  Tony Bennett. |
Move over, Kelly Clarkson. Before you were born — heck, maybe before your parents were born — Tony Bennett was television’s original American Idol.
“I started that way (on TV) with Rosemary Clooney, years ago,” Bennett said yesterday during a chat at a Toronto hotel on the heels of his Canadian Idol appearances this week.
“We were the first American Idols, in the ’50s. That’s when television was just black and white, there wasn’t even colour yet. We got a break on an amateur show, and as a result it started us off.”
(Yes kids, it’s true. Back in the day, TVs were black and white, Xboxes ran on coal and you had to use a telegraph to log onto your MySpace page. Be thankful for what you have.)
“Bob Hope picked us up, and we went on the road with him,” said Bennett, who celebrated his 80th birthday last month. “He gave me my name, Tony Bennett. He thought Anthony Dominick Benedetto was too long for the marquee.”
The rest, as they say, is history — decades upon decades of history, culminating this month with the release of Tony Bennett: Duets, An American Classic, a compilation of 18 standards made famous by Bennett that have him crooning side by side with the likes of Bono, Elton John, The Dixie Chicks, Barbra Streisand and Canada’s own Michael Buble.
Unlike some “duets” that have two singers record their tracks at different times in different locations, Bennett insisted that his partners be side by side with him in the studio, with the song recorded in just a handful of takes.
“Elton John, he did it in three takes and it was right in there,” Bennett said. “He came very prepared, very professional. I like him a lot. He’s a good guy.”
So’s that Michael Buble kid. “He respects the old masters,” Bennett said. “He’s got a lot on the ball. He’s my favourite singer these days of the young contemporary artists.”
Bennett gave kudos to the Canadian Idol finalists he helped coach for this week’s shows, diplomatically saying he would have chosen all three to win. (Saskatchewan’s Tyler Lewis was bounced on Tuesday’s results show, meaning Eva Avila and Craig Sharpe will vie for the crown next week.)
But he worries a little about their futures, post-Idol.
“Unfortunately, they don’t have a place to break in and learn. Which is regrettable, because what do they do after they win? Where do they perform?”
The guy speaks from experience, to say the least. Curiously, and wonderfully, Bennett’s career has reached a new zenith in this his 81st year, with the duets album, a documentary on his life being produced by Clint Eastwood, a TV special airing this fall directed by Chicago helmer Rob Marshall, and even a painting of Bennett’s added to the Smithsonian’s collection.
Not bad for a guy who got his big break singing on TV. But to this day, nothing beats a live audience.
“They became my greatest teachers, the audience,” he said. “It’s addictive. You can’t wait for the next audience, to give them a good show.”
