Story Another legend gone. I'm glad that we live in an age where musical performances can be preserved.
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Story Another legend gone. I'm glad that we live in an age where musical performances can be preserved.
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He had one of the most brilliant careers in the music business. May he rest in peace.
We had a discussion about Tony Bennett when he turned 90 and there was a televised TV special marking the event. Unfortunately, I can't find it. (Curses, Ning 3.0!
}. We expressed the hope we would be around for his 100th birthday. Alas, we will not, but he had a long, wonderful, successful life and career.
There was a 95th birthday special, "One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga," that CBS will re-run tonight, Sunday, July 23 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Thanks for pointing this out, CK. I didn't see it the first time.
The Washington Post had two compelling articles looking at particular points in Tony Bennett's life.
We revere his accomplishments now, but 45 years ago, he was at rock bottom. His career was in the toilet. He was considered a Las Vegas oldies act, and didn't have a record deal or even a manager. The IRS was after him for $2 million in back taxes and was moving to take his house.
One night in 1979, he got high on cocaine and nearly drowned in his bathtub. Fortunately, his wife rescued him.
After that, he got his mind right and made a plan with his sons to turn things around, and how! He and Tina Turner had the biggest career rejuvenations one can imagine. From The Washington Post: "How Tony Bennett Saved His Career After Drugs Nearly Killed Him"
The other article was about his days in the Army during World War II, and how it formed his commitment ot civil rights. Tony Bennett was in a regiment that liberated a concentration camp in Germany.
But even before that, he was a guy who had innate decency. He was in Special Services near the end of the war, which allowed him to sing for the troops. Near Thanksgiving in 1945, he happened to encounter a musician he knew from stateside, a Black man, and they hung out. But the Army was segregated then, and when the two of them went to the mess hall, an officer cursed Bennett out and demoted him on the spot. He pulled out a razor blade and sliced the corporal stripes off his sleeve, spat on them, and kicked them out. And this bigot didn't stop there; he got Bennett bounced to Graves Registration -- digging up bodies.
From The Washington Post: "Tony Bennett Saw Racism and Horror in World War II. It Changed Him."
My late father-in-law was reassigned to Graves Registration in Patton's army.