Song:I Left My Heart In San Fancisco
Album:The Ultimate Tony Bennett
Though I Left My Heart In San Francisco is Tony Bennett's signature song, it was not his biggest chart hit. Bennett was very successful in the 50s and 60s and had a long dry period before his 90s rediscovery by MTV. He was born Anthony Benedetto Aug. 3, 1926 in Astoria, Queens, NY. He grew up in poverty as his father died when he was ten years old. By that time, Bennett was already performing. He had to drop out of school and was a singing waiter. After serving in the US Army during WWII, he took singing lessons and was spotted by Pearl Bailey in 1949. Bob Hope saw him open her show and took him on tour and changed his name to Tony Bennett. Bennett signed with Columbia Records in 1950. Bennett was a jazz fan and that's what he wanted to sing. But Frank Sinatra was leaving Columbia and Mitch Miller didn't want Bennett to sound like Sinatra. So Miller paired him with pop orchestra leader Percy Faith. Because Of You was his first number one hit in 1951 followed by Cold Cold Heart, Rags To Riches and Stranger In Paradise. But as Rock 'N' Roll became more popular, Bennett faded. British jazz pianist Ralph Sharon became his musical director in 1957 and he told Bennett that if he took a more jazz oriented approach, he would have a longer career. So Bennett became more of an album artist with albums like Bennett Sings, Basie Swings in 1958. A highly promoted 1962 Carnegie Hall concert led to I Left My Heart In San Francisco getting huge radio play. It only reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 but it remained on other charts for a year. The album was a top five hit. George Cory and Douglas Cross wrote the song several years earlier for opera singer Claramae Turner. She performed it but never recorded it. Sharon found the song and had Bennett sing it for the first time in San Francisco with the mayor in attendance. DJs picked up on the buzz and the rest is history. Bennett also had big hits with I Wanna Be Around and The Good Life. Sharon left Bennett in 1965 and Columbia head Clive Davis wanted Bennett to sing contemporary songs. That didn't turn out well for Bennett. He left Columbia in 1972 and briefly recorded for MGM and then started his own label Improv. He almost died from a cocaine overdose in 1979. His son Danny became his manager and helped turn things around. He signed with Columbia in 1986 and Sharon returned as musical director. But the biggest thing was Bennett's appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1994. This connected him with a younger audience and a new generation of musicians. And they all wanted to work with him. So Tony Bennett is still going strong singing just the way he sang in the 50s. The songs on this budget comp were selected by Bennett and emphasize his older material. Here's Tony Bennett with Judy Garland performing I Left My Heart In San Francisco on The Judy Garland Show 1962.
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