A biography for Tony Bennetthasn’t been written yet.
“Singing is a gift.”
“I've been very fortunate. I'm doing what I love, and I'm getting away with it, you know?”
“For many years, I've always been attached to what they call the Great American Songbook, and Kern was a great leader of that because he had the classical training of Europe. He impressed all the greatest composers, like Cole Porter and Gershwin. They couldn't believe he was writing the songs he was writing.”
“I loved my mom so much because she had to work on a penny just to put food on the table... During the Depression in the United States, everybody had a tough time. And I was so hurt because she was crying that she didn't have any food for us for Thanksgiving.”
“I still get a little nervous before performing. You don't want to forget a lyric; you don't want to make a mistake. I still get butterflies. You can try to judge an audience, but you can only really judge things by the applause.”
“I respected Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Those were my heroes, and they were 10 years older than I was.”
“I get up, and boy, I can't wait to paint and study music and keep learning. I just love it.”
“Lady Gaga is the Picasso of the entertainment world. She's very intelligent.”
“To work is to feel alive.”
“When the uncreative tell the creative what to do, it stops being art.”
“More than anybody else I'd like to thank Count Basie for teaching me how to perform.”
“My whole premise has been, right from the beginning, that it would take me a lifetime to learn to explain myself as an artist. As you grow older, you learn what to do and what to leave out. You kind of simplify your work and get the same thing done with fewer strokes. It's pretty interesting to me.”
“When Sinatra said, 'For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer I've ever heard,' it changed my career completely. He was my best friend, and I was his best friend... but I was never part of the Rat Pack.”
“Gaga is a gorgeous singer, and when she sings a great ballad, I get goose bumps.”
“As a young boy, I did a lot of foolish things. I made a lot of mistakes. And you live and learn.”
“I take care of myself. I work out three times a week. I have a trainer, and we just work out for an hour.”
“The high point for me in my career was when Sinatra called me his favourite performer in the Fifties. And I've been sold out ever since.”
“I was possessed with a wonderful example of my Italian American family. They would come over and join us every Sunday, all my aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces, and I would sing for them.”
“To me, life is a gift, and it's a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get.”
“I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different.”