Tony Bennett Back by Popular Demand at Hard Rock Live on March 16 & 17

Legendary entertainer and octogenarian Tony Bennett returns to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for two shows on March 16 & 17 at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale, now.

Tony Bennett has sold millions of records world-wide and is the recipient of 17 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He recently celebrated his latest 2012 Grammy wins for Best Traditional Pop Album for the recently released Duets II and, Best Vocal Collaboration with Duo or Group for  “Body and Soul” with the late Amy Winehouse. Duets II also made music history when it debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts making Bennett the oldest artist to ever achieve a #1 recording.  Tony Bennett’s signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” celebrates the 50th anniversary of its recording and release this year.

 

As a teenager growing up in Astoria, Queens, Tony Bennett sang while waiting on tables in a restaurant. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army and while in Europe performed with military bands. He later had vocal studies at the American Theatre Wing School and his first nightclub engagement was in 1946 when he sat in with trombonist Tyree Glenn at the Shangri-La in Astoria, Queens. Bennett’s big break came in 1949 when he came to comedian Bob Hope’s attention while he was working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village in New York City and invited him to perform at the famed Paramount Theatre.

 

His initial successes came via a string of Columbia singles in the early 1950’s, including such chart-toppers as “Because of You,” “Rags to Riches,” and a remake of Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart.”  He has had 24 songs in the Top 40, including “I Wanna Be Around,” “The Good Life,” “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” and his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” recorded 50 years ago this coming January. With millions of records sold world-wide and platinum and gold albums to his credit, Bennett has received fifteen Grammy Awards—including a 1995 Grammy for Album of the Year for his MTV Unplugged CD which introduced this American master to a whole new generation—and the Grammy Lifetime Award. His 2007 prime-time special, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, won seven Emmy Awards.

 

Tony Bennett has been singing duets since he and Rosemary Clooney co-starred on the CBS Radio/TV program Songs for Sale in the summer of 1950.  In any number of live concerts in his career he has sung with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and other artists from the golden age of American popular song. In 2006, the year of his 80th birthday, his Duets: An American Classic was released. The album—which included performances with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Bono and others—won three Grammy Awards and went on to be one of the best-selling CDs of the year and Tony’s career. Bennett’s first Duets album also inspired the Rob Marshall-directed television special Tony Bennett: An American Classic which won seven Emmys making it the most honored program at the 2007 Emmy Awards. In celebration of his 85th birthday in 2011 the release of Bennett’s highly anticipated, Duets II, featured Bennett performing with a new roster of celebrated artists including, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Buble, Aretha Franklin, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, and many others.  Duets II debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album charts, making Tony the only artist at the age of 85 to achieve this in the history of recorded music.

 

Tony Bennett is one of a handful of artists to have new albums charting in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and now in the first two decades of the 21st century.  He has introduced a multitude of songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become standards for pop music.

 

Tony Bennett became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005, was named an NEA Jazz Master in January of 2006, received a Citizen of the World award from the United Nations, and a Billboard Magazine Century Award in honor of his outstanding contributions to music. He has published three books: his autobiography, The Good Life, and two books of his paintings, Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen and Tony Bennett In The Studio; A Life of Art and Music.

Tony Bennett is a dedicated painter whose interest in art began as a child.  He continues to paint every day, even as he tours internationally.  He has exhibited his work in galleries around the world.  The United Nations has commissioned him for two paintings, including one for their 50th anniversary.  His original painting, “Homage to Hockney,” is on permanent display at the Butler Institute of American Art, and the landmark National Arts Club in New York is home to Tony’s painting “Boy on Sailboat, Sydney Bay.”  Three of his paintings are part of the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collections including his portrait of Duke Ellington that became part of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection in 2009.

Throughout his career, Tony Bennett has always put his heart and time into humanitarian concerns and has lent his time and talents to raise millions of dollars for a variety of worthy causes. He is active in environmental concerns and social justice. He marched with Dr. King in the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights movement and the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta bestowed upon him their Salute to Greatness Award for his efforts in fighting racial discrimination. Bennett founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in 2001 and in 2009 a state-of-the-art permanent facility was built in his hometown of Astoria, Queens.  With his wife, Susan Benedetto, he established Exploring the Arts, a non-profit organization that supports arts education in NYC public schools. Exploring the Arts is partnering with 14 public high schools in every borough of New York City to enhance and foster the arts. For more information visit: tonybennett.com; benedettoarts.com; or exploringthearts.org.

 

Tickets cost $89, $74, $59 and $44*;all seats are reserved and available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply.

 

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