Randolph Magri-Overend

POP LEGENDS : TONY BENNETT

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The popular song world (and I’m talking here about the world when music was more than just excessive gyrations both physically and vocally) is full of American singers who proudly claim Italian heritage  Singers like Bobby Darin, Vic Damone, Al Martino, Julius La Rosa, Frankie Laine, Russ Colombo, Frank Sinatra and, of course, Anthony Dominick Benedetto.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto (Italian for Blessed) known most lovingly as Tony Bennett was born in New York on August 3, 1926 even though he supposedly left his heart in San Fransisco.  Not only is he a singer of great renown, he is equally a painter of many works, which are signed under his birth name, many of which are on public display in several institutions. In addition he is the founder and driving force behind the Frank Sinatra School of Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York which also happens to be Bennett’s birthplace.

Bennett’s musicality showed early promise.  At 10 he sang at the opening of the Triborough Bridge when he shared the stage with Mayor Fiorella La Guardia and at 13 he was performing for money as a singing waiter in his native Queens.  He even had a successful engagement at a New Jersey nightclub.

Uncle Sam enlisted him in November 1944 and in 1945 he took part in what is now known as the Battle of the Bulge.  The whole experience made him into a committed pacifist. He said “It was a nightmare…This is not life…Anyone who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn’t got through one.”  He also managed a bit of singing under the name of Joe Bari (chosen as a partial anagram of his father’s roots in Calabria).

On his demobilization from the army he studied the bel canto style of singing. discipline that would stand him in good stead later in his professional career. Three years later Pearl Bailey invited him to sing with her in a few nightclub gigs.  Bob Hope recognised his talent and took him on the road with him and also advised him to change his name to Tony Bennett.

A singing contract with Columbia Records followed for whom Mitch Miller was the talent spotter cum producer.  Bennett’s original audition taping of Boulevard of Broken Dreams was followed in 1951 by his first big hit Because of You which included a lush arrangement by Percy Faith.  It reached number one and stayed there for 10 weeks.  This was followed by Blue Velvet and an engagement at New York’s Paramount Theatre where screaming fans were part and parcel of pop adulation.  Frank Sinatra had gone through this process earlier in his career. 

Bennett has had many hits – too many to enumerate here but some that stand out are Rags to Riches in 1953 (which saw Bennett sing a brassy big band number),  and Stranger in Paradise from the musical Kismet (which also topped the British charts a year and a half later).

From 1955, the onset of rock and roll saw the decline of many a pop singer falter and Bennett started leaning towards more jazz rhythms in his choice of repertoire.  In 1957, Ralph Sharon became Bennett’s pianist, arranger and musical director. This saw Bennett embark on albums like The Beat of my Heart featuring jazz musicians Herbie Mann, Nat Adderly backed by percussionists Art Blakey, Jo Jones, Candido Camero and Chico Hamilton.  The album led to Bennett joining the Count Basie Band in an album entitled Basie Swings, Bennett Sings.  This also led to nightclub performances and stints on television including the initial broadcast in 1962 of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

It was the same year that Bennett recorded I Left my Heart in San Fransisco which originally had been composed for an opera singer.  It never reached number one but it hung around various charts long enough to enhance Bennett’s reputation.  This prompted Frank Sinatra to say in 1965: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.  He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.”

But by1965 Bennett was finding his audience declining.  He parted ways with Ralph Sharon. Columbia Records deserted him.  He joined the Verve division of MGM Records but that too fell apart.   Bennett started his own record company – Improv. That too failed, lacking a distribution arrangement with a major label.  By the late 1970s he found himself with no future except for the occasional work in Las Vegas.

He developed a marijuana and cocaine habit, was living beyond his means, and was having problems with the Inland Revenue.  In 1979 he suffered a near-fatal overdose, recovered, and it was then that he called on his sons for help. Danny got his father’s finances under control, settled with the IRS and Bennett moved back to New York, if anything just to get away from the “Vegas” image.  Ralph Sharon returned as pianist and music director, Bennett re-signed with Columbia Records, this time with creative control and the result was the CD The Art of Excellence which became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.

Bennett began concentrating on a younger audience – an audience that was unfamiliar with his music.  The plan worked and Bennett recalls : “I realized that young people had never heard the songs of Cole Porter or George Gershwin.  They were like – who wrote that? To them it was different. If you’re different you stand out.”

Bennett has been married three times; in 1952 to Patricia Beech at St Patrick’s Cathedral,  Manhattan when his female fans gathered outside dressed in black. The couple had two sons D’Andrea (Danny, who eventually managed his father’s career) and Daegal (Dae).  Bennett then married Sandra Grant in 1965 and had two daughters, Joanna and Antonia. Bennett entered a long-term relationship in the late 1980s with Susan Marion Crow who is 40 years younger than Bennett.  In 2007 they married in a ceremony witnessed by former New York governor, Mario Cuomo

Now in his 94th year, Bennett has sung with the likes of the late Amy Winehouse, the Late Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Queen Latifeh and Lady Gaga.  His paintings have sold well and he sketches and paints every day and he exhibits his works in quite a few galleries around the world and some have sold for $80,000.  His works have been published in books he himself has sponsored – Tony Bennett: What my Heart Has Seen and another which became a best-seller in 2007 Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music.

One of the reasons we need Tony Bennet’s art for a little while longer is a comment he made earlier this year: “I could do this 25 years from now, and it will still sound brand new to someone who’s heard it for the first time.”

 

 

 

 

Published by Randolph Magri-Overend

One of the questions Randolph hates to answer is “Where do you come from?” Why? Because the answer can be so time-consuming and, in a way, also gives away how old he is!! Plus the questioner has to wrestle with the wish he hadn’t asked the question!! He was born in Cairo, Egypt, many moons ago of British parents although he can trace Maltese and Croatian ancestry in his lineage. Educated in a Jesuit college in London his wander lust for things unorthodox drove him to embark on a seafaring career with both Canadian Pacific Steamships and Shaw Savill. That in itself dates him because both lines have been redundant for many a year. One of his boasts is that he was the Purser on the “Gothic” which ten years previously had been Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Yacht soon after her coronation in 1953. One of the objects imported on the ship by HM and left behind was a tape player which Randolph utilised on many a memorable Sunday evening with a classical concert for his passengers. Thus began a journey that not only awakened Randolph’s love for good music but also eventually led to his extensive knowledge of music in all forms. That he loves the era of Sinatra, Crosby, Armstrong, Dorsey (both) and many many more exponents of the post-war music scene is also part and parcel of his appreciation of the music of many an era. These days Randolph is retired but still reviews CDs and DVDs and has written articles on such diverse personalities as Yvonne Kenny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Alexander Briger, the late Sir John Tavener, Sir James Galway, Dawn Upshaw and countless probes into the music of Gustav Mahler, Elizabeth Shwarzkopf and her husband Walter Legge, Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein and many many more he regrets to admit he has lost track of! Before emigrating to Australia, Randolph spent a number of years as a Flight Dispatcher in Canada. Since arriving in Australia, Randolph has written for The Weekend Australian (especially in their travel pages), The Sydney Morning Herald, Opera Opera and Fine Music magazine as well as some jazz magazines. If you require an extensive coverage of your music to a public that, at last count, reaches the best part of 818,000 please contact David Kary on editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com or email me directly on ibmar@bigpond.com. This also includes advertising any forthcoming shows by promoting featured artists. Cheers and thank you.