Ageless Jazz and Pop Singer Tony Bennett Still Going Strong at 87

Well known for popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz, legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett is perhaps best known for his signature song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” recorded in 1962.

Still hip with audiences young and old at age 87, the iconic pop and jazz crooner has performed for more years and at a higher level of excellence than perhaps any other artist in popular American music. Bennett reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as “The Beat of My Heart” and “Basie Swings, Bennett Sings” with the Count Basie Orchestra. His career then suffered a downturn during the height of the rock music era, but regained popularity in the late 1980s and ‘90s. Most recently, Bennett has experienced a kind of a renaissance, after his various duet albums with modern rock singers.

During his illustrious six-decade career, Bennett has won 17 Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Aside from music, Bennett is also an accomplished painter, with works on permanent public display in several institutions. He is the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in New York City.

 

Bennett recalls growing up in the Depression, a time when there was not a lot of money to spend on entertainment. If you bought a record you had to make sure that the entire family would enjoy it. “I remember one of the first records I purchased was of Enrico Caruso, and I had an uncle who was connected to Broadway so I got to see theatrical productions as a result,” he said. “But it was jazz music that hit me hard and the first time I heard it I just fell in love with it and feel that way now. It's America's classical music and it's an art form that we invented in this country.”

After being a foot solider in World War II, Bennett came home and was fortunate enough under the GI Bill of Rights to be able to attend classes at The American Theatre Wing, where one of his vocal coaches, Mimi Speer, gave him some advice that greatly influenced him as a singer.  “She told me not to imitate any other singers as then I would just become one of the chorus and instead told me to listen to jazz musicians that I admired and try to emulate their instrumental style,” he said. “I have always loved the pianist Art Tatum as he had a very unique style where he would build each song into its own finale layer by layer, creating a mini-monument of each song he performed; and I studied his style and used that in my own song performances.”

Throughout his extraordinary career, Bennett has had the pleasure to record and perform with a wide array of artists, including Judy Garland, K.D. Lang, and most recently Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, with whom he has recorded a complete album, which will be released in September. But if there is one artist Bennett regrets never having the honor to perform with, it’s a certain New Orleans jazz legend. “I will say that the one performer I never got a chance to sing with and would have loved to have had that opportunity is Louis Armstrong,” he said. “He was a consummate performer and he truly taught us all how to sing.”

When Bennett signed with Columbia Records in 1950 his premise from the beginning was to create a ‘hit catalog’ and not just go after ‘hit records’ – many of which were novelty songs that would be popular for a relatively short time and then be instantly forgotten. A few years ago, Columbia released the biggest boxed set ever of Bennett’s work and when going over all the music for the set, he was so thrilled that there wasn't a single track that he felt didn't belong. “I fought pretty hard over the years to only record the best popular music I could find,” he said. “I think not compromising on quality is really something I consider a career highlight.”

He doesn’t perform as much now as when he was first starting out over six decades ago, when he had to sing seven shows a day at the Paramount Theatre, but the thrill and spontaneity of being in front of a live audience is still what he loves best. “Being on the road for so many decades has given me an education of the world that I would never be able to have achieved any other way,” Bennett said. “And as a visual artist, I have painted and sketched in all the cities and countries that I have travelled to, so that has been a great advantage; and to have been able to go to all the magnificent museums and art galleries around the world.”

Bennett has performed in Pennsylvania many times through the years and always loves coming back to the area. “I get a chance to do some sketching if I can while I am here,” he said. “It’s a very warm and welcoming place to perform for very intelligent audiences.” 

With a career that spans seven decades, Bennett still performs for all the same reasons he did when he began this musical journey; and he shows no signs of slowing down. “I just love it – as much today as when I was first starting out,” he said. “I think it is a very noble profession to perform for people and for a few hours they forget their own problems, and if they leave the show and feel good, that to me is a great compliment.”