Tony Bennett Through the Years: Grammy Wins, Family Life, Retirement and More

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Tony Bennett Through the Years: Grammy Wins, Family Life, Retirement and More

From rags to riches! Tony Bennett has had a long and successful career as a jazz artist – but the “Because of You” singer started out with humble beginnings. The 19-time Grammy award winner (real name Anthony Dominick Benedetto) was born in Queens, New York in 1926 to a low-income family. His father, Giovanni “John” Benedetto, was a grocer and his mother, Anna Maria Suraci, was a seamstress. The Great Depression hit the family hard as John’s health declined. He died by the time Bennett was 10 years old. The New York native began singing from a young age and would practice while waiting tables in order to help his family financially. “I started when I was about 6. I never met an Italian descent family in America that isn’t musical,” Bennett said in an interview with Jazz Professional in 1966. The “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” artist had his big break in 1949 when vaudeville singer Pearl Bailey invited him to open for her concert series in Greenwich Village. Entertainer Bob Hope attended one of the performances and offered Bennett a spot in his show at the Paramount Theater. At the time, Bennett was going by the stage name Joe Bari and it was Hope that suggested he change it to Tony Bennett. One year later, the crooner signed with Columbia Records and released chart-topping songs including “Because of You” and “Blue Velvet.”. He won his first Grammy in 1962 for his recording of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and would continue to collect a total of 19 wins with 41 nominations. Bennett stayed in the spotlight throughout the decades by gaining popularity with a younger audience, even as pop music began to shift and change in the ‘90s. His 1994 appearance on MTV Unplugged resulted in a platinum album and a Grammy win for Album of the Year. [jwplayer VErsyRfY-zhNYySv2] Bennett continued to achieve great success and recognition throughout the 2000s, including being honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and receiving the Kennedy Center Honors Award four years later. It was in 2011 that he began a close-knit friendship with Lady Gaga, who would become a frequent collaborator over the next decade. Bennett and the “Just Dance” artist released the Grammy-winning album Cheek to Cheek in 2014, while also earning Bennett – who was 88 at the time – a Guinness World Record for “oldest person to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Album Chart with a newly recorded album.” The duo also released a concert special, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live!, in celebration of the record’s popularity. Bennett’s final album was released September 2021, and it was another collaborative effort with Gaga, this one entitled Love For Sale. One month prior, Bennett announced his retirement amid his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. His final live and recorded performances with the “Shallow” artist were turned into the TV special, One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, which debuted in November that year. Throughout the “Love For Sale” singer’s enormous career success, he’s also found love numerous times. Bennett married his first wife, Patricia Beech, in 1952 and together welcomed two sons, Danny and Dae, before finalizing their divorce in 1971. Bennett welcomed his first daughter, Joanna, in 1970, with his second wife, Sandra Grant, whom he wed after his divorce from Beech. The couple went on to have another daughter, Antonia. The duo separated in 2007, and Bennett married his third wife, Susan Crow, that same year. Keep scrolling to see Bennett’s life and career in photos:

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1949

The “Rags to Riches” singer started his career with the stage name Joe Bari, changing it to Tony Bennett after Hope – who offered the singer a job at the Paramount Theater – made the suggestion.

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1950s

After scoring a record deal with Columbia, a producer urged Bennett to move away from his jazz roots. “They gave me Percy Faith and his orchestra, and my first record was ‘Because of You’ in 1951,” Bennett recalled to Variety in 2015. In 1955, the artist released his first studio album, Cloud 7, which he followed up two years later with The Beat of My Heart, which had a more jazzy sound – a hallmark in his records to come.

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1952

Bennett tied the knot with Beech and had sons Danny and Dae, who both grew up to work with their father in the music industry. Bennett and Beech split in 1965 and finalized their divorce six years later.

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1962

Bennett became the first male pop singer to perform at Carnegie Hall.

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1969

Bennett and Grant welcomed daughter Joanna two years before they tied the knot in 1971. The couple, who welcomed their second daughter, Antonia, in 1974, separated in 1979. They ultimately divorced in 2007.

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1979 to 1986

Bennett left Columbia Records and his career took a turn for the worst.. With no record label or manager, Bennett developed a drug addiction. “I used to take pills – uppies, downies, and sleepies,” the artist admitted in his 1998 autobiographical novel All The Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennett. “I was in a completely self-destructive tailspin.”

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1990s

Bennett had a musical resurgence in the ‘90s, with his live album from MTV’s Unplugged going on to win album of the year at the 1995 Grammys.

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Early 2000s

Bennett and Crow advocated for education in the arts by founding a nonprofit organization, Exploring the Arts, as well as the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a public school – an effort which earned Bennett the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2002, the artist received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Four years later, the “Wonderful” singer was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award. As a Queens native, Bennett was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006, paying homage to where Bennett made his start as a musician. That same year, Bennett also garnered the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award, the highest award the United States bestows upon jazz musicians.

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2007

Bennett married his third wife in 2007 – decades after they first met (while she was in utero). He wrote in his 1998 memoir, The Good Life, that he had posed for a photo with her parents, Dayl and Marion Crow, at a meet and greet in 1966. “As Fate would have it, Marion was pregnant at the time with … Susan!” Bennett penned.

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2014

After working with Lady Gaga on his Duets II album in 2011, the pair became close friends and reunited for their own collaborative jazz album, Cheek to Cheek, in 2014. Following the album’s success,, the duo held a televised concert special Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live! It was held at the Lincoln Center in the Rose Theater and was aired on PBS in October that same year. Their performance gained them a nomination at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety Special.

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2021

Bennett and Gaga worked together on Bennett’s last series of concerts in August of 2021, which resulted in a CBS televised special dubbed One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga containing selections from both shows. Bennett’s last televised performance was also with his beloved friend and aired in December 2021.

After his live performances with Gaga, Bennett’s retirement was announced due to his declining health caused by Alzheimer’s. Bennet’s son and manager, Danny, made the announcement to Variety at the time, saying “This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is, however, doctors’ orders.”