Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born on August 3, 1926, at St. John's Hospital in Long Island City, Queens, in New York City. Bennett 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. His uncle Dick was a tap dancer in vaudeville, giving him an early window into show business, and his uncle Frank was the Queens borough library commissioner. By age 10 he was already singing, and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head. Drawing was another early passion of his; he became known as the class caricaturist at P.S. 141 and anticipated a career in commercial art. He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens. Bennett attended New York's School of Industrial Art where he studied painting and music and would later appreciate their emphasis on proper technique. But he dropped out at age 16 to help support his family. He worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan and in several other low-skilled, low-paying jobs. He mostly set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and enjoying a successful engagement at a Paramus, New Jersey, nightclub. After serving in the Army infantry during World War II, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and studied singing at the American Theatre Wing. During this period, his vocal coach Mimi Spear offered some advice that he took to heart: Don’t imitate other singers; emulate instrumentalists instead. Performing under the name Joe Bari, Bennett was discovered in 1949 by Pearl Bailey, who asked him to open for her show in Greenwich Village. He subsequently caught the attention of Bob Hope, who advised him to take the name Tony Bennett and put him in his road show. As Bennett told Billboard in 1997, “I’ve been on the road ever since.” Bennett signed with Columbia Records in 1950 and started working with record producer Mitch Miller. His early hits included “Because of You,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” and “Rags to Riches,” his smooth voice earning the adoration of young fans. By the late 1950s, Bennett had become interested in creating jazz albums, and he teamed with some of the top talent in the business. His 1958 album with Count Basie, Basie Swings, Bennett Sings, featured the tracks “Jeepers Creepers” and “Chicago.” While his songs were more substantive by this point, they also failed to match the success of earlier hits. Bennett returned to the spotlight in 1962 with the debut of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Released as the B-side to “Once Upon a Time,” “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was the recording that captured the public’s attention. It led to Bennett’s first Grammy Awards, for Best Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance, and became his signature song. Its popularity also paved the path for more immediate success, with the subsequent releases “I Wanna Be Around” and “The Good Life” going on to crack the Top 20. In 1994, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Bennett’s success led to some artistic differences between the singer and his record company. His interest in singing quality material made him want to try new songs and new kinds of music, but Columbia for a while wanted him to repeat the style of his early hits. The relationship became further strained in the late 1960s, when the company tried to steer Bennett toward the contemporary rock sound popularized by The Beatles and other artists. Bennett left Columbia in the early 1970s and soon founded his own label, Improv. Although he recorded what has come to be regarded as some of his best work, including The Tony Bennett / Bill Evans Album (1975) and Together Again (1976), his songs failed to gain traction on the charts. By the end of the decade, Improv was out of business, and Bennett had stopped recording. Bennett’s break from the studio coincided with some difficult times for the singer. Having moved to Los Angeles, he began using cocaine and marijuana, drugs that were an integral part of the celebrity party scene. A near-death experience in the bathtub and the memory of Lenny Bruce’s drug-related death scared Bennett into changing his habits. With help from his oldest son, Danny, who became his personal manager, Bennett was able to put his personal and professional lives back together. The singer re-signed with Columbia records, and in 1986, he released The Art of Excellence, his first studio album in nearly 10 years. Danny Bennett saw to it his father received plenty of exposure; the elder Bennett surfaced on talk shows with David Letterman and Jay Leno, made an animated appearance on The Simpsons and delivered an acclaimed performance on MTV Unplugged, which led to a pair of Grammy Award wins for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. Bennett unleashed a series of acclaimed tribute albums during this period, including Perfectly Frank (1992) for Bennett’s childhood idol Frank Sinatra, Steppin’ Out (1993) for Fred Astaire, and Tony Bennett on Holiday (1997) for Billie Holiday. He also branched out with an album of children’s songs, Tony Bennett: The Playground (1998), and in 2002, he delivered a collection of holiday favorites with Christmas with Tony Bennett and the London Symphony Orchestra.