Another legend and world icon turns 90 today. Frank Sinatra once called him “the best in the business” (that was 50 years ago), and he’s still performing today. He’s Tony Bennett, the man who has now spanned several generations, dominates the Grammys, personifies “living legend,” and totally owns the Great American Songbook.
He’s also one of my favorite performers.
For years I called Tony Bennett a “ballpark singer.” That is, he’s in the same ballpark as Frank Sinatra. Crosby, Como, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole: these are ballpark singers. Not Tony Bennett. He’s in a park all his own.
From the big-voiced balladeer of the 1950s to the old master of today, Tony Bennett’s style and voice are unmistakable in any era. Like many people my age, I first became aware of Tony Bennett from the “unplugged” show and accompanying album he did for MTV in 1994. That was about the 17th time Mr. Bennett had reinvented himself, and for the most part this one stuck. He finally found it at age 68. Hard to believe that was almost 25 years ago. For all the great records he made with Count Basie or with philharmonic orchestras in the ’60s and ’70s, there is no Tony Bennett better than Tony Bennett with piano, bass, and drums. Maybe guitar too. This is why, to me, Tony Bennett has simply gotten better and better through the years. I prefer his voice at 90 to his voice at 25, and I I mean that in every sense of the word.
It goes beyond saying that Mr. Bennett is a legendary singer. He is also an accomplished painter, and sells artwork on more than just his name alone. He’s a humanitarian, and has championed civil rights causes since the ’50s, before every pop artist tried to do so. The money he’s raised for charity is probably into the tens of millions. After all, they don’t call him Tony Benefit for nothing.
I’ve had the Benefit of seeing the man in concert twice, once in 2000 and once in 2007. Both times I’ve thought walking in that yup, this is it, this is Tony’s last tour.
Nope. The man is unstoppable. Both times I walked out of the theatre thinking: this man will go on forever.
And at 90, he’s in a ballpark all his own.