Tony Bennett – The last crooner in town

He outlived Sinatra (who reckoned him the better singer), inspired Lady Gaga and walked beside Martin Luther King in support of civil rights. David Colton pays tribute to the voice, the man and the legacy of the ‘showbusiness dignity’ and keeper of the Great American Songbook

He seemed to carry a symbolic calling card – if embossed, it might say ‘showbusiness dignity’ (AP2006)

Tony Bennett couldn’t croon as smoothly as Bing Crosby or Mel Torme. He wasn’t an all-around entertainer like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, or Judy Garland. And he refused to change his pitch-perfect nightclub style even when challenged by American rock and roll, the British Invasion, or the dance fevers of disco.

But triumphantly, the singer born Anthony Dominick Benedetto from Astoria, Queens, a few subway stops from the Manhattan supper clubs where comedian Bob Hope discovered him in 1949, outlasted them all. He was the last classic crooner standing.