Unlike Sinatra or Bing Crosby, he had not worked with the swing big-bands, a learning curve alongside expert instrumentalists that could sharpen technique and fill a singer with fresh ideas. His single Stranger in Paradise, from the Broadway musical Kismet, brought him a No 1 in the UK in 1955 but the arrival of rock’n’roll made it Bennett’s first and last Top 10 single in the UK, and he had only one more in the US, when In the Middle of an Island reached No 9 in 1957.īennett needed to adapt. When he married Patricia Beech in 1952, crowds of young women showed up outside the ceremony, dressed as if in mourning.īennett became one of the biggest vocal draws in the US, with three No 1 hits – Because of You, Cold, Cold Heart (both 1951) and Rags to Riches (1953). The comedian Bob Hope hired him in 1949, but, disliking the stage name, told him: “We’ll call you Tony Bennett.”īennett worked in New York at the Paramount theatre in Hope’s popular show, which soon needed police barricades to hold back the singer’s teenage fans. Photograph: Rick Diamond/Getty ImagesĪfter demobilisation, Bennett took vocal classes in the bel canto style at the American Theatre Wing school (a teacher there suggested he try imitating the phrasing of jazz instrumentalists) and he began singing in nightclubs from 1946 under the stage name of Joe Bari. Tony Bennett backstage with Stevie Wonder during the Martin Luther King Jr Gala, Atlanta, in 1982. He was moved to become a pacifist following combat in Europe in 1945, an experience he described as “a front-row seat in hell”. Twenty years after that episode, Bennett was marching in Alabama with Martin Luther King. Bennett sang with army bands during the second world war, but he was demoted and assigned to gravedigging for fraternising on Thanksgiving night with a black soldier who had been a schoolfriend. He took bellboy jobs before becoming a singing waiter in a restaurant. His Uncle Dick, a tap dancer, provided an early glimpse of showbusiness, and Bennett was passionate about both singing and painting by the time he attended the School of Industrial Art (now the High School of Art and Design) in Manhattan. Watching her struggle, Bennett made up his mind to be successful enough for his mother’s trials to end. His father died when Bennett was 10 and Anna worked all hours to support her three children. In an interview with the singer in 2002, Simon Hattenstone wrote in the Guardian that Bennett had “done all the classic showbiz stuff, snorted coke with the best of ’em, made out with the younger women, broken bread with the mafia – and somehow come out with his innocence, his idealism, intact”.īorn Anthony Dominick Benedetto in the Astoria district of Queens, New York, he was the son of John, a grocer from southern Italy, and Anna (nee Suraci), a seamstress. He raised millions of dollars for charities and publicly associated himself with liberal causes. His autobiography, published in 1998, was entitled The Good Life – Bennett knew only too well how ambiguous a notion that could be, having narrowly survived a cocaine overdose and fought off bankruptcy during his troubled middle years. He was also an accomplished painter and produced a book of his visual art, What My Heart Has Seen (1996). He is also survived by nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.Tony Bennett performing I Left My Heart in San Francisco on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Waldkirch his children, Georgina Meyer (Charles) of Cedar Grove, Francis (Judy) of Kewaskum, Sharon Gessner (Byron) of Kewaskum, Peter (Kathleen) of West Bend, Ann Wagner (Lee) of West Bend, Eric Meyer, Pamela Meyer, Kevin Meyer (Eliza), Jennifer Bishop (Paul), Jason VandeBoom (Nicole), Randy Gessner (Jessica), Danny Gessner (Becky), Wendy Galligan (William), David VandeBoom (Kristel), James VandeBoom (Sarah), Jessica Cocroft (Ryan), Heather Rogan (Brandon) and Ryan Wagner his great grandchildren, Anthony, Brennan, Vivienne, Louella, Chloe, Andres, Santiago, Gianna, Jackson, Alexander, Tyler, Cheyenne, Clayton, Mackenzee, Amelia, Sierra, Austin, Sophia, Alexandria, Lucas, Martha, Braden, Gavin, Lauren, Cade, Finley, Calvin and Annella his great great grandchild Reed and his sisters, Bernice Schueller of Belgium, Lucy Carter (Norbert) of West Bend, Violet Vande Boom of Saukville and Theresa Schroeder (Irvin) of West Bend. He was predeceased by : his parents, Norbert Boom and Margaret Vande Boom his son Leon and his grandson Tracy Gessner. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. We are sad to announce that on March 18, 2021, at the age of 94, George Vande Boom of West Bend, Wisconsin, born in Saukville, Wisconsin passed away.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |