Tony Bennett.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto

Born 3 Aug 1926 Long Island City, United States

Died 21 Jul 2023 Manhattan, United States

Citizenship United States

Would Be 100 yr If Living

17 min read

Reading time

3,259

Words

Oct 17, 2026

Published

Awards

TL;DR

Born in 1926, Tony Bennett served in World War II and then launched a singing career that spanned over 70 years. His 1950s hits like ‘Because of You’ and ‘Rags to Riches’ topped charts, and ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’ became his signature. At age 85, his duet album ‘Duets II’ hit #1, making him the oldest living artist to do so. He sold over 50 million records and won 19 Grammy Awards.

Identity & family.

KIN · 4

Names, aliases, and relatives of Tony Bennett — birth name, kin, and personal ties.

Native Name Anthony Dominick Benedetto

Nicknames Joe Barry, Joe Bari

Aliases Joe Bari, Tony Bennet

Spouses: Susan Benedetto Sandra Grant Patricia Ann Beech
Children: Antonia Bennett

At a glance.

STATS

Tony Bennett by the numbers — life, work, and family.

96 Years lived

20 Awards

3 Marriages

1 Child

Who was Tony Bennett?

BIOGRAPHY

Tony Bennett — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.

Early life

On August 3, 1926, Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born in Long Island City, New York. His father John Benedetto was a grocer, and his mother Anna Maria Suraci was a seamstress; both were from Calabria, Italy. Young Tony first performed publicly at age 10, singing at the opening of the Triborough Bridge. He studied music and painting at the High School of Industrial Arts now the High School of Art and Design but dropped out at 16 to support his family, working as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants.

Career

In 1949, Bob Hope discovered Bennett and suggested the stage name Tony Bennett, inviting him on a concert tour. Signed to Columbia Records in 1950, his first major hit Because of You sold over a million copies and reached #1 in 1951. Other #1 hits followed: Blue Velvet, Rags to Riches, and Stranger in Paradise. By 1956, he hosted his own TV show. His landmark Carnegie Hall concert in June 1962 featured 44 songs. That same year, I Left My Heart in San Francisco became his signature song and a gold record.

The British Invasion of the 1960s hurt his career; conflicts with Columbia Records and a failed film role in The Oscar 1966 led to a downturn. He left Columbia in 1972, started his own label, and recorded two praised albums with Bill Evans. By the late 1970s, he was bankrupt and struggling with addiction. In 1979, his son Danny took over as manager, reviving Bennett’s career by returning to his classic style. He signed with Columbia again in the 1980s, earned Grammy wins, and won over younger audiences with appearances on MTV’s Unplugged and collaborations with artists like k.d. lang and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Personal life

Bennett married three times. His first marriage to artist Patricia Ann Beech from 1952 to 1971 produced two sons, Danny and Robert. The pressures of touring led to divorce. In 1971, he married actress Sandra Grant, with whom he had two daughters, Joanna and Antonia; they separated in 1979. In 2007, he married long-time partner Susan Benedetto née Crow, who remained with him until his death. Bennett battled cocaine addiction in the 1970s and nearly died from an overdose in 1979, which prompted him to seek help and turn his life around.

Legacy

Tony Bennett championed the Great American Songbook, inspiring new generations to appreciate standards. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005 and the Gershwin Prize in 2017. At age 88, he broke his own record for oldest living artist with a #1 album when Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga debuted at the top. Bennett sold over 50 million records worldwide and earned 19 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is most remembered for his hit I Left My Heart in San Francisco and for showing that a classic style can endure.

Awards & honors.

AWARDS · 20

Every award, honor, and recognition received by Tony Bennett — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
MusiCares Person of the Year
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Library of Congress Living Legend
Kennedy Center Honors
Gershwin Prize
Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
NEA Jazz Masters
Bronze Medallion
Long Island Music Hall of Fame
International Civil Rights Walk of Fame
New Jersey Hall of Fame
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program
Bronze Star Medal

Notable quotes.

QUOTES · 16

A wall of memorable lines from Tony Bennett — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.

I Only Met Bing Crosby Once. He Called Me the Best Singer He’d Ever Heard.
I Have Traveled Around the World to Asia and Europe. They Show You What They Have Contributed to the World. the British Show You Theater, the Italians Show You Music and Art, the French Show You Cooking and Painting, and the Germans Show You Science. the Only Thing That the United States, Which Is Still a Young Country, Has Contributed Culturally to the World Is Jazz – Elongated Improvisation. It’s Tragic. Fifty Years from Now People Will Be Bowing to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Just Like Impressionist Painters Like Mone Divine, Who Were Starving in Their Day. the Americans Don’t Even Know What They Have Come up With.
We All Know How Wonderful Peggy Lee Sings, but Let’s Not Forget What a Great Composer She Is as Well.
God Forbid, If Something Happened and I Couldn’t Sing Well I Would Just Paint for the Rest of My Life.
My Ambition Is to Actually Sound Better as I Get Older. It’s All About Meaning It More, Giving It More Depth. Being Genuine.
For Many Years I Was Told I Wasn’t Doing Disco or Whatever. I Just Kept Singing Good Songs. I Was Turned Down by an Awful Lot of Fellows in the Record Business, Who Would Tell Me, You’re Not What’s Happening. I’d Say, Well, It’s Going to Last Somehow, I Know It. and It Did. I Feel Very Gratified for It.
You’re Only as Good as Your Next Show. You Never Know, Quite What’s Happening. You Need Butterflies.
If You Don’t Care Whether the Audience Is Going to Respond Right Back at You, You’re a Fool. the Ones Who Fail Are the Ones Who Don’t Care Whether You Like It or Not.
In the ’20S, ’30S and ’40S, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Cole Porter Would Not Have Anyone Else Introduce Their Songs Except Fred Astaire. He Was Their Favorite. the Songs Were a Renaissance in Our Young Country. the Public Still Doesn’t Realize That It’s the Best Thing That We’ve Ever Contributed to the Rest of the World. Because Everybody in the World, No Matter Where I Go, Loves Those Songs. They Know Them. I’m Convinced That 35, 40 Years from Now Popular Music – What the British Call Light Entertainment – Will Be Called America’s Classical Music.
I Learned Something from Watching Judy Garland. She Knew the Secret: a Performer Is a Mirror. as Much as You Feed the Audience, That’s How Much You’re Going to Get Back. When She Came Out on That Stage, Wherever It Was, She Loved the Audience so Much…that’s How Much Intensity Came Back to Her. and That’s Where I Learned That a Performer Is Nothing but a Reflection of the Audience…Judy Did That Better Than Anyone Else.
To Start a War in Iraq Was a Tremendous, Tremendous Mistake Internationally.
The Germans Were Frightened. We Were Frightened. Nobody Wanted to Kill Anybody When We Were on the Line, but the Weapons Were so Strong That It Overcame Us and Everybody Else.
But Who Are the Terrorists? Are We the Terrorists or Are They the Terrorists? Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right. They Flew the Plane In, but We Caused It. Because We Were Bombing Them and They Told Us to Stop.
I’m Anti-war. It’s the Lowest Form of Human Behavior.
The First Time I Saw a Dead German, That’s When I Became a Pacifist. It Was a Nightmare That’s Permanent. I Just Said, ‘This Is Not Life. This Is Not Life.’
My Life Experience … Made Me a Life-long Humanist and Pacifist, and Reinforced My Belief That Violence Begets Violence and That War Is the Lowest Form of Human Behavior.

Did you know?

FACTS · 38

Little-known facts about Tony Bennett — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.

His daughter Antonia Bennett has sung alongside her father since the age of four.
At 85, Bennett’s album Duets II topped the Billboard 200 in September 2011, making him the oldest living artist at that time to hold the #1 spot — a record he previously broke Bob Dylan’s record. In 2014, again at 88, his duet album Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga debuted at #1, breaking his own record.
He was a close friend of Frank Sinatra.
Bob Hope suggested Tony change his stage name from Joe Bari to Tony Bennett.
Signs his paintings and portraits simply Benedetto, his birth name.
Friends with Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Martin Luther King Jr., Florence Henderson, Angela Lansbury, Julie London, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
In 2011, when he recorded Body and Soul with Amy Winehouse for his Duets II album, it marked her final recording before her death. The age gap between them was just over 57 years.
Tony’s duet with Jackie Evancho on When You Wish Upon a Star marked a unique collaboration, considering the age gap of over 73 years.
He nearly died after overdosing on cocaine in 1979.
His chance to perform at the Triborough Bridge opening in 1936 was arranged by his uncle Frank, the Queens Borough library commissioner. There he stood next to and received pats on the head from Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
In 2001, he founded The Frank Sinatra High School of Performing Arts in Queens, New York, named after his longtime friend Frank Sinatra.
He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1560 Vine Street.
He is an accomplished painter with an art studio in New York City, USA.
With his 15th and 16th wins at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards — Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Amy Winehouse for Body and Soul and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Duets II — Bennett captured the record for the longest Grammys participation span of 49 years between wins.
Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997.
Recipient of the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors, along with Robert Redford, Tina Turner, Suzanne Farrell, and Julie Harris.
In 2011, his Belvedere, California mansion — 9500 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, 7-car parking — went on sale with an asking price of $27.5 million.
Father, with Patricia Ann Beech, of son Danny Bennett, who is also Tony’s manager.
His favorite movie is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948.
Co-founder, with his wife Susan Benedetto née Susan Crow, of the charitable organization Exploring the Arts.
Bennett didn’t tell his own story when performing; he let the music speak instead — the Gershwins and Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. Unlike his friend and mentor Sinatra, he would interpret a song rather than embody it. Bennett appealed with an easy, courtly manner and an uncommonly rich and durable voice — A tenor who sings like a baritone, he called himself.
Well known for hit ballads like I Left My Heart In San Francisco a comeback hit released in 1962 and Rags to Riches released in 1954.
As of November 2010, he was living in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
His sons Danny and Robert act as his managers and operate as rock band Neon.
On May 20, 2002, he received the Pied Piper lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ASCAP.
Winner of the 2017 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
Friends with Joe Mantegna.
His idols were Fats Waller, Tommy Dorsey, and Frank Sinatra.
In the 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards by Harry and Michael Medved, Tony won the award for The Worst Performance by a Popular Singer for his role as Hymie Kelly in the 1966 film The Oscar.
Died on July 21, 2023, just 13 days shy of his 97th birthday.
Despite his hit ballad I Left My Heart In San Francisco, he was actually born in New York.
Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and his wife Matilda Cuomo were witnesses to the civil ceremony between Tony and Susan Benedetto née Susan Crow.
He was inducted into the 2011 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his contributions to the arts and entertainment industry.
On January 4, 2007, he sang I Left My Heart in San Francisco at the celebrations for the inauguration of Nancy Pelosi as first female Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party.
Pearl Bailey discovered him in 1949 and invited him to open for her in Greenwich Village. Bob Hope was in the audience and brought him to the Paramount to sing with him, and he renamed him Tony Bennett.
Drafted into the United States Army during World War II, he saw combat while serving in the 63rd Infantry Division in France and Germany. His unit liberated the Nazi concentration camp in Kaufering/Landsberg.
He was interred alongside his parents at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New York, USA.

You wanted to know.

FAQ · 37

Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Tony Bennett.

What is Tony Bennett's birth date?

Tony Bennett was born on August 3, 1926 in Long Island City, New York. He was given the name Anthony Dominick Benedetto at birth.
Where was Tony Bennett born?

Tony Bennett was born in Long Island City, New York, USA. This area is part of the borough of Queens in New York City.
When did Tony Bennett die?

Tony Bennett passed away on July 21, 2023 at the age of 96. He died just 13 days before his 97th birthday.
How old was Tony Bennett when he died?

Tony Bennett was 96 years old when he died on July 21, 2023. He was born on August 3, 1926.
Where did Tony Bennett die?

Tony Bennett died in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was surrounded by family at the time of his death.
What was Tony Bennett's birth name?

Tony Bennett’s birth name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto. He adopted the stage name Tony Bennett in 1949 on the suggestion of Bob Hope.
What was Tony Bennett's occupation?

Tony Bennett was a recording artist, actor, and writer. He is best known for his singing career spanning over 70 years.
What is Tony Bennett's nationality?

Tony Bennett was American. He was born and raised in New York City and proudly represented the United States throughout his career.
What language did Tony Bennett speak?

Tony Bennett’s native language was English. He also performed songs in Italian and other languages.
Who was Tony Bennett married to?

Tony Bennett was married three times: to Patricia Ann Beech 1952-1971, Sandra Grant 1971-1979, and Susan Benedetto 2007-2023. His third wife Susan survived him.
Did Tony Bennett have children?

Yes, Tony Bennett had four children: sons Danny and Robert with first wife Patricia Ann Beech, and daughters Joanna and Antonia with second wife Sandra Grant. He also had grandchildren.
Where did Tony Bennett go to school?

Tony Bennett attended the High School of Art and Design in New York City then called the High School of Industrial Arts. He left school at 16 to help support his family.
What awards did Tony Bennett win?

Tony Bennett won 19 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as a Kennedy Center Honor 2005, the Gershwin Prize 2017, and Primetime Emmy Awards. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
How many awards did Tony Bennett win?

Tony Bennett won over 30 major awards, including 19 Grammys, multiple Emmys, and a Bronze Star Medal for his military service. He was also inducted into several halls of fame.
What is Tony Bennett best known for?

Tony Bennett is best known for his signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco and his vast catalog of jazz and pop standards. He also acted in films and on television.
How tall was Tony Bennett?

Tony Bennett was 5 feet 8 inches 1.71 meters tall. Despite his average height, he had a commanding stage presence.
Why did Tony Bennett use the nicknames Joe Barry and Joe Bari?

Tony Bennett used the stage names Joe Barry and Joe Bari early in his career. He performed as Joe Bari while serving in the Army after World War II, and Bob Hope later suggested he change it to Tony Bennett.
What aliases has Tony Bennett used?

Tony Bennett’s birth name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto, but he also performed under the aliases Joe Bari and sometimes Tony Bennet with a single t. He used these before settling on Tony Bennett.
Did Tony Bennett serve in the military?

Yes, Tony Bennett served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted and served in the 63rd Infantry Division, seeing combat in France and Germany, and was involved in liberating a concentration camp in Kaufering/Landsberg.
What was Tony Bennett's first hit song?

Tony Bennett’s first major hit was Because of You in 1951, which reached #1 and sold over a million copies. It was produced by Mitch Miller with orchestration by Percy Faith.
How many records did Tony Bennett sell?

Tony Bennett sold over 50 million records worldwide throughout his career, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
What was Tony Bennett's signature song?

Tony Bennett’s signature song is I Left My Heart in San Francisco, released in 1962. It stayed on the charts for a year and became a gold record.
Who was Tony Bennett's manager?

Tony Bennett’s son Danny Bennett served as his manager from 1979 onward. Danny helped revive his father’s career by returning to a classic style.
Did Tony Bennett have any famous collaborations?

Yes, Tony Bennett collaborated with many artists, including Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Lady Gaga, and Amy Winehouse. His duet album Duets II with Winehouse featured her final recording.
What record did Tony Bennett set in 2011?

In 2011, Tony Bennett became the oldest living artist to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 with his album Duets II at age 85, breaking Bob Dylan’s record. He later broke his own record in 2014 at age 88 with Cheek to Cheek.
Was Tony Bennett also a painter?

Yes, Tony Bennett was an accomplished painter who signed his artwork as Benedetto. He maintained an art studio in New York City and some of his paintings have been exhibited.
What charitable work did Tony Bennett do?

Tony Bennett co-founded the charitable organization Exploring the Arts with his wife Susan Benedetto. He also founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, New York.
How did Tony Bennett get his stage name?

Comedian Bob Hope suggested the name Tony Bennett in 1949 after seeing him perform. Bennett had been using the name Joe Bari at the time.
What film did Tony Bennett appear in?

Tony Bennett’s most notable film role was in The Oscar 1966, though it was a commercial failure. He also appeared as himself in films like Analyze This 1999 and Bruce Almighty 2003.
Did Tony Bennett win any Emmy Awards?

Yes, Tony Bennett won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, as well as an Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special.
What is the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts?

The Frank Sinatra High School of Performing Arts in Queens, New York, was founded by Tony Bennett in 2001 and named after his friend Frank Sinatra.
How did Tony Bennett overcome his career slump?

In the 1970s, Tony Bennett faced bankruptcy and drug addiction. His son Danny Bennett became his manager in 1979, and they revitalized his career by returning to the Great American Songbook and targeting younger audiences.
What was Tony Bennett's relationship with Frank Sinatra?

Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra were close friends and mutual admirers. They performed and recorded together, and Bennett considered Sinatra a mentor.
Where is Tony Bennett buried?

Tony Bennett is interred at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New York, USA, alongside his parents.
What was Tony Bennett's favorite movie?

Tony Bennett’s favorite movie was The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948, directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart.
Did Tony Bennett support any political party?

Tony Bennett was a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party. He performed at events for Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi’s inauguration as Speaker of the House in 2007.
What was Tony Bennett's vocal range?

Tony Bennett described himself as a tenor who sings like a baritone. He had a rich, durable voice that he used to interpret songs rather than embody them.

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Published on October 17, 2026

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