Tony Bennett

Presenter0:00

Uh

Tony Bennett0:00

This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:08

Tenny, you're a New Yorker. What part of New York?

Tony Bennett0:11

Well, right now I li I I live right in the heart of New York City, which is Sixty Eighth Street on the east side and uh

Presenter0:15

Are you

Tony Bennett0:17

Uh

Presenter0:17

Where were you born?

Presenter0:18

I was born in Astoria, Long Island.

Presenter0:21

Uh an Italian immigrant family. Were times hard as a child? Yes, uh they were ghetto type uh surroundings and uh Was yours a musical family? Yes, very musical. I believe you made your first public appearance when you were six.

Presenter0:35

Uh

Tony Bennett0:35

That's right. Yes, that uh was uh with May LaGuardia and uh going over the uh Traborough Bridge in New York City with my brother and we sang Marching Along together. How did you get the job?

Presenter0:44

How do you do?

Tony Bennett0:45

Well, it was just uh the neighborhood. We were right at the very corner of the beginning of the Triborough Bridge and the day of the festivities.

Tony Bennett0:53

They just chose uh my brother and myself to march along with and cut the ribbon with Mela Guadia and we walked the whole length of the bridge. Great.

Tony Bennett1:02

As a youngster, what did you want to be?

Tony Bennett1:05

Just what I'm doing right now, I I've always felt like I'd like to sing and perform for people.

Presenter1:09

Uh

Presenter1:10

Uh

Tony Bennett1:10

Uh

Presenter1:10

You did study commercial art for a while. Yes.

Presenter1:13

But music was more important.

Tony Bennett1:15

Brad.

Presenter1:16

The United States entered the war. You joined the infantry. You came to Europe. Where did you serve?

Presenter1:22

In Germany.

Presenter1:23

Did you visit Britain?

Presenter1:25

No, not at that time.

Presenter1:27

And when the shooting stopped, what happened?

Tony Bennett1:29

Well, then I I stayed and waited for enough points to get home and uh and what I did was acquire this job with the uh American Forces Network as their musical librarian. And it was a great education for me because uh it I had to take care of about forty five musicians and

Tony Bennett1:49

And I learned a lot about music that way.

Presenter1:52

I'm sure. Did you get a chance to sing yourself with any of the army bands?

Tony Bennett1:55

Yes, I I with that orchestra that I always did one song a week with the uh American Forces Network orchestra.

Presenter2:02

Great.

Presenter2:03

Now after those years in uniform you were entitled to some further education at the Government's expense.

Tony Bennett2:08

Yes, the GI Bill of Rights, and I decided and made a very good choice on going to the American Theater Wing.

Tony Bennett2:16

And they uh supplied us with some very good teachers and

Tony Bennett2:20

on all aspects of the theater and music.

Presenter2:23

Yes. Was it always the lighter side of music that interested you? Do did you ever feel you wanted to?

Presenter2:29

to tackle Italian opera?

Presenter2:31

No, I love I love

Tony Bennett2:35

enjoying Italian opera, but uh

Tony Bennett2:38

No, I I love uh partly music too much and JS.

Presenter2:42

Who influenced you most as as a young singer? Was there any particular artist? Art Teidum.

Presenter2:48

His phrasing

Tony Bennett2:48

Yes, his his uh whole concept of uh how to treat a popular song.

Presenter2:53

Yes. When you left the American Theatre Wing, what was the the first singing job you had?

Tony Bennett2:58

Pearl Bailey hired me. It was with a show that she had in Greenwich Village and uh

Tony Bennett3:03

And it was the first real

Tony Bennett3:06

what I would call a big time job.

Tony Bennett3:08

And Bob Hope came in and saw me and then he took me on tour from

Tony Bennett3:13

From that engagement it all seemed to happen at one time.

Presenter3:16

Yes. He changed your name, too.

Tony Bennett3:18

That's right. Uh he he felt he didn't know there was a guy called Engelbert Humpedink and he didn't realize that a long name like that could really uh hold up on a marquee. So he said, Let's Americanize your name and he did it right at uh on the spot, uh, backstage at the Paramount Theater and said, Why don't we take Anthony Dominic Benedetto and make it Tony Bennett and just Americanize it and I s and it's been a lucky uh

Presenter3:22

Then you didn't realize

Tony Bennett3:42

A lucky name for me, actually.

Presenter3:44

What was the next important thing to happen after that Bob Hope tour?

Tony Bennett3:48

Well, I'd signed up uh with uh Columbia Records and got very lucky because the first recording started selling right away and it you know, the salesmen and executives kind of put me in focus and started uh working on my recordings and uh and then uh I've had a very nice career with uh CBS for about twenty years now. What was your first very big one, Stranger in Paradise?

Presenter3:52

Yeah.

Tony Bennett4:16

In in uh Britain, yes. But uh in America it was because of you.

Presenter4:18

But

Presenter4:21

That was a very early one, wasn't it?

Tony Bennett4:21

It was a very early one, wasn't it? Yes, and one before that which started me, which was Boulevard

Presenter4:25

A broken dream

Presenter4:26

Well, so now the the living was easier. There was plenty of television and hotel dates. But there was one big smash number which immediately took you into the worldwide top bracket, something about um

Tony Bennett4:37

San Francisco.

Presenter4:38

San Francisco, yes, yes. Now where did you find that number?

Tony Bennett4:40

Now why did

Tony Bennett4:42

Well, uh Ralph Sharon, who is now with Robert Goulet, was my musical director at the time. And he suggested this song. We were on our way we were down south in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and we were on our way to San Francisco and he suggested this as a

Tony Bennett5:00

special song for the Fairmont Hotel. Mhm. And I thought it was a good idea and at the rehearsal

Tony Bennett5:07

Of the fair amount they

Tony Bennett5:09

Uh everybody became just ex so excited over it and we thought it would be a very good local song.

Tony Bennett5:16

But it we had no idea that it would break internationally like it did.

Presenter5:19

Indeed, the San Francisco Tourist Board were duly grateful.

Presenter5:23

There is now, I believe, a Tony Bennett Day in the city.

Presenter5:27

And they gave you a trolley car, a tram.

Tony Bennett5:29

Uh Right.

Presenter5:30

Yeah.

Tony Bennett5:30

Uh

Presenter5:31

Uh

Tony Bennett5:31

Still trying to find out what to do with it, but

Presenter5:34

Ha ha ha.

Tony Bennett5:34

Yeah.

Presenter5:34

Yeah.

Presenter5:35

When did you make your first tour over here, Tony?

Tony Bennett5:39

Well that was nineteen fifty four.

Presenter5:41

Mm. And now you come over every year.

Tony Bennett5:43

But yes, and I love it here.

Presenter5:45

very often with Count Basie, and you've played two Royal Variety performances.

Tony Bennett5:50

Yes.

Presenter5:51

And you've been over here taping some television shows. How far ahead do you plan your life, your working life?

Tony Bennett5:58

Well, about every thirteen weeks.

Presenter6:01

Uh

Presenter6:02

Really? You you play it off the cuff like that. You don't have a date book that goes two or three years ahead.

Tony Bennett6:04

Ben would

Tony Bennett6:07

Right. I kind of uh

Tony Bennett6:09

I personally like the unexpected and uh I don't like to preplan.

Tony Bennett6:15

My life too long ahead.

Presenter6:18

Now, Tony, how do you build your act? Do you like to start with a bash and then slow down in the middle, or do you start easy and do a steady build-up? What kind of.

Presenter6:26

Pattern

Tony Bennett6:27

Yeah.

Presenter6:27

Uh

Tony Bennett6:27

Trying to g

Tony Bennett6:28

Steal my act or something. No, actually I do start out easy and then build. It's uh I think that's more palatable for the audience. I sense that it's much better than crashing them over the head.

Presenter6:30

Yeah.

Presenter6:42

You've done a one man evening at the Carnegie Hall, New York. In London you sold out your last festival hall concert in what, just over half an hour, wasn't it?

Tony Bennett6:51

Yes, that's fair.

Presenter6:52

You are a very relaxed person, seemingly, both on stage and off. Do you ever get nervous?

Tony Bennett6:59

Well, it's almost a

Tony Bennett7:02

a myth about the fact that a performer gets nervous. I think

Tony Bennett7:06

We run into a bit of uh semantics with that one word because

Tony Bennett7:11

It's not

Tony Bennett7:13

I think the word is care rather than nervousness, you know. Thi this business of butterflies before a show. If you don't get that feeling

Tony Bennett7:22

If you don't have that care about how it's going to go over.

Tony Bennett7:25

Something misses in the performance. I become very disturbed if I'm very relaxed and and don't even think about

Tony Bennett7:33

how it's going to go over. So if I don't feel these butterflies, I don't consider them nervousness. I just it's almost like an alarm that goes off in my brain and says, This is it. You're going on the stage now and uh let's hope it appears effortless and that the audience enjoys it.

Tony Bennett7:51

Do you still draw and paint?

Tony Bennett7:52

Yes, that's my hobby.

Presenter7:54

Now you're on top of the world. Where would you like to go from here? Is there any one

Presenter7:59

big idea you've got at the back of your mind.

Tony Bennett8:01

I would like to just uh keep doing exactly what I'm doing, but I'd like to hone it. I'd like to widen whatever I know now.