July 27, 2006. Copyright 2006, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Evergreen entertainer Tony Bennett turns 80
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, July 27, Graphic News:  At the height of his comeback in the late 1980s, singer Tony Bennett quipped: ÒThe reason I am popular again is because I wear a tieÓ. Surely too modest an explanation for a career that has spanned more than half a century and produced legendary interpretations of classics such as I Left My Heart in San Francisco, and Fly me to the Moon.

On the other hand, Bennett, who is widely considered one of the best interpretative singers of jazz and American pop music, might have been on to something. The tuxedo-wearing singer still evokes memories of a particular era in U.S. entertainment, when suave male performers such as Bennett, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra romanced a generation of female fans.

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Queens, New York City, on August 3, 1926, Bennett was the son of a grocer and a seamstress, who grew up listening to musical greats such as Al Jolson, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong. By 16 he had dropped out of school to bring home a wage, and had begun singing while waiting tables in local Italian restaurants.

These attempts to forge a singing career were rudely interrupted by the second world war: Bennett was drafted into the U.S. Army and fought in France and Germany, where he remained as part of the occupying force before being discharged in 1946 after expressing opposition to the military's racial segregation policy. Despite his lifelong opposition to the military, it served him too: he sang for the troops and received training as an entertainer following his discharge.

But his big break came in 1949, when jazz songstress Pearl Bailey asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village. A year later Bennett had been signed to Columbia Records, for whom he sang commercial pop songs. With renditions of songs including Hank Williams' Cold, Cold Heart, Bennett carved out his own niche as a husky-voiced tenor whose interpretations were sometimes more memorable than the originals. An indication of his popularity was that 2,000 female fans turned up in black to ÒmournÓ his wedding to Patricia Beech in 1952.

Bennett scored other hits with songs such as Rags to Riches and Strangers in Paradise while continuing to perform in nightclubs and appear on television. In 1955 he released his album Cloud 7, and in 1957 Beat of My Heart. He became the first male pop vocalist to sing with Count Basie's orchestra, producing several well reviewed albums from the collaboration. All were eclipsed by his 1962 recording of his signature tune, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, which won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Performance.

Fame took its toll, however, and financial problems, marital woes and a near fatal cocaine overdose drove Bennett to the brink. With son Danny as his manager, Bennett moved back to his New York roots and began singing for a new generation of fans. Appearances on popular shows such as David Letterman confirmed his successful return. After he appeared on MTV Unplugged, the New York Times wrote: ÒTony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it.Ó

Bennett, who is also an accomplished painter, won the 1995 Grammy Album of the Year with his album Unplugged. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2002 was included in GQ Magazine's list of Ò50 Bands to See Before You DieÓ.

Crucially, he still wears a tie.
/ENDS