When Tony Bennett passed away on July 21 at the age of 96, he left an incredible legacy behind.
Born Anthony Benedetto on August 3, 1926 in Queens NYC, he went on to win 20 Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Bennett also sold more than 50 million records worldwide in a career that spanned seven decades and saw him release more than 70 albums. His iconic choices of music to record, matched with his phrasing and sense of timing, put him in the same conversation as Frank Sinatra and Nat “King” Cole.
As 1970 approached and his career hit a lull thanks in part to changes in musical tastes among the buying public, Clive Davis from Columbia Records attempted to rejuvenate Bennett’s image by having him record an album of more contemporary music. The result – Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! – was a commercial and critical failure.
Audiences didn’t want to hear Bennett singing the likes of the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Jimmy Webb. For his part, Bennett was so dismayed by the label forcing him to make the record that it helped him decide to leave Columbia Records.
That whole episode is rather ironic when you consider how Bennett would go on to reinvent his career thanks in part to his son Danny taking over his father’s career and putting in motion a plan to get Bennett’s music in front of a younger audience.
The result – appearances on Late Night With David Letterman as well as The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien – started the ball rolling and ultimately led to an MTV Unplugged performance accompanied by Elvis Costello and k.d. lang.
As fate would have it, though Bennett may have initially been put off by his record company’s attempt to make him appear hipper in 1970, in later years many rock artists would themselves go on to record standards made popular by Bennett himself.
