8/28/2023 0 Comments Song please tell me whyMy brother John Benedetto, who was just a few years older than me, also had a beautiful voice. In his native Calabria, Italy, as the family story goes, he used to sing on a mountaintop and the whole valley would come to hear him. When I was a child growing up in Astoria, Queens, my first musical influence was my father. What came first: your visual art or your music? And how do you feel the two inform or influence one another?Ī. I would love to make an album with Stevie Wonder. "Lady" is brilliant at whatever she does, and I just love her. We played two nights at Ravinia, and it was the fastest sellout in their (then) 110-year history. Singing with Lady Gaga and our triumphant "Cheek To Cheek" Tour and Grammy Award-winning album. What has been your favorite musical collaboration? And who would you have loved to work with but never got the chance?Ī. Just like one of my favorite tunes, "I'm Old-fashioned." The great Count Basie told me, "Why change an apple!" I am only a timeless artist because I have always stayed true to myself and the songs I sing are timeless. My dear friend and mentor Frank Sinatra gave me some good advice long ago, "Always stay with the best music." Not to go for the fads of the moment. What do you think it is about your music that makes you such a timeless artist?Ī. The love you give with your music is the love you get right back! I just love what I do and I'll never retire. I have actually been doing that since I was a child - though at the time it was my family. My beautiful friend Pearl Bailey (who, along with Bob Hope, really discovered me) once said, "It will take you 10 years just to learn to walk across the stage!" Boy, was she correct! I always loved to entertain for an audience. In 1962, when I recorded what would become my signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," I received my first two Grammy Awards, and that song has made me "A Citizen of the World." A string of hits followed, along with the Bobby Soxers (screaming teenage girls). I felt that I had made it with my first hit record. I made "Because of You," and my career really took off. He said, "Well, let's shorten it to Tony Bennett." So Bob Hope introduced me on that stage at New York's great Paramount Theatre! In 1951 Columbia signed me to a recording contract. He said, "What's your given name?" I told him it was Anthony Benedetto. In 1949 I was invited to go on tour with Bob Hope. When did you feel like you made it? Do you remember the first time you walked on stage in front of thousands of people and thought "I belong here"?Ī. We spoke with him about his history, his collaborations and his art in an emailed interview: The jazzy, outgoing crooner and painter makes his 40th appearance at Highland Park's Ravinia Festival Friday, June 21.
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