Timeless pop-music icon
—ANDREW R. CHOW
DIED
IN THE LATE 1960S, THE MUSIC MOGUL Clive Davis told the crooner Tony Bennett to change his style and repertoire. Rock music had taken over the world, and jazz standards didn’t cut it anymore, Davis argued.
But Bennett stuck to his guns. And over the next six decades, his fierce devotion to a bygone musical era would both revitalize the American songbook and make Bennett, who died on July 21 at 96, one of the world’s most enduring and beloved music stars.
Bennett served in World War II on the Western Front and toiled in small New York club gigs for years before being discovered by the comedian Bob Hope. In the 1950s, he became one of the country’s foremost pop idols, singing regularly to audiences of all ages at the Copacabana and Carnegie Hall. His most famous song, 1962’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” went gold, became the official song of the city, and was cherished by homesick soldiers in Vietnam, who achingly sang along with tinny jukeboxes.
Bennett’s expressive, enveloping singing voice never wavered. Miraculously, he achieved his greatest commercial success in his last dozen years, some half a century later. As an elder statesman, Ben-c nett turned his focus to duets, introducing the fans of his younger collaborators—from Stevie Wonder to Amy Winehouse—to clas-S sic American songwriting. In 2011, at 85 years old, he scored his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard 200 with Duets II, making him the oldest artist ever to top the charts.
When Lady Gaga was struggling with fame and physical pain, Bennett took the young star under his wing. The unlikely pair proceeded to form a deep musical bond, record the No. 1 album Cheek to Cheek, and tour across the world to the tune of $15.3 million.
“I tell Tony every day that he saved my life,” Lady Gaga said in 2014.
For many, Bennett was synonymous with class, craftsmanship, perseverance, and American excellence; a
