ANNIE LEIBOVITZ Tony Bennett vintage original photo Start Price USD 3,000.00 Current Price USD 3,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, July 17, 2008 End Time Thursday, July 24, 2008 Location Michigan See more about 'ANNIE LEIBOVITZ Tony Bennett vintage original photo' Description kirstiealley store Annie Leibovitz vintage original 8x10 inch photo of Tony BennettSee my other great items in my eBay storeAnna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz (IPA: /ˈliːbəvɪts/) (born October 2, 1949) is a noted American portrait photographer whose style is marked by a close collaboration between the photographer and the subject. BiographyBorn in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz was one of six children and a military brat; her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force and the family moved frequently when she was young. Leibovitz's mother was a modern dance instructor.In high school, she became interested in various artistic endeavors, and began to write and play music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute. She became interested in photography after taking pictures on a trip to visit her family in Japan. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while she worked various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz in Israel for several months in 1969.[1] Career Rolling Stone magazineWhen Leibovitz returned to America in 1970, she became involved with Rolling Stone magazine, which had launched a short time before. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of the magazine, and she remained with the magazine until 1983. Her intimate portraits of celebrities helped define the look of the magazine.[1]In 1975, Leibovitz served as a concert-tour photographer for The Rolling Stones's Tour of the Americas. Vanity Fair magazineSince 1983, Leibovitz has worked as a featured portrait photographer for Vanity Fair.Leibovitz sued Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement of her Vanity Fair cover photograph of a pregnant Demi Moore. Paramount had commissioned a parody photograph of Leslie Nielsen, pregnant. The case, Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp.[2], has become an important fair use case in U.S. copyright law. The court found that Paramount's use of the photo constituted fair use because parodies were likely to generate little or no licensing revenue. Lennon and Ono8 December 1980, was an unusually warm day in New York City. Lennon was up and about early, first to his favorite haunt, Cafe LaFortuna, for his morning coffee then to the barber before returning home. He would then do an interview for the RKO Radio Network before a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for Rolling Stone magazine. Leibovitz promised Lennon he would make the cover of Rolling Stone.[3] and she initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone. She would recall that, "nobody wanted [Ono] on the cover".[4] When Lennon insisted that both be on the cover Leibovitz then tried to recreate the kissing scene from the Double Fantasy album cover, a picture that she loved.[4] "What is interesting is she said she'd take her top off and I said, 'Leave everything on' ... not really preconceiving the picture at all. Then he curled up next to her and it was very, very strong. You couldn't help but feel that she was cold and he looked like he was clinging on to her[5]... I shot some test Polaroids first and when I showed them to John and Yoko, John said, 'You've captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it'll be on the cover'. I looked him in the eye and we shook on it. She was the last person to professionally photograph John Lennon. Other noted projects    * In the 1980s, Leibovitz photographed celebrities for an international advertising campaign for American Express charge cards.    * In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.    * A major retrospective of Leibovitz's work was held at the Brooklyn Museum, Oct. 2006 - Jan. 2007. The retrospective was based on her book, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990 – 2005, and included many of her professional (celebrity) photographs as well as numerous personal photographs of her family, children, and partner Susan Sontag. This show, which was expanded to include three of the official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, then went on the road for seven stops. It is currently (October 2007) on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. through 13 January 2008. The show includes 200 photographs.[6]    * In 2007, Leibovitz was asked by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to take the queen's official picture for her state visit to Virginia. This was filmed for the BBC documentary A Year with the Queen. A promotional trailer for the film showed the Queen reacting angrily to Leibovitz's suggestion ("less dressy") that she remove her crown, then a scene of the Queen walking down a corridor, telling an aide "I'm not changing anything. I've had enough dressing like this, thank you very much."[7] The BBC later apologised and admitted that the sequence of events had been misrepresented, as the Queen was in fact walking to the sitting in the second scene.[8] This led to a BBC scandal and a shake-up of ethics training.See RDF Media#Queengate Affair.    * IN 2007, the Walt Disney Company hired her to do a series of photographs with celebrities in various roles and scenes for Walt Disney World's Year of a Million Dreams campaign. [9][10][11] Personal lifeLeibovitz had a close romantic relationship with noted writer and essayist Susan Sontag. They met in 1989, when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work.After Sontag's death in 2004, Newsweek published an article about Leibovitz that made reference to her decade-plus relationship with Sontag, stating that "The two first met in the late '80s, when Leibovitz photographed her for a book jacket. They never lived together, though they each had an apartment within view of the other's."[12]Neither Leibovitz nor Sontag had ever previously publicly disclosed whether the relationship was familial, a friendship, or romantic in nature. However, when Leibovitz was interviewed for her 2006 book A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, she said the book told a number of stories, and that "with Susan, it was a love story".[13]In the preface to the new book, she speaks in greater detail about her romantic/intellectual relationship with Sontag and her lesbianism, briefly discussing a book they were working on together and describes how assembling her new book was part of the grieving process after Sontag's death.Leibovitz acknowledged that she and Sontag were romantically involved. When asked why she used terms like "companion" to describe Sontag, instead of more specific ones like "partner" or "lover", Leibovitz finally said that "lover" was fine with her.[14] She later repeated the assertion in stating to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Call us 'lovers'. I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan."[15] ChildrenLeibovitz has three children: Sarah Cameron Leibovitz (b. October 2001) was born when Annie was 51 years old. Her twins Susan and Samuelle were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.[15] Selected Leibovitz photos    * Yoko Ono and John Lennon, cover of Rolling Stone #335: Originally intended to feature both subjects nude, Ono's reluctance led to the photograph featuring a disrobed Lennon hugging his clothed wife. Taken on the morning of December 8, 1980, this was one of the last photographs of Lennon, who was murdered by a deranged fan later in the day.[16]    * Demi Moore has been the subject of two highly publicized covers taken by Leibovitz. The magazine featured a nude Moore who, at the time, was seven months pregnant with her daughter Scout LaRue. Moore also appeared later on the cover of the same magazine nude with a suit painted on her body.[1]    * Whoopi Goldberg lying in a bathtub full of milk, shot from above.[2]    * Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping.[3]    * Dolly Parton vamping for the camera while Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his biceps behind her.    * Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as The Blues Brothers, with their faces painted blue.[4]    * Queen Elizabeth in occasion of her visit in US 2007.[5]    * Sting in the desert, covered in mud to blend in with the scenery.[6]    * Closeup portrait of Pete Townshend framed by his bleeding hand dripping real blood down the side of his face.    * "Fire" portrait and caption "Patti Smith Catches Fire". [17][18] Leibovitz's photo books    * Photographs    * Photographs 1970-1990    * American Olympians    * Women    * American Music    * A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005 (catalog for a travelling exhibit that debuted at the Brooklyn Museum in October 2006) References in popular culture    * The New York branch of Madame Tussauds wax museum has a wax figure of Leibovitz on display.    * In the movie Almost Famous when Williams' article becomes the cover story for Rolling Stone magazine, Annie Leibovitz is the photographer assigned to shoot the cover.    * In the Simpsons episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain," a photographer modelled on Leibovitz takes erotic photos of Homer Simpson.    * In Memento, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) calls Leonard (Guy Pearce) Leibovitz, commenting on his photo of Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss).    * In American Psycho, Patrick Bateman's girlfriend refers to Leibovitz when discussing wedding plans in a taxi on route to E-space.    * In Will and Grace, the title characters have their photograph taken by celebrity photographer "Fanny Lieber", played by Glenn Close.    * In Friends, Rachel Green pretends that Annie Leibovitz was the photographer at her fake wedding.    * In Just Shoot Me, Elliot is trying to out-photograph Annie Leibovitz. References   1. ^ a b Annie Leibovitz Biography. bookrags. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.   2. ^ Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 137 F.3d 109 (2d Cir. 1998).   3. ^ Hours After This Picture Was Taken John Lennon Was Dead (HTML). Guardian Unlimited (12/8/2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-26.   4. ^ a b Lucas, Dean (2007). Naked Lennon (HTML). Famous Pictures Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.   5. ^ The Rolling Stone magazine (2007). Issue #335 (Jan. 22, 1981) (Audio). The Rolling Stone magazine. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.   6. ^ Associated Press, 21 October 2007, article by Lubna Taknuri   7. ^ Reuters. "BBC sorry for misrepresenting Queen", ABC News, 12 July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.    8. ^ Associated Press. "Broadcaster sorry for queen claim", CNN, 12 July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.    9. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/travel/disneyads/flash.htm  10. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-01-25-disney-ad-campaign_x.htm  11. ^ http://www.notcot.com/archives/2007/01/leibovitz_takes.html  12. ^ Cathleen McGuigan. "Through Her Lens", Newsweek, 2 October 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.   13. ^ Janny Scott. "From Annie Leibovitz: Life, and Death, Examined", New York Times, 6 Oct 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.   14. ^ Annie Leibovitz. Interview with Tom Ashbrook. On Point. WBUR, NPR, Boston. 17 Oct 2006. (Interview [Audio]). Retrieved on 2007-07-19.  15. ^ a b Edward Guthmann. "Love, family, celebrity, grief -- Leibovitz puts her life on display in photo memoir", San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Nov 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.   16. ^ No byline (Sep 30, 2004)"John and Yoko" RollingStone.com (accessed July 25, 2007)  17. ^ RS 270 (July 27, 1978)  18. ^ Patti Smith Catches FireTony Bennett (born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926) is an American singer of popular music, standards and jazz.After having achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1950s and early 1960s, his career suffered an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era. Bennett staged a remarkable comeback, however, in the late 1980s and 1990s, expanding his audience to a younger generation while keeping his musical style intact. He remains a popular and critically praised recording artist and concert performer in the 2000s.Tony Bennett is also a serious and accomplished painter. Early lifeAnthony Benedetto was born in Astoria, Queens in New York City. His father was a grocer who had emigrated from Podàrgoni, a rural eastern district of the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, and his mother was a seamstress.[1]He grew up listening to Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby as well as jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Joe Venuti. An uncle was a tap dancer in vaudeville, giving him an early window into show business.[2]By age 10 the young Benedetto was already singing and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge.[3] He attended New York's High School of Industrial Art where he studied painting (an interest he would always return to as an adult) and music,[1] but dropped out at age 16 to help support his family; his father had died when Tony was 10.[4] He then set his sights on a professional singing career, performing as a singing waiter in several Queens Italian restaurants. World War II and afterHis singing career was interrupted when Benedetto was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 during World War II. He served as a replacement infantryman in the 63rd Infantry Division in France and Germany, moving across France during the winter, then fighting on the front lines in March and April 1945 as the Germans were pushed back across the Rhine. Benedetto narrowly escaped death several times. He would later write, "Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one." At the war's conclusion he was involved in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg.Benedetto stayed in Germany as part of the occupying force, but was assigned to an informal Special Services band unit that would entertain nearby American forces. Later, his dining with a black friend from high school at a time when the Army was still segregated led to his being demoted and reassigned to Graves Registration duties.[5] Subsequently, he sang with the Army military band under the stage name Joe Bari, and played with many musicians who would have post-war careers.Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, he studied at the American Theater Wing on the GI Bill.[3] He was taught the bel canto singing discipline,[6] which would keep his voice in good shape for his entire career. He continued to perform wherever he could, including while waiting tables. He developed an unusual approach that involved imitating the style and phrasing of other musicians as he sang—such as that of Stan Getz's saxophone and Art Tatum's piano—helping him to improvise as he interpreted a song.[4] He made a few recordings as Bari in 1949 for small Leslie Records, but they failed to sell.[7]In 1949, Pearl Bailey spotted his talent and asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village. She had invited Bob Hope to the show. Hope decided to bring Bari on the road with him, but suggested he use his real name simplified to Tony Bennett.[7] In 1950, Bennett cut a demo of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and was signed to the major Columbia Records label by Mitch Miller.[3] First successesWarned by Miller not to imitate Frank Sinatra[2] (who was just then leaving Columbia), Bennett began his career as a crooner singing commercial pop tunes. His first big hit was "Because of You", a ballad produced by Miller with a lush orchestral arrangement from Percy Faith. It started out gaining popularity on jukeboxes, then reached #1 on the pop charts in 1951 and stayed there for 10 weeks, selling over a million copies.[7] This was followed to the top later that year by a similarly-styled rendition of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart", which helped introduce Williams and country music in general to a wider, more national audience. The Miller and Faith tandem continued to work on all of Bennett's early hits. Bennett's recording of "Blue Velvet" was also very popular and attracted screaming teenage fans at concerts in the famed Paramount Theater in New York (Bennett did 7 shows a day, starting at 10:30 a.m.)[8] and elsewhere.In 1952, Bennett married Ohio art student and jazz fan Patricia Beech, whom he had met the previous year after a nightclub performance in Cleveland.[7] Two thousand female fans dressed in black gathered outside the ceremony at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral in mock mourning.[1] Bennett and Beech would have two sons, D'Andrea (Danny) and Daegal (Dae).A third #1 came in 1953 with "Rags to Riches." Unlike Bennett's other early hits, this was an up-tempo big band number with a bold, brassy sound and a double tango in the instrumental break; it topped the charts for eight weeks. Later that year Bennett began singing show tunes to make up for a New York newspaper strike; "Stranger in Paradise" from the Broadway show Kismet reached the top, as well as being a #1 hit in the United Kingdom and starting Bennett's career as an international artist.Once the rock and roll era began in 1955, the dynamic of the music industry changed and it became harder for existing pop singers to do as well commercially.[3] Nevertheless Bennett continued to enjoy success, placing eight songs in the Billboard Top 40 during the latter part of the 1950s, with "In the Middle of an Island" reaching the highest at #9 in 1957.[9]In 1956, Bennett hosted the television variety show The Tony Bennett Show as a summer replacement for The Perry Como Show. A growing artistryIn 1954, the guitarist Chuck Wayne became Bennett's musical director.[10] In 1955, Bennett released his first long-playing album, Cloud 7, which showed Bennett's jazz leanings and was billed as featuring Wayne. In 1957, Ralph Sharon became Bennett's pianist and musical director,[11] replacing Wayne. Sharon told Bennett that a career singing "sweet saccharine songs like 'Blue Velvet'" wouldn't last long, and encouraged Bennett to focus even more on his jazz inclinations.[2]The result was the 1957 album The Beat of My Heart. It used well-known jazz musicians such as Herbie Mann and Nat Adderley, with a strong emphasis on percussion from the likes of Art Blakey, Jo Jones, Latin star Candido, and Chico Hamilton. The album was both popular and critically praised. Bennett followed this by working with the Count Basie Orchestra, becoming the first male pop vocalist to sing with Basie's band. The albums Basie Swings, Bennett Sings (1958) and In Person! (1959) were the well-regarded fruits of this collaboration,[3] with "Chicago" being one of the standout songs.Bennett also built up the quality and reputation of his nightclub act; in this he was following the path of Sinatra and other top jazz and standards singers of this era.[3] Bennett also appeared on television; he sang on the first night of both the Johnny Carson The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show. In June 1962, Bennett staged a highly-promoted concert performance at Carnegie Hall, using a stellar lineup of musicians including Al Cohn, Kenny Burrell, and Candido, as well as the Ralph Sharon Trio. The concert featured 44 songs, including favorites like "I've Got the World on a String" and "The Best Is Yet To Come." It was a big success, and further cemented Bennett's reputation as a star both at home and abroad.Tony Bennett's "heart", left in San FranciscoTony Bennett's "heart", left in San FranciscoAlso in 1962, Bennett released the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Although this only reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100,[9] it spent close to a year on various other charts and increased Bennett's exposure.[3] The album of the same title was a top 5 hit[3] and both the single and album achieved gold record status. The song won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance, and over the years would become known as Bennett's signature song.[1][6] In 2001, it was ranked 23rd on an RIAA/NEA list of the most historically significant Songs of the 20th Century.Bennett's following album, I Wanna Be Around (1963) was also a top 5 success,[3] with the title track and "The Good Life" each reaching the top 20 of the pop singles chart[9] and the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary chart.[12]The next year brought The Beatles and the British Invasion, and with them still more musical and cultural attention to rock and less to pop, standards, and jazz. Over the next couple of years Bennett had minor hits with several albums and singles based on show tunes – his last top 40 single was the #34 "If I Ruled the World" from Pickwick in 1965[9] – but his commercial fortunes were clearly starting to decline. An attempt to break into acting with a role in the 1966 film The Oscar was not well received.A firm believer in the American Civil Rights movement,[6] Bennett participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.[13] Years later he would continue this commitment by refusing to perform in apartheid South Africa.[1] Years of struggleSharon and Bennett parted ways in 1965.[11] There was great pressure on singers such as Lena Horne and Barbra Streisand to record "contemporary" rock songs, and in this vein Columbia Records' Clive Davis suggested that Bennett do the same.[3] Bennett was very reluctant, and when he tried, the results pleased no one. This was exemplified by Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! (1969),[3] which featured misguided attempts at Beatles and other current songs and a ludicrous psychedelic art cover.[14]Years later Bennett would recall his dismay at being asked to do contemporary material, comparing it to when his mother was forced to produce a cheap dress. By 1972, he had departed Columbia for MGM Records, but found no more success there, and in a couple more years he was without a recording contract.[3]Bennett and his wife Patricia had been separated since 1965, their marriage a victim of too much time on the road, among other factors.[1] In 1971, their divorce became official. Bennett had been involved with aspiring actress Sandra Grant since filming The Oscar, and in 1972 they married. They would have two daughters, Joanna and Antonia.Taking matters into his own hands, Bennett started his own record company, Improv.[3] He cut some songs that would later become favorites, such as "What is This Thing Called Love?", and made two well-regarded albums with jazz pianist Bill Evans, The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (1975) and Together Again (1976), but by 1977 Improv was out of business. A stint living in England, like other American jazz expatriates, did not change his fortunes.As the decade neared its end, Bennett had no recording contract, no manager, and was not performing any concerts outside of Las Vegas.[4] His second marriage was failing (they would completely separate in 1979, but not officially divorce until 2007).[15] He had (like many musicians) developed a drug addiction, was living beyond his means, and had the Internal Revenue Service trying to seize his Los Angeles home.[4] He had hit bottom. TurnaroundAfter a near-fatal cocaine overdose in 1979, Bennett called his sons Danny and Dae for help. "Look, I'm lost here," he told them. "It seems like people don't want to hear the music I make."[4]Danny Bennett, an aspiring musician himself, also came to a realization. The band Danny and his brother had started, Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends, had foundered and Danny's musical abilities were limited. However he had discovered during this time, that he did have a head for business. His father, on the other hand, had tremendous musical talent but was having trouble sustaining a career from it. Danny signed on as his father's manager.Danny got his father's expenses under control, moved him back to New York, and began booking him in colleges and small theatres to get him away from a "Vegas" image.[4] Tony Bennett had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director.[11] By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and released The Art of Excellence. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.[3] An unexpected audienceBy the mid-1980s, the excesses of the disco, punk rock, and new wave eras had given many artists and listeners a greater appreciation for the classic American song. Rock stars such as Linda Ronstadt began recording albums of standards, and such songs began showing up more frequently in movie soundtracks and on television commercials.Danny Bennett felt strongly that younger audiences, although completely unfamiliar with Tony Bennett, would respond to his music if only given a chance to see and hear it. More crucially, no changes to Tony's appearance (tuxedo), singing style (his own), musical accompaniment (The Ralph Sharon Trio or an orchestra), or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.[3]Accordingly, Danny began to book his father on shows with younger audiences, such as David Letterman's talk shows, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Simpsons, and various MTV programs.[1][4] The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, "I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin – they were like, 'Who wrote that?' To them, it was different. If you're different, you stand out."[4]During this time, Bennett continued to record, first putting out the acclaimed look back Astoria: Portrait of the Artist (1990), then emphasizing themed albums such as the Sinatra homage Perfectly Frank (1992) and the Fred Astaire tribute Steppin' Out (1993). The latter two both achieved gold status and won Grammys for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance (Bennett's first Grammys since 1962) and further established Bennett as the inheritor of the mantle of a classic American great.As Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his "Steppin' Out With My Baby" video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times said, "Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises."[16]The new audience reached its height with Bennett's appearance in 1994 on MTV Unplugged. Featuring guest appearances by rock and country stars Elvis Costello and k.d. lang (both of whom had a profound respect for the standards genre), the show attracted a considerable audience and much media attention. The resulting MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year. At age 68, Tony Bennett had come all the way back. No retirementSince then Bennett has continued to record and tour steadily, doing up to 200 shows a year.[1] In concert Bennett often makes a point of singing one song (usually "Fly Me to the Moon") without any microphone or amplification, demonstrating to younger audience members the lost art of vocal projection. One show, Tony Bennett's Wonderful World: Live From San Francisco, was made into a PBS special. Bennett also created the idea behind, and starred in the first, of the A&E Network's Live By Request series, for which he won an Emmy Award.A series of albums, often based on themes (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, blues, duets) have met with good acceptance; Bennett has won seven more Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance or Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammys in the subsequent years, most recently for the year 2006. According to his official biography, Bennett has now sold over 50 million records worldwide during his career.In addition to numerous television guest performances, Bennett has had cameo appearances as himself in films such as The Scout, Analyze This, and Bruce Almighty.Tony Bennett's career as a painter has also flourished.[17] He followed up his childhood interest with serious training, work, and museum visits throughout his life. He sketches or paints every day, even of views out of hotel windows when he is on tour. Painting under his real name of Benedetto, he has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and has been commissioned by the Kentucky Derby and the United Nations.[17] His painting "Homage to Hockney" (for his friend David Hockney) is on permanent display at the highly regarded Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio as is his "Boy on Sailboat, Sydney Bay" at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park in New York.[17] His paintings have been featured in ARTnews and other magazines, and sell for as much as $40,000.[1] Many of his works were published in the art book Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen in 1996. In 2007, another book involving his paintings, Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music, became a best-seller among art books.[8]Bennett also published The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett in 1998.For his contribution to the recording industry, Tony Bennett has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.Bennett was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997.He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.Bennett received a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2002.In 2002, Q magazine named Tony Bennett in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die."Bennett frequently donates his time to charitable causes, to the extent that he is sometimes nicknamed "Tony Benefit."[18] In April 2002, he joined Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and former President Bill Clinton in a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at New York's Apollo Theater.Tony Bennett performing at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, September 2005.Tony Bennett performing at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, September 2005.In the late 1980s Bennett entered into a long-term romantic relationship with Susan Crow (born c. 1960), a former New York City schoolteacher.[4] Together they founded Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization dedicated to creating, promoting, and supporting arts education. At the same time they founded (and named after Bennett's friend) the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, a public high school dedicated to teaching the performing arts, which opened in 2001. It was a tribute in return, for in a 1965 Life magazine interview Sinatra had said that:    "For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more."[6]Danny Bennett continues to be Tony's manager while Dae Bennett is a recording engineer who has worked on a number of Tony's projects and who has opened Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey. Tony's younger daughter Antonia is an aspiring jazz singer.[4]On December 4, 2005, Bennett was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor. Later, a theatrical musical revue of his songs, called I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett was created and featured some of his best-known songs such as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Because of You", and "Wonderful." The following year, Bennett was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.In August 2006, Bennett turned eighty years old. The birthday itself was an occasion for publicity, which then extended through the rest of the following year, as his album Duets: An American Classic was released, reached his highest placement ever on the albums chart,[3] and garnered two Grammy Awards; concerts were given, including a high-profile one for New York radio station WLTW-FM; a performance made with Christina Aguilera and a comedy sketch made with Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live; a Thanksgiving-time, Rob Marshall-directed television special Tony Bennett: An American Classic on NBC, which would win multiple Emmy Awards;[8] receipt of the Billboard Century Award; and guest-mentoring on American Idol season 6 and performing during its finale. He received the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Humanitarian Award. On June 21, 2007, Bennett married long-time partner Susan Crow in a civil ceremony in New York.[19] DiscographyFor a detailed discography, see Tony Bennett discography. See also    * List of best selling music artists    * Frank Sinatra School of the Arts Sources    * William Ruhlmann's All Music Guide biography    * AARP interview with Tony Bennett about his daughter Antonia Bennett, 2003    * NPR interview, c. 2001    * Web News Cleveland article, 2001    * Good Housekeeping interview, 1995    * Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Pubs, 1983. ISBN 0-8230-7511-7.    * Liner notes for The Essential Tony Bennett. Columbia Records, 2002.    * Tony Bennett at the Internet Movie Database    * Art biography Notes   1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "He keeps coming back like a song", Good Housekeeping, April 1995. Retrieved on 2005-06-15.    2. ^ a b c Greg Fitzgerald (producer) (c. 2001). Tony Bennett. Jazz Profiles. NPR. Retrieved on 2005-06-11.   3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p William Ruhlmann. Tony Bennett: Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2005-06-11.   4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j John Lewis. "Tony Bennett", AARP The Magazine, July-August 2003. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.    5. ^ Tony Bennett. Tavis Smiley. PBS (September 29, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-01-06.   6. ^ a b c d Lynn Elber. "Clint Eastwood tells Tony Bennett's story for 'American Masters'", Associated Press, September 5, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.    7. ^ a b c d Joe Mosbrook (November 28, 2001). Tony Bennett's Cleveland Connections. Jazzed in Cleveland. WMV Web News Cleveland. Retrieved on 2005-06-15.   8. ^ a b c Todd Leopold. "Tony Bennett remains true to standards", CNN.com, 2007-10-18. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.    9. ^ a b c d Whitburn, Joel (1983). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: 1955 to present. Billboard Publications. ISBN 0-8230-7511-7.  p. 35.  10. ^ Chuck Wayne. billcrowbass.com (1997). Retrieved on 2007-07-26.  11. ^ a b c William Ruhlmann. Ralph Sharon: Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2005-06-14.  12. ^ Tony Bennett: Charts & Awards: Billboard Singles. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.  13. ^ Selma-to-Montgomery 1965 Voting Rights March. Alabama Moments in American History. Alabama Department of Archives & History. Retrieved on 2005-06-15.  14. ^ Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today. Frank's Vinyl Museum. Retrieved on 2005-06-11.  15. ^ "Didn't Leave Heart With Tony", New York Post, September 26, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.   16. ^ John J. O'Connor. "Tony Bennett and MTV: Talk About Bedfellows", The New York Times, June 1, 1994. Retrieved on 2005-06-14.   17. ^ a b c Tony Bennett. Dick Kleinman Fine Art. Retrieved on 2005-06-14.  18. ^ "SIF to Honor Bennett & Giancamilli", Order Sons of Italy in America, May 13, 1999. Retrieved on 2005-06-15.   19. ^ Ulrica Wihlborg. "Tony Bennett Marries His (Very) Longtime Love", People, June 22, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.  Books    * Bennett, Tony. Tony Bennett : What My Heart Has Seen. Rizzoli, 1996. ISBN 0-8478-1972-8.    * Bennett, Tony, with Will Friedwald. The Good Life: The Autobiography Of Tony Bennett. Pocket Books, 1998. ISBN 0-671-02469-8.    * Bennett, Tony, with Robert Sullivan. Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music. Sterling, 2007. ISBN 1402747675. Place a Bid!