Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

TONY BENNETT Performs New Works from Chart Topping Album, Duets II, with Special Guest Daughter Antonia Bennett at Academy of Music, Nov. 4

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Presented in association with Larry Magid Entertainment Group

 “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 York Times

Living legend Tony Bennett performs a program of new works from his Billboard No. 1 chart topping album, Duets II, among other signature standards, show tunes, jazz and classic hits with special guest daughter, Antonia Bennett, at the Academy of Music, November 4, 2011 at 8pm. Bennett’s illustrious career has spanned over five decades with fifteen Grammy® Awards and two Emmy Awards to his name.

 

Tony Bennett's most recent release, Duets II (RPM Records/Columbia Records),             has remained in the top 5 on iTunes' album chart in the United States and has received unprecedented international attention in the U.K., Canada, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Australia. Duets II, released for his 85th birthday, is a follow-up to his highly successful Duets: An American Classic album (2006), released for his 80th birthday, and which garnered him three additional Grammy Awards and has became his best-selling record to-date.

 

Tickets for Tony Bennett are available from $51 to $131 by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings.)

 

"The number one success of Duets II pays tribute to the enduring genius of Tony Bennett. It is a true testament to Tony's artistry that he continues to top the charts while at the same time reaching a broader fan base and breaking new ground." – Steve Barnett, Chairman, Columbia Records

The MTV generation first took Tony Bennett to heart during his appearance with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the 1993 MTV Video Awards. He appeared on MTV Unplugged and the resulting recording of the same name garnered him the top Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Bennett credits his eldest son and manager, Danny, for his success in capturing a whole new generation of listeners.

Nearly twenty years after making ground-breaking headlines with his "Steppin' Out" video being added to MTV in 1993, Bennett has once again been added across all MTV Networks worldwide with the premiere of the Amy Winehouse duet of "Body and Soul." Widespread listener response to the Duets II's Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse tracks across all radio formats has garnered major airplay on Top 40, Hot AC and AAA stations.  "Body and Soul" has broken into Billboard's Hot 100 Singles charts. Duets II was produced by Phil Ramone and Bennett's son, Dae Bennett.  It features a celebrated roster of many of today's greatest artists--including Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, John Mayer, Carrie Underwood and Amy Winehouse--performing with Tony, showcasing his catalog of greatest hits. 

One of a handful of artists to have new albums chart in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and into the new millennium, Tony Bennett has introduced numerous songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become pop music standards. He initially rose to fame with chart-topping hits in the 1950s, such as “Because of You,” “Rags To Riches” and a cover of Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart.” He has placed two-dozen songs in the Top 40, including “I Wanna Be Around,” “The Good Life,” “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” and his signature hit, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” which earned him two Grammy Awards.  Since his show-stopping performance of “When Do the Bells Ring for Me,” from his Astoria album, at the 1991 Grammy Awards, he has been awarded Grammys for Steppin’ Out, Perfectly Frank, MTV Unplugged, Playin’ with My Friends, The Art of Romance and Duets: An American Classic.  In celebration of his unparalleled contributions to popular music, Columbia/Legacy assembled four-CD boxed set. Forty Years: The Artistry Of Tony Bennett (1991), which was recently updated and expanded, with the title changed from Forty Years to Fifty Years.

Internationally treasured by the United Nations with its Citizen of the World award, Tony Bennett was born August 3, 1926, as the son of a grocer and Italian-born immigrant, in the Astoria section of Queens, New York. His boyhood idols included Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, both big influences on Bennett’s easy, natural singing style. Bennett’s big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village. As he recalls, “Bob Hope came down to check out my act. He liked my singing so much that after the show he came back to see me in my dressing room and said, ‘Come on kid, you’re going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.’ But first he told me he didn’t care for my stage name (Joe Bari) and asked me what my real name was. I told him, ‘My name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto,’ and he said, ‘We’ll call you Tony Bennett.’ And that’s how it happened - the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for sixty years.”

Tony Bennett was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005, named an NEA Jazz Master in January of 2006, and was also named the recipient of Billboard magazine’s elite Century Award, in honor of his outstanding contributions to music. He has received 15 Grammy awards, including the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and received the first of his two Emmy Awards to date and a Cable Ace Award for his groundbreaking television special, Live By Request...Tony Bennett. Bennett has authored three books: What My Heart Has Seen (1996); autobiography release, The Good Life (1998); and Tony Bennett In the Studio, a salute to his dual career as singer and painter (2007).

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Kimmel Center, Inc., a charitable, not-for-profit organization, owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, Innovation Studio and the Merck Arts Education Center.  Kimmel Center, Inc. also manages the Academy of Music, owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the University of the Arts’ Merriam Theater. Our mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience from throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. The 2011/2012 season is sponsored by Citi.  For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org. 

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