Tony Bennett
1926–2023 · American singer and painter, a leading crooner of the mid-20th century
Anthony Dominick Benedetto, known professionally as Tony Bennett (New York, 1926 – 2023), was an American singer and one of the last great crooners of the mid-twentieth century. His repertoire was built on standards of American popular music, mostly ballads and jazz, and he is remembered for "Blue Velvet" and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". He was also an accomplished painter whose works are held by several museums and public institutions, a side of his creativity that began in his youth and deserves attention alongside his music.
Born in Astoria, in the Queens borough of New York, he came from an Italian family. His father died when Tony was about ten, and his mother worked as a seamstress to support the household. He was singing as a child, and at the age of ten he performed for New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia at the opening of the Triborough Bridge. At the High School of Industrial Art he studied painting and music, signing his canvases as Benedetto. He left school at sixteen to help support his family.
He was drafted in November 1944 and served as an infantryman in Germany with the 63rd Infantry Division. In his autobiography he described the war as a formative shock that turned him into a pacifist, and he took part in the liberation of the Landsberg concentration camp. After the conflict, a dinner with a Black friend from his school days led to disciplinary action within the army, and experiences like that hardened his opposition to racism. Years later he joined Martin Luther King on the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.
After the war he trained in bel canto and, encouraged by Bob Hope, who suggested the stage name, he signed with Columbia Records. His first major hit was "Because of You" in 1951, which reached number one on the charts. In the late 1950s he moved toward jazz with The Beat of My Heart and worked with Count Basie. In 1962 he recorded "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", yet his career then entered a long decline linked to personal difficulties and changing musical tastes. He returned in the late 1980s and 1990s with new gold-selling albums.
His career spanned more than six decades, ending with his retirement from performing in 2021. In his final years he recorded duet albums with artists from several generations, including Lady Gaga, with whom he released Cheek to Cheek in 2014. His legacy rests on his loyalty to the classic songbook and his commitment to racial harmony, which, together with his painting, defines the image he left behind.