Tony Bennett – vocalist (b. August 3, 1926, Astoria, NY – d. July 21, 2023, New York, NY)
born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, built one of the longest and most varied careers in American popular music. Over more than seven decades he remained closely associated with the Great American Songbook, yet his career repeatedly moved through periods of commercial success, changing musical fashions, personal difficulties, artistic experimentation and renewal. He died in New York in 2023, at the age of 96.
Bennett was the son of Italian immigrants. His father died when Tony was ten, during the Depression, leaving his mother Anna to raise Tony and his older brother and sister. Music and art were already important parts of his childhood. He attended the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan, where he developed both his interest in singing and his talent as a visual artist. At home and on the radio he heard Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and other singers and musicians who helped shape his musical instincts.
As a teenager, Bennett sang while working as a waiter. In 1944 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as an infantryman in Europe. His division fought its way through Germany in 1945 and took part in the liberation of a concentration camp. After the war he remained...
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