonbury Festival in an immaculate suit and tie,[70] his whole set on this occasion consisting of songs about the weather. His autobiographyThe Good Life was also first published in 1998. A series of albums, often based on themes (such asDuke Ellington,Louis Armstrong,Billie Holiday,blues, or duets), met with largely positive reviews.[66]
For his contribution to the recording industry, Bennett was given a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1560Vine Street.[71] Bennett was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997, was awarded theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and received a lifetime achievement award from theAmerican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2002.[72] In 2002,Q magazine named Bennett in its list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die".[73] On December 4, 2005, Bennett was the recipient of aKennedy Center Honor.[66] Later, a theatrical musical revue of his songs, calledI Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett was created and featured some of his best-known songs such as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Because of You", and "Wonderful".[74] The following year, Bennett was inducted into theLong Island Music Hall of Fame.[75]
Danny Bennett continued to be Tony's manager while Dae Bennett is arecording engineer who worked on a number of Tony's projects and who opened Bennett Studios inEnglewood, New Jersey in 2001, now shuttered due to the downturn of major label budgets combined with skyrocketing overhead. Tony's younger daughter Antonia is an aspiring jazz singer who opened shows for her father.[18]
In September 2011, Bennett appeared onThe Howard Stern Show and named American military actions in the Middle East as the root cause of theSeptember 11 attacks.[26] Bennett also claimed that former PresidentGeorge W. Bush personally told him at the Kennedy Center in December 2005 that he felt he had made a mistakeinvading Iraq, to which a Bush spokesperson replied, "This account is flatly wrong."[86] Following bad press resulting from his remarks, Bennett clarified his position, writing: "There is simply no excuse for terrorism and the murder of the nearly 3,000 innocent victims of the 9/11 attacks on our country. My life experiences, ranging from theBattle of the Bulge to marching withMartin Luther King, made me a life-long humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior."[87]
In September 2011, Bennett releasedDuets II, a follow-up to his first collaboration album, in conjunction with his 85th birthday. He sang duets with seventeen prominent singers of varying techniques, includingAretha Franklin,Willie Nelson,Queen Latifah, andLady Gaga.[88] Bennett appeared on the season 2 premiere of the television proceduralBlue Bloods performing "It Had To Be You" withCarrie Underwood.[89] His duet withAmy Winehouse on "Body and Soul"—reportedly the last recording she made before her death[90]—charted on the lower reaches of theBillboard Hot 100, making Bennett the oldest living artist to appear there, as well as the artist with the greatest span of appearances.[91] The single did well in Europe, where it reached the top 15 in several countries. The album then debuted at number one on theBillboard 200, making Bennett the oldest living artist to reach that top spot, as well as marking the first time he had reached it himself.[92] A model ofKoss headphones, the Tony Bennett Signature Edition (TBSE1), was created for this milestone[93] (Bennett having been one of the early adopters of the Koss product back in the 1960s).[94] In November 2011, Columbia releasedTony Bennett – The Complete Collection, a 73-CD plus 3-DVD set, which although not absolutely "complete", finally brought forth many albums that had not had a previous CD release, as well as some unreleased material and rarities.[58][95] In December 2011, Bennett appeared at theRoyal Variety Performance inSalford in the presence ofPrincess Anne.[96]
In September 2014, Bennett performed for the first time in Israel, with his jazz quartet at theCharles Bronfman Auditorium inTel Aviv, receiving a standing ovation. He also made a surprise cameo appearance on stage with Lady Gaga atYarkon Park, Tel Aviv, the previous evening.[102] The performance took place days before the release that month of the two stars' much-delayed collaborative effort and resultant Grammy-winning album,Cheek to Cheek, which debuted at number one on theBillboard charts, extending the 88-year-old Bennett's record for the oldest artist to do so,[103] It also earned him theGuinness World Records for "oldest person to reach No.1 on the US Album Chart with a newly recorded album", at the age of 88 years and 69 days.[104] In October 2014, Bennett and Lady Gaga released the concert specialTony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live!,[105] and at the end of the year, they kicked off their co-headliningCheek to Cheek Tour.[106] The pair also appeared in aBarnes & Noble commercial.[107]
On August 19, 2016, shortly after his 90th birthday, Bennett was honored by the unveiling of an 8-foot tall statue in his likeness in front of theFairmont Hotel in San Francisco. With SenatorDianne Feinstein, House Minority LeaderNancy Pelosi, and several San Francisco mayors in attendance, Bennett was serenaded by a young-adult choir singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". Bennett had first sung the song at the hotel in 1961. That same year, he performed at theMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24 and theRockefeller Center tree lighting on November 30. On December 20, 2016, NBC televised a special concert in honor of his 90th birthday, calledTony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet to Come.[110] In September 2018, Bennett re-recorded theGeorge Gershwin song "Fascinating Rhythm", after 68 years and 342 days, according to theGuinness World Records adjudicator, earning the title of "longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist".[111][112] The song appeared on the collaborative albumLove Is Here to Stay withDiana Krall that was released on September 14.[113]
Bennett's final album,Love for Sale, another collaborative record with Lady Gaga, was released on September 30, 2021. The record received generally favorable reviews, and debuted at number eight in the United States.[114][115]Alexis Petridis called Bennett's performance on the album "pretty remarkable" despite the singer's age and health condition in his review forThe Guardian.[116] Bennett broke the individual record for the longest span of top-10 albums on theBillboard 200 chart for any living artist; his first top-10 record wasI Left My Heart in San Francisco in 1962.[117] Bennett also broke the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material, at the age of 95 years and 60 days[118] until being surpassed bysaxophonistMarshall Allen at age 100 on February 14, 2025.[119]
Bennett's final live performances were on August 3 and 5, 2021, when he presented a pair of shows with Lady Gaga atRadio City Music Hall. On August 12, 2021, nine days after his 95th birthday, Bennett's retirement from concerts was announced by his son and manager Danny Bennett. Danny stated that though his father remained a capable singer, he was becoming physically frail and risked a major fall if he continued touring.[120] A television special,One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga debuted on November 28, 2021, onCBS, which contained select performances from the two final concerts.[121] Bennett's last televised performance was also with Gaga on December 16, 2021, onMTV Unplugged. The special was filmed the previous July in front of an intimate studio audience in New York City, and included duets fromLove for Sale.[122][123]
Despite his retirement, as of early 2022, Bennett still continued to rehearse with his music director three times a week, Danny Bennett said in an interview.[124]
Bennett also had success as a painter, done under his real name of Anthony Benedetto, or just Benedetto.[125] He followed up his childhood interest with professional training, work, and museum visits throughout his life. He sketched or painted every day, often of views out of hotel windows when he was on tour.[66]
He exhibited his work in numerous galleries around the world.[66] He was chosen as the official artist for the 2001Kentucky Derby, and was commissioned by the United Nations to do two paintings, including one for its fiftieth anniversary.[66] His paintingHomage to Hockney (for his friendDavid Hockney, painted after Hockney drew him) is on permanent display at theButler Institute of American Art inYoungstown, Ohio.[125] HisBoy on Sailboat, Sydney Bay is in the permanent collection at theNational Arts Club onGramercy Park in New York City, as is hisCentral Park at theSmithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.[66] His paintings and drawings have been featured inARTnews and other magazines, and have sold for as much as $80,000 a piece.[16][61] Many of his works were published in the art bookTony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen in 1996. In 2007, another book involving his paintings,Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music, became a bestseller among art books.[36]
Regarding his choices in music, Bennett reiterated his artistic stance in a 2010 interview:
I'm not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don't follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that's badly written. In the 1920s and '30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter,Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. These are classics, and finally they're not being treated as light entertainment. This is classical music.[126]
Bennett won 20Grammy Awards (including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award),[127][128] as follows (years shown are the year in which the ceremony was held and the award was given, not the year in which the recording was released):
The Tony Bennett concert show as seen by the audience, with no stage set, visual effects or advanced lighting schemes.Kimmel Center,Philadelphia, September 2005.
AGuinness World Record for "oldest person to reach No.1 on the US Album Chart with a newly recorded album", at the age of 88 years 69 days, forCheek to Cheek
AGuinness World Record for "the longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist" for re-recording "Fascinating Rhythm" 68 years and 342 days after the original recording.
With the release ofLove for Sale, Bennett broke a Guinness World Records title for being the oldest person to release an album of new material at the age of 95 years and 60 days. On April 3, 2022, he became the second-oldest person to win a Grammy Award, when he shared the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy withLady Gaga forLove for Sale, aged 95 years, 8 months, and 1 day.
Bennett released over 70 albums during his career, almost all forColumbia Records. The biggest selling of these in the U.S. wereI Left My Heart in San Francisco,MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett, andDuets: An American Classic, all of which wentplatinum for shipping one million copies.[147] Eight other albums of his wentgold in the U.S., including several compilations.[147] Bennett also charted over 30 singles during his career, with his biggest hits all occurring during the early 1950s, and none charting between 1968 and 2010.
On February 12, 1952,[148] Bennett married Ohio art student and jazz fan Patricia Beech, whom he had met the previous year after a nightclub performance inCleveland.[33] Two thousand female fans dressed in black gathered outside the ceremony atSt. Patrick's Cathedral inManhattan, New York, in mock mourning.[16] The couple had two sons, D'Andrea (Danny, b. 1954) and Daegal (Dae, b. 1955).[149] Bennett and his wife Patricia separated in 1965, their marriage a victim of Bennett's spending too much time on the road, among other factors.[16] In 1969, Patricia sued him for divorce on grounds of adultery.[150] In 1971, their divorce became official.[151]
Bennett had become involved with aspiring actress Sandra Grant while filmingThe Oscar in 1965. The couple lived together for several years and on December 29, 1971, they quietly married in New York.[152] They had two daughters, Joanna (b. 1970) whom he named after the 1964 song "When Joanna Loved Me" andAntonia (b. 1974),[153] and moved to Los Angeles.[154] The two were married until 1983.[155]
In the late 1980s, Bennett entered into a long-term romantic relationship with Susan Crow, a former New York City schoolteacher.[156] Bennett and Crow founded Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization dedicated to creating, promoting, and supporting arts education. At the same time, they founded (and named after Bennett's friend) theFrank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, a public high school dedicated to teaching the performing arts. The school opened in 2001 and has a very high graduation rate.[9] On June 21, 2007, Bennett married Crow in a private civil ceremony in New York that was witnessed byMario Cuomo, the former governor of New York.[157][158]
In February 2021, an article inAARP: The Magazine revealed that Bennett had been diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease in 2016, though he continued to perform and record until theCOVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.[160] He briefly resumed performing in 2021 for his farewell performances. Bennett's twice-weekly singing practices are thought to have kept his brain stimulated and spared him from symptoms such as disorientation, depression, and a detachment from reality.[160] Hisneurologist toldAARP that, prior to the pandemic, the singer's touring schedule "kept him on his toes and also stimulated his brain in a significant way".[161] Bennett recorded tracks with Lady Gaga from 2018 until early 2020 for their 2021 albumLove for Sale, despite at times being "lost and bewildered" during recording sessions.[160]
In announcing Bennett's retirement in August 2021, Danny Bennett stated that the Alzheimer's was mainly affecting his father'sshort-term memory and that he would often forget he had just performed after a concert; hislong-term memory remained intact and he could still remember all the lyrics to his repertoire when performing.[120]
Bennett died at his home in New York City on July 21, 2023, following a seven-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. His family said he kept singing to the end, lastly "Because of You".[162][163][53] He was hailed as the "champion" and "legendary interpreter" of theGreat American Songbook.[53][164]
^abcEvanier,All the Things You Are, p. 29. "Tony Bennett's paternal grandfather, Giovanni Benedetto, grew up in the village of Podargoni, aboveReggio Calabria. The family were poor farmers, producing figs, olive oil, and wine grapes. His mother's family, the Suracis, also farmed in Calabria. Neither side of the family could read or write."
^abcdWhitburn,The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, p. 35.
^abBrooks and Marsh,The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, p. 1407.
^McNeil, Alex (1996).Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (Revised ed.).Penguin Books.ISBN0-14-024916-8. p. 653.
^"Chuck Wayne". billcrowbass.com. 1997.Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. RetrievedJuly 26, 2007.
^"Tony Bennett". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. November 19, 2019.Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. RetrievedNovember 27, 2021.
Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2007).The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present (9th ed.).Ballantine Books.ISBN978-0-345-49773-4.
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