Tony Bennett: A Journey of Success and Resilience

His first success, he experienced it at the age of 25. It was in 1951 with “Because Of You”. One million copies sold. More number 1s followed like “Rags To Riches” in 53, “Stranger In Paradise” two years later and “I Left My Heart To San Fransisco” in 1962.

He was a big star in the 50s and 60s, although some of the critics despised him, calling him a wedding singer or a valet. Frank Sinatra considered him the best. He told Life magazine in 1965: “Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. It excites me when I look at it. It moves me. It’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a bit more”. “At the time, I was kind of a Madonna,” Tony Bennett humorously said nonj a few years ago.

In the 1970s and 1980s, however, he had a long journey through the desert before experiencing a spectacular resurrection as the 1990s approached. Moreover, 18 of his 20 Grammy Awards were awarded to him at the age of 60! And what about the years 2000 and 2010 when he recorded duets with the greatest, from Elton John to Aretha Franklin, passing by Céline Dion, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Sting, Michael Bublé, Phil Collins, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse or even Christina Aguilera.

And what about his collaboration with Lady Gaga. “Cheek To Cheek”, the album he recorded with her in 2014, at the age of 88, allowed him to break the record he already held: that of the oldest living performer with an album ranked at the top of the Billboard 200. In 2015, the disc was awarded Best traditional pop album at the Grammys.

In 2014, Tony Bennett and Lady Gag performed together on the Grand-Place in Brussels where they presented their joint album to the world.

It is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for “the longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist”. This is the song “Fascinating Rhythm” by Gershwin which he first recorded in 1949 before re-recording it in 2018, 68 years and 342 days later!

Popular, Tony Bennett has also shown himself to be a committed citizen. He was involved in the fight for civil rights. He notably paraded in the 1960s in the United States. He had also refused to perform in South Africa during the apartheid era.

2023-07-21 15:35:24
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