Columnist Joe Delaney: Bennett has spent long career being himself

Joe Delaney

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 9:35 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com

Tony Bennett, seeing the old year out and the new year in at Paris Las Vegas, was the late Frank Sinatra's favorite singer ... Sinatra even contributed an audio introduction that Bennett, a quiet, modest person, used as an offstage announcement in the mid-1980s ... Bennett, as a performer, has been a model of consistent excellence in all media for better than 50 years.

A dedicated artist, a painter, working in both oils and watercolors, returning to his actual name, Anthony Benedetto, his works command prices as high as $80,000 ... Two of his works are on permanent display at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, and the permanent collection at the New York City National Art Club.

"Tony Bennett: Where My Heart Has Been" is a beautifully bound book of his paintings, published by Rizzoli International ... His autobiography, "The Good Life," covers his career from his birth in Queens, N.Y., in 1926 into the mid-1990s ... It was his son, Danny, taking over as his personal manager in the 1980s, who expanded Bennett's fan base to include the younger generation.

It was Danny who got Bennett to appear on MTV with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and record an "MTV Unplugged" album, winner of two 1990s Grammy Awards ... Bennett's tribute albums -- to Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington -- were all Grammy Award winners in successive years ... Bennett received a Grammy Award and/or nomination every year during the 1990s.

"Playing with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues," this year's release, features simultaneously recorded duets with Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Diana Kroll, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Kay Starr and Stevie Wonder ... His duet with Crow on "Good Morning, Heartache" could be a single release with strong hit potential.

His first Columbia release, a single, was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," the song he sang when he auditioned for Columbia recording chief Mitch Miller ... The follow-up, later in 1951, "Because of You," was Bennett's first No. 1 hit ... It was "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," in 1962, that became his signature song, suggested by his longtime conductor, arranger and pianist, Ralph Sharon.

The great film stars of the 1930s and 1940s had such strong personas that they were themselves whatever the role ... The Barrymores -- Ethel, John and Lionel; Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson were classic examples ... Bennett, from the beginning, has been himself, sans compromise, through the years.

Year end wrap-up

What am I doing New Year's Eve? ... Absolutely nothing ... To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I don't want to be in any place that would have room for me on New Year's Eve ... It is a night for "amateur" drinkers ... You shouldn't need the reminder but, please, don't drink and drive ... Appoint a designated driver or call a cab and go back for your car on Tuesday.

Some extra NYE choices: Gladys Knight with Mark Curry (Bally's); Patti LaBelle (Caesars Palace) and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (Riviera); each in for that night only ... Frankie Randall and the Vincent Falcone Orchestra, tonight and Saturday (Suncoast) is this column's favorite Sinatra tribute program, dedicated to keeping the memory of the man and his music alive.

One of the nicest pre-Christmas parties was hosted by Riviera Board Chairman William Westerman and President Robert Vannucci in one of the sky boxes at the Royale Pavilion Dec. 11, with a blue-ribbon assemblage plus a sky-box seat for Peabo Bryson, Sheena Easton, Michael McDonald and Oleta Adams in "The Colors of Christmas," a very special evening ... Only good things for you and yours next year ... See you in 2002.