Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
background	solo_singer
birth name	Geethali Norah Jones Shankar
born	March 30, 1979Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actress
instrument	Vocals, piano/keyboards, guitar
genre	Jazz, blues, pop, folk, country, fusion jazz, roots rock, alternative rock
years active	2001–present
label	Blue Note
associated acts	The Little Willies, El Madmo, Liberation Prophecy, Wax Poetic, Peter Malick, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Q-Tip, Peeping Tom
website	norahjones.com }}

Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar on March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and actress.

In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album ''Come Away With Me'', which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies. The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her subsequent studio albums, ''Feels Like Home'', released in 2004, ''Not Too Late'', released in 2007, the same year she made her film debut in ''My Blueberry Nights'', and her 2009 release ''The Fall'', all gained Platinum status after selling over a million copies and were generally well received by critics.

Jones has won nine Grammy Awards and was ''Billboard'' magazine's 60th-best-selling music artist of the 2000–2009 decade. Throughout her career, Jones has won numerous awards and has sold over 37 million albums worldwide. Billboard magazine named her the top Jazz artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

Early life

Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, and concert producer Sue Jones. She is the half-sister of Anoushka Shankar. After her parents' separation in 1986, Jones spent her childhood with her mother in the Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, Texas. She attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. While in high school, Jones sang in the school choir, participated in band and played the alto saxophone. At the age of sixteen, with the blessings of her parents, she officially changed her name to "Norah Jones".

Jones always had an affinity for the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, among other 'oldies'. She once said, "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set; I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again." She considers Willie Nelson her mentor.

She began singing in church choirs and took piano lessons as a child. She still attends church. She considers herself spiritual and appreciates the rituals of her church but does not consider herself the religious type.

She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers. While at high school, she won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996).

Jones attended the University of North Texas (UNT), where she majored in jazz piano and sang with the UNT Jazz Singers. During this time, she had a chance meeting with future collaborator Jesse Harris. She gave a ride to a band playing at the university whose members happened to be friends of Harris. He was on a cross-country road-trip with friend and future Little Willies member, Richard Julian, and stopped to see the band play. After meeting Jones, Harris started sending her lead sheets of his songs. In 1999, she left for New York City. Less than a year later, she started a band with Harris, which made her famous.

Musical career

2001–2004: ''First Sessions'' and ''Come Away with Me''

Jones' moved to New York City and signed to Blue Note Records, a label owned by EMI Group. The signing came as an indirect result of Jones performing background vocals for singer-songwriter Victoria Williams. Shell White, the wife of Williams' producer JC Hopkins, worked in Blue Note's royalties department and passed on Jones's 3-track demo to the label's president Bruce Lundvall and its A&R; Brian Bacchus. The demo featured two jazz standards and a song by Jesse Harris. Lundvall and Bacchus immediately agreed Jones had great potential and although initially unsure about what direction her music would follow, particularly since Blue Note was a jazz label, they nevertheless decided to sign Jones. Bacchus told HitQuarters: "We let her find her own direction ... We knew that if she could develop her songwriting and we could find great songs, it would work."

Jones was first teamed up with experienced producer and engineer Jay Newland. Bacchus thought that Newland's experience in jazz, blues, rock, country and folk would give him a "feeling for her sound". Together they cut around nine demo tracks, of which six formed her debut Blue Note release, the sampler ''First Sessions'', while the rest were set aside for her debut album. "First Sessions" was released in 2001.

Jones was a lounge singer before becoming a recording artist. Prior to releasing her first album, she performed with Wax Poetic, Peter Malick and jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter.

Released in February 2002 debut album, Jones' ''Come Away with Me'', was celebrated for its blending of mellow, acoustic pop with soul and jazz. Debuting at #139, it reached #1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200. The single "Don't Know Why" hit #1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents in 2003 and #30 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Singles Chart.

In 2003, she won five Grammy Awards, Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for the album and Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Don't Know Why" at the 45th Grammy Awards. This matched the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist in a single night (tying with Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys). That night, Jesse Harris won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for composing "Don't Know Why", Arif Mardin won Producer of the Year, primarily for his work on ''Come Away With Me'', and the album also received the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

The album received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 22, 2002, and went on to become a diamond album on February 15, 2005. It remains Blue Note's biggest-selling album.

2004–2006: ''Feels Like Home'' and collaboration with Ray Charles

Jones released her second album, ''Feels Like Home'', on February 9, 2004. It was influenced by country music. Within a week of its release, ''Feels Like Home'' had sold over a million copies. It sold 4 million copies in the United States and reached quadruple Platinum status, selling ten million copies worldwide. Jones toured globally, promoting the album with the Handsome Band, and backing singer Daru Oda.

''Time'' magazine included Jones on the Time 100, a list of the most influential people of 2004. The album debuted at number one in at least 16 countries around the world.

In 2005, at the 47th Grammy Awards, ''Feels Like Home'' was nominated for three Grammys. It won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Sunrise", and had nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for her duet with Dolly Parton, "Creepin 'In".

She won two more Grammy Awards that year, for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for her collaboration with Ray Charles, "Here We Go Again", which was the first track on Charles' last album, ''Genius Loves Company''. ''Genius Loves Company'' won the Album of the Year award.

2007–2008: ''Not Too Late'' and Film debut

Jones released her third album, ''Not Too Late'', on January 30, 2007. The album was her first for which she wrote or co-wrote every song, and according to her, some of them are much darker than those on her previous albums. ''Not Too Late'' was mostly recorded at Jones's home studio and is her first album without producer Arif Mardin, who had died in the summer of 2006. Jones described the sessions as "fun, relaxed and easy" and without a deadline; Blue Note executives reportedly did not know she was recording an album. The song "My Dear Country" is political commentary; she wrote it before the United States Presidential election day in 2004.

''Not Too Late'' reached the #1 position in twenty countries. ''Not Too Late'' had the third-best first week of sales in 2007, behind Avril Lavigne's ''The Best Damn Thing'' and Linkin Park's ''Minutes to Midnight''. It reached #1 in the U.S., selling 405,000 copies. EMI announced that ''Not Too Late'' reached gold, platinum or multi-platinum in 21 countries as of February 2007. The album has sold 4 million copies worldwide.

By 2007, Jones had sold over 36 million albums worldwide.

Jones made her film debut in 2007 in the romance/drama film ''My Blueberry Nights'', directed by Wong Kar Wai, co-starring Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. Jones as Elizabeth is a young woman goes on a journey through the United States for themselves and solve their love problems, and finds the way a series of curious characters. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007 and United States in April 2008, It went on to gross more than $21,967,587 worldwide.

2009–present: ''The Fall'' and ''...Featuring ''

Jones's fourth studio album, ''The Fall'', debuted at number three in November 2009, selling 180,000 copies in its first week. It was Jones's first album to not reach #1 in the United States. The album received critical acclaim. As part of the promotional drive for the album, she performed on ''Dancing with the Stars'', ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ''Good Morning America'' and other television programs.

The album's lead single, "Chasing Pirates", peaked at #13 on Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and #7 on Jazz Songs.

''Billboard'''s 2000–2009 decade awards ranked her as the top Jazz recording artist, at #60 best Artist. ''Come Away With Me'' was elected the #4 album and #1 jazz album. Jones earned a platinum certification by the RIAA for sales of 1 million copies of ''The Fall''. The album sold 1.5 million copies worldwide and was certified gold or platinum in 14 countries as of 2010. "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a duet with Willie Nelson, was nominated in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.

Her fourth world tour began March 5, 2010.

Jones released ''...Featuring'', a compilation album of collaborations she has done with well-known musicians, including the Foo Fighters, Willie Nelson, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Outkast, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Belle and Sebastian, Ray Charles, Ryan Adams, Dolly Parton, Herbie Hancock, M. Ward, and others. Jones said, “It's so exciting and flattering and fun when I get asked to sing with somebody that I admire...It takes you a little bit out of your comfort zone when you're doing something with another artist. You don't know what to expect—it's kind of like being a little kid and having a playdate.” The 18-track Blue Note disc was released on November 16, 2010.

Personal life

Jones was in a long-term relationship with Lee Alexander from 2000 until they split at Christmas 2007.

Additional projects and collaborations

Jones made a cameo appearance as herself in the 2002 movie ''Two Weeks Notice'' which starred Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. The film shows her briefly at the piano, singing for a charity benefit.

Jones appears on the track "Ruler of My Heart" (a cover of an Irma Thomas song), on the 2002 Dirty Dozen Brass Band album, ''Medicated Magic''.

In the latter part of 2003, rumors emerged that veteran Indian filmmaker Dev Anand was planning to make the film ''Song of Life'', inspired by Jones's troubled relationship with her father, Ravi Shankar. Both Jones and Shankar were enraged by the rumors. Jones commented, "[Anand] has no idea of our story, and he's not going to represent it in a truthful way, I'm sure. It's sad because it's personal stuff and nobody's business but ours."

Jones appeared on OutKast's ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' album, on "Take Off Your Cool". This album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year (Jones was not credited).

Jones appeared in the 2004 special ''Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On''.

Jones appeared on Ray Charles' final album, ''Genius Loves Company'', in 2004, on "Here We Go Again".

Jones formed The Little Willies in 2003 alongside Richard Julian on vocals, Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums. The alt country band released its eponymous first album in 2006.

Jones has done three Grammy-nominated duets with Willie Nelson: "Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You)" in 2003, "Dreams Come True" in 2005 and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in 2009.

In 2005, Jones appeared on the Foo Fighters' album ''In Your Honor'', performing piano and vocals on the song "Virginia Moon". The track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, in 2006.

Jones appeared on Ryan Adams' & The Cardinals' 2005 album, ''Jacksonville City Nights'' on the track, which she co-wrote with Adams, "Dear John".

Jones worked with Mike Patton in 2006 providing vocals on the track "Sucker" on the Peeping Tom project. The song attracted attention as it was the first time Jones used profanity in a recording.

In 2007, Jones made her acting debut as the protagonist in a film directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film, ''My Blueberry Nights'', opened for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as one of the 22 films in competition. She wrote and performed a song, "The Story", for the movie.

In January 2007, Jones recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for ''Live from Abbey Road''. The episode, on which John Mayer and Richard Ashcroft also appeared, was aired on UK Channel 4 and on the Sundance Channel. She appeared twice on the PBS series ''Austin City Limits'', on November 2, 2002 and October 6, 2007. The latter appearance was the season opener.

In a change of direction predating ''The Fall'', Jones (referring to herself as "Maddie" and virtually anonymous in a blond wig) sang and played guitar with rock band El Madmo. The band consists of Jones, Daru Oda and Richard Julian and released an eponymous album on May 20, 2007.

Jones appears in Herbie Hancock's 2007 release ''River: The Joni Letters'' singing the first track, "Court and Spark". This album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008; Jones was credited as a featured artist, her ninth Grammy win.

Jones appeared on the comedy track "Dreamgirl", on the 2009 debut album from The Lonely Island, ''Incredibad'' (featuring SNL performer Andy Samberg).

In 2008, Jones made another appearance in hip hop with an appearance on a track named "Life Is Better", on the critically acclaimed album The Renaissance by rapper Q-tip.

In 2009, Jones made a cameo appearance in the independent film, ''Wah Do Dem'', co-starring Sean Bones and written by Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner.

Jones was a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards, supporting independent artists' careers.

In 2010, Jones contributed "World of Trouble" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.

For the documentary Wretchers and Jabbers, Jones contributed a song on the soundtrack, "Change is Gonna Come."

In 2011, Jones provided vocals to the songs "Season's Trees", "Black" and "Problem Queen" on the album ''Rome'' by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi.

Hank Williams project

Jones is one of the participants in the so-called 'Hank Williams Project' overseen by Bob Dylan, and reportedly including contributions from Willie Nelson, Jack White, Lucinda Williams, and Alan Jackson. On March 31, 2008, Jones commemorated the 10th anniversary of The Living Room with a midnight performance at the intimate Manhattan music venue where the singer got her start. She played a new song titled "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart" and explained that it originated from newly-found Hank Williams lyrics she was asked to put to music. Jones also performed the song in late 2008 on Elvis Costello's talk/music television series, ''Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...''

Tours

Throughout 2002 and 2003, Jones appeared on stages globally, on her first tour with the Handsome Band, travelling throughout Asia, America, Europe and Oceania, with numerous sold-out concerts and critical acclaim. Jones tour to promote her third album, ''Not Too Late'', began in Wallingford, Connecticut, on April 13, 2007, and featured a free concert in New York City on July 6, 2007.The European phase began on July 9, 2007 in Paris, concluding in Reykjavík, Iceland on September 2, 2007. Jones and band play typically several album hits, modified with guitar solos and additional percussion. Additionally, shows may also feature several covers of country, jazz, blues, or folk songs, ranging from the ubiquitous to the obscure. Artists covered have included, among others, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Randy Newman, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, and Tom Waits.

Jones worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2007 summer tour. She also performed at Bryant Park on July 6 as part of ''Good Morning America'''s Summer Concert Series.

2002/2004: ''Come Away with Me Tour''

2004/2005: ''Norah Jones & The Handsome Band Tour''

2007/2008: ''Not Too Late Tour''

2010: ''The Fall Tour''

Special appearances

On September 9, 2009, Jones performed the songs ''Come Away With Me'' and ''Young Blood'' at the end of the Apple Inc.'s 'It's Only Rock and Roll' press conference in San Francisco, for the release of iTunes 9 and video camera-equipped iPods, among other items. She appeared on ''Sesame Street'' performing alongside Elmo to the song "Don't Know Why". On May 14, 2009, Jones made a guest appearance and performed with many other music icons on the season finale of the NBC series ''30 Rock''.

Filmography

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
2002	''Two Weeks Notice''	Herself	Appearance
2007	''My Blueberry Nights''	Elizabeth (Lizzie/Beth)	Lead Role
2008	''Life. Support. Music.''	Herself	Appearance
2009	''Wah Do Dem''	Willow	Cameo

Discography

''Come Away with Me'' (2002)

''Feels Like Home'' (2004)

''Not Too Late'' (2007)

''The Fall'' (2009)

Awards

See also

Fry Street Fire – Norah Jones was an honorary Chairwoman of 'Save Fry Street'

List of best-selling music artists

The Little Willies

References

External links

Norah Jones performs and is interviewed on Radio Happy Hour

Category:1979 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:Actors from Texas Category:American blues singers Category:American buskers Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American folk singers Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American jazz keyboardists Category:American jazz pianists Category:American jazz singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American musicians of Indian descent Category:American pop guitarists Category:American pop keyboardists Category:American pop pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American soul guitarists Category:American soul keyboardists Category:American soul singers Category:Bengali musicians Category:Blue Note Records artists Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jazz-blues guitarists Category:Jazz-blues keyboardists Category:Jazz-blues pianists Category:Jazz-pop singers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Category:People from Dallas, Texas Category:Torch singers Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:Vocal jazz musicians Category:Women in jazz Category:World Music Awards winners

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Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Bonnie Raitt
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Bonnie Lynn Raitt
Born	November 08, 1949Burbank, California, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, slide guitar
Genre	Blues, country, folk-rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, political activist, philanthropist
Years active	1971–present
Label	Warner, Capitol
Website	bonnieraitt.com }}

Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renonwned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially accessible recordings in the 1990s including "Nick of Time", "Something to Talk About", "Love Sneakin' Up on You", and the slow ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me". Raitt has received nine Grammy Awards in her career and is a lifelong political activist.

Biography

Early life

Raitt, the daughter of Broadway musical star John Raitt and his first wife, pianist Marjorie Haydock, began playing guitar at an early age, something few of her high school female friends did. Later she would become famous for her bottleneck-style guitar playing. "I had played a little at school and at camp", she later recalled in a July 2002 interview. The camp Raitt refers to is Camp Regis-Applejack, located in the heart of the Adirondacks. :

''My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby—nothing more... I think people must wonder how a white girl like me became a blues guitarist. The truth is, I never intended to do this for a living. I grew up... in a Quaker family, and for me being Quaker was a political calling rather than a religious one.''

Pre-recording career

In 1967, Raitt entered Harvard's Radcliffe College as a freshman, majoring in African Studies. "My plan was to travel to Tanzania, where President Julius Nyerere was creating a government based on democracy and socialism", Raitt recalled. "I wanted to help undo the damage that Western colonialism had done to native cultures around the world. Cambridge was a hotbed of this kind of thinking, and I was thrilled."

One day, Raitt was told by a friend that blues promoter Dick Waterman was giving an interview at WHRB, Harvard's college radio station. An important figure in the blues revival of the 1960s, Waterman was also a resident of Cambridge. Raitt went to see Waterman, and the two soon became friends, "much to the chagrin of my parents, who didn't expect their freshman daughter to be running around with 65-year-old bluesmen," recalled Raitt. "I was amazed by his passion for the music and the integrity with which he managed the musicians."

During Raitt's sophomore year, Waterman relocated to Philadelphia, and a number of local musicians he counted among his friends went with him. Raitt had become a strong part of that community, recalling that "... these people had become my friends, my mentors, and though I had every intention of graduating, I decided to take the semester off and move to Philadelphia .... It was an opportunity that young white girls just don't get, and as it turns out, an opportunity that changed everything."

By now, Raitt was also playing folk and rhythm and blues clubs in the Boston area, performing alongside established blues legends such as Howlin' Wolf, Sippie Wallace, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, all of whom she met through Waterman.

Signing with Warner Bros.

In the fall of 1970, while opening for McDowell at the Gaslight Cafe in New York, she was seen by a reporter from ''Newsweek'' Magazine, who began to spread word of her performance. Scouts from major record companies were soon attending her shows to watch her play. She eventually accepted an offer with Warner Bros. who soon released her debut album, ''Bonnie Raitt'', in 1971. The album was warmly received by the music press, many of whom praised her skills as an interpreter and as a bottleneck guitarist; at the time, very few women in popular music had strong reputations as guitarists.

While admired by those who saw her perform, and respected by her peers, Raitt gained little public acclaim for her work. Her critical stature continued to grow but record sales remained modest. Her second album, ''Give It Up'', was released in 1972 to universal acclaim; though many critics still regard it as her best work, it did not change her commercial fortunes. 1973's ''Takin' My Time'' was also met with critical acclaim, but these notices were not matched by the sales.

Raitt was beginning to receive greater press coverage, including a 1975 cover story for ''Rolling Stone Magazine'', but with 1974's ''Streetlights'', reviews for her work were becoming increasingly mixed. By now, Raitt was already experimenting with different producers and different styles, and she began to adopt a more mainstream sound that continued through 1975's ''Home Plate''.

In 1976, Raitt made an appearance on Warren Zevon's eponymous album with his friend Jackson Browne and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Commercial success

1977's ''Sweet Forgiveness'' gave Raitt her first commercial breakthrough when it yielded a hit single in her cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway." Recast as a heavy R&B; recording based on a rhythmic groove inspired by Al Green, Raitt's version of "Runaway" was disparaged by many critics, but its commercial success prompted a bidding war between Warner Bros. and Columbia Records. "There was this big Columbia – Warner war going on at the time", recalled Raitt in a 1990 interview. "James Taylor had just left Warner Bros. and made a big album for Columbia...And then, Warner signed Paul Simon away from Columbia, and they didn't want me to have a hit record for Columbia — no matter what! So, I renegotiated my contract, and they basically matched Columbia's offer. Frankly the deal was a really big deal."

Warner Bros. held higher expectations for Raitt's next album, 1979's ''The Glow'', but it was released to poor reviews as well as modest sales. Raitt would have one commercial success in 1979 when she helped organize the five MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concerts at Madison Square Garden. The shows spawned a three-record gold album as well as a Warner Bros. feature film, ''No Nukes''. The shows featured co-founders Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, John Hall, and Raitt as well as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Doobie Brothers, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and numerous others.

For her next record, 1982's ''Green Light'', Raitt made a conscious attempt to revisit the sound of her earlier records, but to her surprise, many of her peers and members of the press would compare her new sound to the burgeoning New Wave movement. The album received her strongest reviews in years, but her sales did not improve and this would have a severe impact on her relationship with Warner Bros.

Drop from Warner Bros.

In 1983, as Raitt was finishing work on her follow-up album, entitled ''Tongue & Groove'', Warner Bros. "cleaned house", dropping a number of major artists from their roster. Van Morrison and Arlo Guthrie were two of the most high-profile cases, and the day after mastering was completed on ''Tongue & Groove'', Raitt was notified that she was to be dropped too. The album was shelved indefinitely, and Raitt was left without a label. By now, Raitt was also struggling with alcohol and drug abuse.

Despite her personal and professional problems, Raitt continued to tour and participate in political activism. In 1985, she sang and appeared in the video of "Sun City", the anti-apartheid record written and produced by Steven Van Zandt. Along with her participation in Farm Aid and Amnesty International concerts, Raitt would later travel to Moscow in 1987 as part of the first joint Soviet/American Peace Concert later shown on Showtime television. Also in 1987, Raitt would organize a benefit in Los Angeles, for Countdown '87 to Stop Contra Aid, featuring herself, Don Henley, Herbie Hancock, Holly Near and others.

''Tongue and Groove's'' name change and release

Two years after dropping her from their label, Warner Bros. notified Raitt of their plans to release ''Tongue & Groove''. "I said it wasn't really fair", recalled Raitt. "I think at this point they felt kind of bad. I mean, I was out there touring on my savings to keep my name up, and my ability to draw was less and less. So they agreed to let me go in and recut half of it, and that's when it came out as ''Nine Lives''." A critical and commercial disappointment, 1986's ''Nine Lives'' would be Raitt's last new recording for Warner Bros.

In late 1987, she joined k.d. lang and Jennifer Warnes as female background vocals for Roy Orbison's television special, ''Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night''. Following this highly acclaimed broadcast, she began working on new material. By now, Raitt was clean and sober, having broken her substance abuse — for which she would credit Stevie Ray Vaughan in a Minnesota State Fair concert the night after Vaughan's 1990 death. During this time, Raitt considered signing with Prince's own label, Paisley Park, but negotiations would ultimately fall through. Instead she began recording a bluesy mix of pop and rock under the production guidance of Don Was at Capitol Records.

Raitt had met Was through Hal Wilner, who was putting together ''Stay Awake'', a tribute album to Disney music for A&M;. Was and Wilner both wanted Raitt to sing lead on an adult-contemporary arrangement created by Was for "Baby Mine", the lullaby from ''Dumbo''. Raitt was very pleased with the sessions, and she asked Don to produce her next album.

Peak commercial success

After nearly 20 years, Bonnie Raitt achieved belated commercial success with her tenth album, ''Nick of Time''. Released in the spring of 1989, ''Nick of Time'' went to the top of the U.S. charts following Raitt's Grammy sweep in early 1990. At the same time, she walked away with a fourth Grammy Award for her duet "In the Mood" with John Lee Hooker on his album ''The Healer''. Nick of Time (album) was also the first of many of her recordings to feature her longtime rhythm section of Ricky Fataar and James "Hutch" Hutchinson (Although previously Fataar had played on her Green Light album and Hutchinson had worked on Nine Lives). ''Nick of Time'' has sold over six million copies in the US alone.''

She followed up this success with three more Grammy Awards for her 1991 album, ''Luck of the Draw'' which has currently sold nearly 8 million copies in the United States. Three years later, in 1994, she added two more Grammys with her album ''Longing In Their Hearts'', her second no. 1 album. Both of these albums were multi-platinum successes. Raitt's collaboration with Was would amicably come to an end with 1995's live release, ''Road Tested''. Released to solid reviews, it sold well enough to be certified gold.

For her next studio album, Raitt hired Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake as her producers. "I loved working with Don Was but I wanted to give myself and my fans a stretch and do something different", Raitt said. Her work with Froom and Blake was released on ''Fundamental'' in 1998.

Current era

In March 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

''Silver Lining'' was released in 2002 while ''Souls Alike'' was released in September 2005.

Australian Country Music Artist Graeme Connors has said, "Bonnie Raitt does something with a lyric no one else can do; she bends it and twists it right into your heart." (ABC Radio NSW Australia interview with Interviewer Chris Coleman on 18 January 2007)

In 2007, she accepted an invitation to contribute to ''Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino''. With Jon Cleary, she sang a medley of "I'm in Love Again" and "All by Myself".

Raitt appeared on the June 7, 2008 broadcast of Garrison Keillor's radio program "A Prairie Home Companion". She performed two blues songs with Kevin "Keb' Mo'" Moore: "No Getting Over You" and "There Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin'." Raitt also sang Dimming of the Day with Richard Thompson. This show, along with another on which Raitt with her band in October 2006, is archived on the Prairie Home Companion web site.

Political activism

Raitt's web site urges fans to learn more about preserving the environment. She was a founding member of Musicians United for Safe Energy in 1979 and a catalyst for the larger anti-nuclear movement, becoming involved with groups like the Abalone Alliance and Alliance for Survival.

In 1994 at the urging of Dick Waterman, Raitt funded the replacement of a headstone for one of her mentors, Fred McDowell through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. Raitt would later finance memorial headstones in Mississippi for Memphis Minnie, Sam Chatmon, and Tommy Johnson through the Mt. Zion Fund.

Bonnie Raitt is a staunch leftist. In July 2004, she drew thunderous applause at the Stockholm Jazz Festival for dedicating a classic to sitting (and later re-elected) U.S. President George W. Bush. She was quoted as saying, "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!" before she launched into the opening licks of "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)", a cover that was featured on her 1979 album ''The Glow''. In 2002, she signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. She has visited children in the program and sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Raitt worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2005 Fall/Winter and 2006 Spring/Summer/Fall tours.

Raitt is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".

During the 2008 Democratic primary campaign Raitt, along with Jackson Browne and bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson, performed at campaign appearances for candidate John Edwards.

Personal life

Raitt and actor Michael O'Keefe were married on April 27, 1991, and announced their divorce on November 9, 1999.

Discography

References

External links

Official website

Official Facebook Page

[ Allmusic Guide Profile]

Bonnie's Pride

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da:Bonnie Raitt de:Bonnie Raitt es:Bonnie Raitt fr:Bonnie Raitt it:Bonnie Raitt nl:Bonnie Raitt ja:ボニー・レイット pl:Bonnie Raitt pt:Bonnie Raitt ru:Рэйтт, Бонни sc:Bonnie Raitt simple:Bonnie Raitt fi:Bonnie Raitt sv:Bonnie Raitt th:บอนนีย์ เรตต์ uk:Бонні Рейтт

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Tony Bennett
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Anthony Dominick Benedetto
Born	August 03, 1926Astoria, Queens, New York, U.S.
Genre	Traditional popJazz
Years active	1949–present
Occupation	Singer
Label	Columbia MGM Improv Legacy Recordings
Website	Official website }}

Tony Bennett (born Anthony Dominick Benedetto; August 3, 1926) is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz.

Raised in New York City, Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as an infantryman with the U.S. Army in the European Theatre. Afterwards, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records, and had his first number one popular song with "Because of You" in 1951. Several top hits such as "Rags to Riches" followed in the early 1950s. Bennett then further refined his approach to encompass jazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as ''The Beat of My Heart'' and ''Basie Swings, Bennett Sings''. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". His career and his personal life then suffered an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era.

Bennett staged a remarkable comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s, putting out gold record albums again and expanding his audience to the MTV Generation while keeping his musical style intact. He remains a popular and critically praised recording artist and concert performer in the 2000s. Bennett has won fifteen Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, been named an NEA Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honoree. He has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Bennett is also a serious and accomplished painter, creating works under the name Benedetto that are on permanent public display in several institutions. He is also the founder of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens.

Early life

Anthony Benedetto was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, the son of Ann (née Suraci) and John Benedetto. His father was a grocer who had emigrated from Podàrgoni, a rural eastern district of the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, and his mother was a seamstress. With two other children and a father who was ailing and unable to work, the siblings grew up in poverty. John Benedetto died when Anthony was 10 years old.

Young "Tony" Benedetto grew up listening to Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby as well as jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Joe Venuti. An uncle was a tap dancer in vaudeville, giving him an early window into show business. By age 10 he was already singing, and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge. Drawing and caricatures were also an early passion of his. He attended New York's High School of Industrial Art where he was studying painting and music, but dropped out at age 16 to help support his family. He worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan. But mostly he set his sights on a professional singing career, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around the borough of Queens.

World War II and after

Benedetto was drafted into the United States Army in November 1944, during the final stages of World War II. He did basic training at Fort Dix and Fort Robinson as part of becoming an infantry rifleman. Benedetto ran afoul of a sergeant from the South who disliked the Italian from New York City and heavy doses of KP duty or BAR cleaning resulted. Processed through the huge Le Havre replacement depot, in January 1945, he was assigned as a replacement infantryman to 255th Infantry Regiment of the 63rd Infantry Division, a unit filling in for the heavy losses suffered in the Battle of the Bulge. He moved across France, and later, into Germany. As March 1945 began, he joined the front line and what he would later describe as a "front-row seat in hell."

As the German Army was pushed back to their homeland, Benedetto and his company saw bitter fighting in cold winter conditions, often hunkering down in foxholes as German 88 mm guns fired on them. At the end of March, they crossed the Rhine and entered Germany, engaging in dangerous house-to-house, town-after-town fighting to clean out German soldiers; during the first week of April, they crossed the Kocher River, and by the end of the month reached the Danube. During his time in combat, Benedetto narrowly escaped death several times. The experience made him a patriot and also a pacifist; he would later write, "Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one." At the war's conclusion he was involved in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg, where some American prisoners of war from the 63rd Division had also been held.

Benedetto stayed in Germany as part of the occupying force, but was assigned to an informal Special Services band unit that would entertain nearby American forces. His dining with a black friend from high school – at a time when the Army was still segregated – led to his being demoted and reassigned to Graves Registration Service duties. Subsequently, he sang with the 314th Army Special Services Band under the stage name Joe Bari (a name he had started using before the war, chosen after the city and province in Italy and as a partial anagram of his family origins in Calabria). He played with many musicians who would have post-war careers.

Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, Benedetto studied at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill. He was taught the bel canto singing discipline, which would keep his voice in good shape for his entire career. He continued to perform wherever he could, including while waiting tables. Based upon a suggestion from a teacher at American Theatre Wing, he developed an unusual approach that involved imitating, as he sang, the style and phrasing of other musicians—such as that of Stan Getz's saxophone and Art Tatum's piano—helping him to improvise as he interpreted a song. He made a few recordings as Bari in 1949 for small Leslie Records, but they failed to sell.

In 1949, Pearl Bailey recognized Benedetto's talent and asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village. She had invited Bob Hope to the show. Hope decided to take Benedetto on the road with him, but suggested he use his real name simplified as Tony Bennett. In 1950, Bennett cut a demo of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and was signed to the major Columbia Records label by Mitch Miller.

First successes

Warned by Miller not to imitate Frank Sinatra (who was just then leaving Columbia), Bennett began his career as a crooner singing commercial pop tunes. His first big hit was "Because of You", a ballad produced by Miller with a lush orchestral arrangement from Percy Faith. It started out gaining popularity on jukeboxes, then reached #1 on the pop charts in 1951 and stayed there for 10 weeks, selling over a million copies. This was followed to the top of the charts later that year by a similarly-styled rendition of Hank Williams's "Cold, Cold Heart", which helped introduce Williams and country music in general to a wider, more national audience. The Miller and Faith tandem continued to work on all of Bennett's early hits. Bennett's recording of "Blue Velvet" was also very popular and attracted screaming teenaged fans at concerts at the famed Paramount Theater in New York (Bennett did seven shows a day, starting at 10:30 a.m.) and elsewhere.

On February 12, 1952, Bennett married Ohio art student and jazz fan Patricia Beech, whom he had met the previous year after a nightclub performance in Cleveland. Two thousand female fans dressed in black gathered outside the ceremony at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral in mock mourning. Bennett and Beech would have two sons, D'Andrea (Danny, born around 1954) and Daegal (Dae, born around 1955).

A third #1 came in 1953 with "Rags to Riches". Unlike Bennett's other early hits, this was an up-tempo big band number with a bold, brassy sound and a double tango in the instrumental break; it topped the charts for eight weeks. Later that year the producers of the upcoming Broadway musical ''Kismet'' had Bennett record "Stranger in Paradise" as a way of promoting the show during a New York newspaper strike. The song reached the top, the show was a hit, and Bennett began a long practice of recording show tunes. "Stranger in Paradise" was also a #1 hit in the United Kingdom a year and a half later and started Bennett's career as an international artist.

Once the rock and roll era began in 1955, the dynamic of the music industry changed and it became harder and harder for existing pop singers to do well commercially. Nevertheless, Bennett continued to enjoy success, placing eight songs in the ''Billboard'' during the latter part of the 1950s, with "In the Middle of an Island" reaching the highest at #9 in 1957.

For a month in August–September 1956, Bennett hosted a NBC Saturday night television variety show, called ''The Tony Bennett Show'', as a summer replacement for ''The Perry Como Show''. Patti Page and Julius La Rosa had in turn hosted the two previous months, and they all shared the same singers, dancers, and orchestra. In 1959, Bennett would again fill in for ''The Perry Como Show'', this time alongside Teresa Brewer and Jaye P. Morgan as co-hosts of the summer-long ''Perry Presents.''

A growing artistry

In 1954, the guitarist Chuck Wayne became Bennett's musical director. Bennett released his first long-playing album in 1955, ''Cloud 7''. The album was billed as featuring Wayne and showed Benett's leanings towards jazz. In 1957, Ralph Sharon became Bennett's pianist and musical director, replacing Wayne. Sharon told Bennett that a career singing "sweet saccharine songs like 'Blue Velvet'" wouldn't last long, and encouraged Bennett to focus even more on his jazz inclinations.

The result was the 1957 album ''The Beat of My Heart''. It used well-known jazz musicians such as Herbie Mann and Nat Adderley, with a strong emphasis on percussion from the likes of Art Blakey, Jo Jones, Latin star Candido Camero, and Chico Hamilton. The album was both popular and critically praised. Bennett followed this by working with the Count Basie Orchestra, becoming the first male pop vocalist to sing with Basie's band. The albums ''Basie Swings, Bennett Sings'' (1958) and ''In Person!'' (1959) were the well-regarded fruits of this collaboration, with "Chicago" being one of the standout songs.

Bennett also built up the quality, and therefore, the reputation of his nightclub act; in this he was following the path of Sinatra and other top jazz and standards singers of this era. In June 1962, Bennett staged a highly-promoted concert performance at Carnegie Hall, using a stellar line-up of musicians including Al Cohn, Kenny Burrell, and Candido, as well as the Ralph Sharon Trio. The concert featured 44 songs, including favorites like "I've Got the World on a String" and "The Best Is Yet To Come". It was a big success, further cementing Bennett's reputation as a star both at home and abroad. Bennett also appeared on television, and in October 1962 he sang on the first night of the Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show''.

Also in 1962, Bennett released the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". Although this only reached #19 on the , it spent close to a year on various other charts and increased Bennett's exposure. The album of the same title was a hit and both the single and album achieved gold record status. The song won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance. Over the years, this would become known as Bennett's signature song. In 2001, it was ranked 23rd on an RIAA/NEA list of the most historically significant Songs of the 20th Century.

Bennett's following album, ''I Wanna Be Around'' (1963), was also a top-5 success, with the title track and "The Good Life" each reaching the of the pop singles chart along with the of the Adult Contemporary chart.

The next year brought The Beatles and the British Invasion, and with them still more musical and cultural attention to rock and less to pop, standards, and jazz. Over the next couple of years Bennett had minor hits with several albums and singles based on show tunes – his last top-40 single was the #34 "If I Ruled the World" from ''Pickwick'' in 1965 – but his commercial fortunes were clearly starting to decline. An attempt to break into acting with a role in the poorly received 1966 film ''The Oscar'' met with middling reviews for Bennett; he did not enjoy the experience and did not seek further roles.

A firm believer in the American Civil Rights movement, Bennett participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. Years later he would continue this commitment by refusing to perform in apartheid South Africa.

Years of struggle

Ralph Sharon and Bennett parted ways in 1965. There was great pressure on singers such as Lena Horne and Barbra Streisand to record "contemporary" rock songs, and in this vein Columbia Records' Clive Davis suggested that Bennett do the same. Bennett was very reluctant, and when he tried, the results pleased no one. This was exemplified by ''Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!'' (1970), before which Bennett became physically ill at the thought of recording. It featured misguided attempts at Beatles and other current songs and a ludicrous psychedelic art cover.

Years later Bennett would recall his dismay at being asked to do contemporary material, comparing it to when his mother was forced to produce a cheap dress. By 1972, he had departed Columbia for MGM Records, but found no more success there, and in a couple more years he was without a recording contract.

Bennett and his wife Patricia had been separated since 1965, their marriage a victim of Bennett's spending too much time on the road, among other factors. In 1971, their divorce became official. Bennett had been involved with aspiring actress Sandra Grant since filming ''The Oscar'', and on December 29, 1971 they married. They had two daughters, Joanna (born around 1969) and Antonia (born 1974), and moved to Los Angeles.

Taking matters into his own hands, Bennett started his own record company, Improv. He cut some songs that would later become favorites, such as "What is This Thing Called Love?", and made two well-regarded albums with jazz pianist Bill Evans, ''The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album'' (1975) and ''Together Again'' (1976), but Improv lacked a distribution arrangement with a major label and by 1977 it was out of business. A stint living in England, like other American jazz expatriates, did not change his fortunes.

As the decade neared its end, Bennett had no recording contract, no manager, and was not performing any concerts outside of Las Vegas. His second marriage was failing (they would completely separate in 1979, but not officially divorce until 2007). He had developed a drug addiction, was living beyond his means, and had the Internal Revenue Service trying to seize his Los Angeles home. He had hit bottom.

Turnaround

After a near-fatal cocaine overdose in 1979, Bennett called his sons Danny and Dae for help. "Look, I'm lost here," he told them. "It seems like people don't want to hear the music I make."

Danny Bennett, an aspiring musician himself, also came to a realization. The band Danny and his brother had started, Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends, had foundered and Danny's musical abilities were limited. However, he had discovered during this time that he did have a head for business. His father, on the other hand, had tremendous musical talent but was having trouble sustaining a career from it and had little financial sense. Danny signed on as his father's manager.

Danny got his father's expenses under control, moved him back to New York, and began booking him in colleges and small theaters to get him away from a "Vegas" image. After some effort, a successful plan to pay back the IRS debt was put into place. Tony Bennett had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director. By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and released ''The Art of Excellence''. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.

An unexpected audience

By the mid-1980s, the excesses of the disco, punk rock, and new wave eras had given many artists and listeners a greater appreciation for the classic American song. Rock stars such as Linda Ronstadt began recording albums of standards, and such songs began showing up more frequently in movie soundtracks and on television commercials.

Danny Bennett felt strongly that younger audiences, although completely unfamiliar with Tony Bennett, would respond to his music if only given a chance to see and hear it. More crucially, no changes to Tony's appearance (tuxedo), singing style (his own), musical accompaniment (The Ralph Sharon Trio or an orchestra), or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.

Accordingly, Danny began regularly to book his father on a show with a younger, hip audience, ''Late Night with David Letterman''. This was subsequently followed by appearances on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', ''The Simpsons'', ''Muppets Tonight'', and various MTV programs. In 1993, Bennett played a series of benefit concerts organized by alternative rock radio stations around the country. The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, "I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin – they were like, 'Who wrote that?' To them, it was different. If you're different, you stand out."

During this time, Bennett continued to record, first putting out the acclaimed look back ''Astoria: Portrait of the Artist'' (1990), then emphasizing themed albums such as the Sinatra homage ''Perfectly Frank'' (1992) and the Fred Astaire tribute ''Steppin' Out'' (1993). The latter two both achieved gold status and won Grammys for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance (Bennett's first Grammys since 1962) and further established Bennett as the inheritor of the mantle of a classic American great.

As Bennett was seen at ''MTV Video Music Awards'' shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his "Steppin' Out With My Baby" video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as ''The New York Times'' said, "Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises."

The new audience reached its height with Bennett's appearance in 1994 on ''MTV Unplugged''. (He quipped famously on the show, "I've been unplugged my whole career.") Featuring guest appearances by rock and country stars Elvis Costello and k.d. lang (both of whom had a profound respect for the standards genre), the show attracted a considerable audience and much media attention. The resulting ''MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett'' album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year. At age 68, Tony Bennett had come all the way back.

Painting

Tony Bennett's career as a painter, done under his real name of Benedetto, has also flourished. He followed up his childhood interest with serious training, work, and museum visits throughout his life. He sketches or paints every day, even of views out of hotel windows when he is on tour.

He has exhibited his work in numerous galleries around the world. He was chosen as the official artist for the 2001 Kentucky Derby, and was commissioned by the United Nations to do two paintings, including one for their 50th anniversary. His painting "Homage to Hockney" (for his friend David Hockney, painted after Hockney drew him) is on permanent display at the highly regarded Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. His "Boy on Sailboat, Sydney Bay" is in the permanent collection at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park in New York, as is his "Central Park" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. His paintings and drawings have been featured in ''ARTnews'' and other magazines, and sell for as much as $80,000 apiece. Many of his works were published in the art book ''Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen'' in 1996. In 2007, another book involving his paintings, ''Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music'', became a best-seller among art books.

No retirement

Since his comeback, Bennett has financially prospered; by 1999, his assets were worth $15 to 20 million. He had no intention of retiring, saying "If you study the masters – Picasso, Jack Benny, Fred Astaire – right up to the day they died, they were performing. If you are creative, you get busier as you get older." Indeed, Bennett has continued to record and tour steadily, doing 100 to 200 shows a year. In concert Bennett often makes a point of singing one song (usually "Fly Me to the Moon") without any microphone or amplification, demonstrating to younger audience members the lost art of vocal projection. One show, ''Tony Bennett's Wonderful World: Live From San Francisco'', was made into a PBS special. Bennett also created the idea behind, and starred in the first of, the A&E; Network's popular ''Live By Request'' series, for which he won an Emmy Award. In addition to numerous television guest performances, Bennett has had cameo appearances as himself in films such as ''The Scout'', ''Analyze This'', and ''Bruce Almighty''. In 1998 he made an unlikely but successful appearance at a mud-soaked Glastonbury in an immaculate white suit and tie. Bennett also published ''The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett'' in 1998.

A series of albums, often based on themes (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, blues, duets) has met with good acceptance; Bennett has won seven more Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance or Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammys in the subsequent years, most recently for the year 2006. Bennett has sold over 50 million records worldwide during his career.

Accolades came to Bennett. For his contribution to the recording industry, Tony Bennett was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street. Bennett was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997, was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and received a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2002. In 2002, ''Q'' magazine named Tony Bennett in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". On December 4, 2005, Bennett was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor. Later, a theatrical musical revue of his songs, called ''I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett'' was created and featured some of his best-known songs such as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Because of You", and "Wonderful". The following year, Bennett was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.

Bennett frequently donates his time to charitable causes, to the extent that he is sometimes nicknamed "Tony Benefit". In April 2002, he joined Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and former President Bill Clinton in a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at New York's Apollo Theater. He has also recorded public service announcements for Civitan International. In the late 1980s, Bennett entered into a long-term romantic relationship with Susan Crow (born c. 1960), a former New York City schoolteacher. Together they founded Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization dedicated to creating, promoting, and supporting arts education. At the same time they founded (and named after Bennett's friend) the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, a public high school dedicated to teaching the performing arts, which opened in 2001 and would have a very high graduation rate. It was a tribute in return, for in a 1965 ''Life'' magazine interview Sinatra had said that: :"For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more."

Danny Bennett continues to be Tony's manager while Dae Bennett is a recording engineer who has worked on a number of Tony's projects and who has opened Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey. Tony's younger daughter Antonia is an aspiring jazz singer.

In August 2006, Bennett turned eighty years old. The birthday itself was an occasion for publicity, which then extended through the rest of the following year. ''Duets: An American Classic'' reached the highest place ever on the albums chart for an album by Bennett and garnered two Grammy Awards; concerts were given, including a high-profile one for New York radio station WLTW-FM; a performance was done with Christina Aguilera and a comedy sketch was made with affectionate Bennett impressionist Alec Baldwin on ''Saturday Night Live''; a Thanksgiving-time, Rob Marshall-directed television special ''Tony Bennett: An American Classic'' on NBC, which would win multiple Emmy Awards; receipt of the Billboard Century Award; and guest-mentoring on ''American Idol'' season 6 as well as performing during its finale. He received the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Humanitarian Award. Bennett was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2006, the highest honor that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians.

On June 21, 2007, Bennett married long-time girlfriend Susan Crow in a private civil ceremony in New York that was witnessed by former Governor Mario Cuomo.

The year 2008 saw Bennett making two appearances on "New York State of Mind" with Billy Joel at the final concerts given at Shea Stadium, and in October releasing the album ''A Swingin' Christmas'' with The Count Basie Big Band, for which he made a number of promotional appearances at holiday time. In 2009, Bennett performed at the conclusion of the final Macworld Conference & Expo for Apple Inc., singing the "The Best Is Yet to Come" and "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" to a standing ovation, and later making his Jazz Fest debut in New Orleans. In February 2010, Bennett was one of over 70 artists singing on "We Are the World: 25 for Haiti", a charity single in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In October he performed "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" at AT&T; Park before the third inning of Game 1 of the 2010 World Series and sang "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch. Days later he sang "America the Beautiful" at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C.

Regarding his choices in music, Bennett reiterated his artistic stance in a 2010 interview: :"I'm not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don't follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that's badly written. In the 1920s and '30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. These are classics, and finally they're not being treated as light entertainment. This is classical music."

Awards and recognition

Bennett has won fifteen Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year in which the ceremony was held and the award was given, not the year in which the recording was released):

Best Solo Vocal Performance, Male, 1963, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"

Record of the Year, 1963, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, 1993, ''Perfectly Frank''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, 1994, ''Steppin' Out''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, 1995, ''MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett''

Album of the Year, 1995, ''MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, 1997, ''Here's to the Ladies''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, 1998, ''Tony Bennett on Holiday''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, 2000, ''Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool''

Lifetime Achievement Award, 2001

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2003, ''Playing with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2004, ''A Wonderful World'' (with k.d. lang)

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2006, ''The Art of Romance''

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2007, ''Duets: An American Classic''

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 2007, "For Once in My Life" (with Stevie Wonder)

Bennett has won two Emmy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year in which the ceremony was held and the award was given, not the year in which the program aired):

Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, 1996, ''Live by Request''

Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, 2007, ''Tony Bennett: An American Classic''

Bennett has gained other notable recognition:

New York City's Bronze Medallion, 1969

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, 1997

Lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, 2002 Kennedy Center Honoree, 2005 Inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Humanitarian Award, 2006

National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award, 2006

Works

Discography

Bennett has released over 70 albums during his career, with almost all being for Columbia Records. The biggest selling of these in the U.S. have been ''I Left My Heart in San Francisco'', ''MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett'', and ''Duets: An American Classic'', all of which went platinum for shipping one million copies. Eight other albums of his have gone gold in the U.S., including several compilations. Bennett has also charted over 30 singles during his career, with his biggest hits all occurring during the early 1950s and none charting since 1967.

Books

Bennett, Tony. ''Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen''. Rizzoli, 1996. ISBN 0-8478-1972-8.

Bennett, Tony, with Will Friedwald. ''The Good Life: The Autobiography Of Tony Bennett''. Pocket Books, 1998. ISBN 0-671-02469-8.

Bennett, Tony, with Robert Sullivan. ''Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music''. Sterling Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1402747675.

See also

List of best selling music artists

References

External links

Official Tony Bennett music website

Official Tony Bennett art website

Legacy Records Tony Bennett website

Exploring the Arts website

Official Antonia Bennett music website

The Tony Bennett MySpace Page

Category:1926 births Category:Living people Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American crooners Category:American jazz singers Category:American male singers Category:American painters Category:American pop singers Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:MusiCares Person of the Year Honorees Category:American jazz musicians of Italian descent Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:People from Astoria, Queens Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Concord Records artists Category:Musicians from New York

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