– CBS Radio – The Howard Miller Show – Guest: Tony Bennett – August 30, 1955 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Pre-empting the usual tonight in order to pause, take a breather and reflect on the unforgettable career of Tony Bennett; a singer whose voice carried the American songbook to new heights – whose talent freely travelled among genres and whose spirit and love of life inspired countless people; professionals and members of the audience, giving further evidence the gift is timeless ne music is the thing that binds us all together.
So many people have spoken of meeting and working with the man himself, myself included – of stories about not only his rare and magic voice but anecdotes about Tony Bennett; his professional demeanor, his wqrmth as a human being – his phenomenal range, not only in voice, but in music itself.
You couldn’t pin him down – his was a talent that embraced music, whether it was pop, show tunes, blues, Jazz – it was the notes, it was the song and Tony Bennett made so many of them his own.
This radio appearance with Howard Miller, who did a daily show for the CBS Radio network out of Chicago was broadcast on August 30, 1955 – just before his phenomenal rise to household name status; a good seven years before “I Left My Heart In San Fransisco” a song forever associated with Tony Bennett.
Tony Bennett’ discography consists of 61 studio albums, 11 live albums, 33 compilation albums, three video albums, one extended play and 83 singles.
Almost all of Tony Bennett’s albums have been released by Columbia Records. The biggest selling of his albums in the US have been I Left My Heart in San Francisco, MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett, Duets: An American Classic and Duets II, all of which were certified platinum by the RIAA for shipping one million copies. Nine other albums of his have gone gold in the US, including several compilations. Bennett has also charted over 30 singles during his career, with his biggest hits all occurring during the early 1950s. Bennett’s single “Body and Soul” hit number 87 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 2011, his first single to hit the chart in over three decades.
For an idea of the earlier career of the immortal Tony Bennet- here he is in 1955 with Howard Miller.
You were the best.
