Tony Bennett, real name Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926 in Queens, New York), is an American pop and jazz singer.
Tony Bennett grew up listening to singers like Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, as well as jazz singers like Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Joe Venuti. One of his uncles was a tap dancer in vaudevilles. All these factors very early on gave young Tony openings to the world of show business. Thus, at the age of 10, young Tony began to sing, and finally entered the High School of Industrial Art in New York, where he studied both music and painting. He works in song and Tony Bennett is also a painter at the same time.
After achieving artistic and commercial success in the 1950s and 1960s, his career suffered a long slump during the period of rock’s success. However, Tony Bennett made a remarkable comeback in the 1980s and 1990s, conquering a younger audience while keeping his musical style intact. He remained a popular and highly regarded singer in the 2000s. In 1996, he performed There’ll be some changes made with the Phil Collins Big Band in Montreux, Switzerland, accompanied by pianist Ralph Sharom and bassist Douglas Richeson. In 1999, he made an appearance at the end of the film Mafia Blues, in which he played his own role, but while being presented as a good friend of Mafia Blues Paul Vitti. In 2003, he is also seen appearing briefly in the film Bruce the Almighty where he sings in a restaurant. He is presented as an apparent good friend of Jim Carrey who plays Bruce in this film. In 2006, he released a duet album with several popular singers such as Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Céline Dion, Sting, Michael Bublé, George Michael and he recorded a live duet with Christina Aguilera during 2007.
In 2010, he was part of the cover We are the World: We Are the World 25 for Haiti.
On September 20, 2011, he released a second duet album called Duets II, including a collaboration with Amy Winehouse (cover of a song written in 1930) which would be released shortly after the singer’s death and The Lady Is a Tramp, in company by Lady Gaga, which was released in October 2011.
The recording being an international success, it will be published some time later in videographic pressing (DVD), containing the recording sessions of the opus in the form of video clips. Released on March 26, 2012, it contains all the tracks except When Do The Bells Ring For Me in duet with Mariah Carey.
In 2014, he appeared in the film Muppets Most Wanted, of which he also performed the title We’re Doing A Sequel in a duet with Lady Gaga and The Muppets.
Bennett recorded a Jazz album called Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga in June 2013, and his jazz album was released in September, 2014.