Jazz: Happy Birthday, Tony Bennett

Singer Anthony “Tony” Benedetto was born on
August 3rd, 1926 in New York City, New York.

After fighting on the frontline of WWII, he
returned to the States to pursue a career in
singing and adopted the stage name Bennett.

Tony Bennett was born in Astoria, Queens, New York, on August 3, 1926. Bennett had his first hit, "Because of You," in 1951, and made a career singing standards, including his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Bennett's career waned in the mid-1960s, as rock music became dominant, but rebounded in the 1990s.

Early Life

Bennett grew up in a poor family, in circumstances made more difficult by the Depression and by the death of his father when he was 9. While he attended the High School for the Industrial Arts in New York City, Bennett began working as a singing waiter. After serving in the Army infantry during World War II, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and studied singing and acting 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.

Early Hits

The young singer was discovered by Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village and subsequently hired by Bob Hope in 1949. Hope advised him to take the name Tony Bennett (rather than the name he had been using, Joe Bari) and put him in his road show. Bennett told Billboard in 1997, "I've been on the road ever since." He signed with Columbia Records in 1950 and started working with record producer Mitch Miller. His early hits included "Rags to Riches," "Because of You" and "Stranger in Paradise." His most famous song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," was released in 1962 as a B-side on a single; it also earned Bennett his first Grammy Award.

By the early 1950s he had established himself
as a pop singer and formidable jazz performer.

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. Columbia, however, wanted to repeat the style of his early hits. For some time, Bennett and Miller compromised by each selecting one half of the material to be recorded. After 20 years of recording with Columbia, however, he was told not to do any new songs. Company management wanted Bennett to cover top 10 hits. Soon thereafter, Bennett ended his relationship with the company, formed his own label and recorded on others. Bennett ended up taking a long hiatus from recording, staying away from the studios for some 10 years before he made the 1986 album The Art of Excellence.

Bennett's break from recording coincided with some difficult times for the singer. He moved to California in the late 1970s and began using cocaine and marijuana, drugs that were an integral part of the celebrity party scene. A near-death experience passing out in the bathtub and the memory of Lenny Bruce's drug-related death scared Bennett into changing his habits. Bennett was also struggling with a change in the public's taste in popular music, with the increased dominance of rock and roll. When he began his career, pop music appealed to all ages. Bennett asserts that young listeners were being taught that rock music belonged exclusively to their generation and that this alienated children from their parents. Moreover, music marketing was so focused on young listeners that it was squeezing adults who bought Bennett's albums out of the record stores.

Career Revival

Bennett has weathered such troubles and completely revitalized his career. He credits his son Danny, who is now his manager, with making many key decisions. Danny put Bennett on television, on the animated series The Simpsons, on talk shows with David Letterman and Jay Leno, and on MTV Unplugged. The last appearance earned the singer a flock of young fans. He now has a recording contract with Columbia that allows him to simply turn in his finished record, with no corporate input on content. Among Bennett's later recordings are the Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged; a series of tribute albums, Bennett/Berlin (Irving Berlin), Perfectly Frank (as in Sinatra), Tony Bennett on Holiday (Billie Holiday) and Here's to the Ladies (miscellaneous female singers); and the children's album The Playground. he releasedSteppin’ Out in 1993 which went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.These recordings demonstrate that Bennett still has plenty of ideas about the music he wants to sing, and that he is in fine form. With a half-century of professional singing under his belt, Bennett credits learning bel canto technique with preserving his voice; he told Billboard, "It teaches you how to breathe properly and how to sing so that you don't push and you don't destroy your voice."

During the 1990s Bennett published two books that gave fans an inside look into his personal life and career. Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen(1996) is a coffee-table book of his paintings, exhibiting a very serious pastime for a man who once aspired to be a painter. His autobiography The Good Life(1998) details his childhood, singing career, personal life and friendships. Signing his name "Anthony Benedetto," he began showing his paintings in 1977 and has since sold his work for as much as $40,000 a canvas. What My Heart Has Seen includes a number of portraits of famous people, as well as still-lifes, landscapes, and cityscapes that are dominated by scenes of New York and San Francisco.

To mark his 80th birthday in 2006, he released Tony Bennett: Duets - An American Classic, recorded with a collection of stars including Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Bono and Sting. The project proved to be such a success that he did another celebratory album in 201l for his 85th birthday.

Bennett released Duets II in the fall of 2011, and his work with Lady Gaga on "The Lady Is a Tramp" proved to be one of its highlights. The album also featured another distinctive track—the late Amy Winehouse's final recording. She and Bennett sang together on "Body and Soul." Their collaboration won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 2012. That same night, Bennett also took home an award for "Who Can I Turn To?" his duet with Queen Latifah.

One of the best known entertainers of the 20th
century, Bennett’s success continues today.

Muisc: Ju-Ju [Marley] hits the road in the UK this summer

Jamaican reggae star Julian “Ju Ju” Marley announced his first ever UK tour with full live

band. The tour dates are set between August 16 and 21, 2016.

Punch touring is bringing the internationally acclaimed roots reggae superstar Julian Ju Ju Marley to the UK THIS August for his first nationwide tour. Grammy nominated Marley will play hits like Boom Draw, Systems, Lemme Go and violence in the streets, complete with his full band and support from Jamaican roots artist Iba Mahr.

Julian is the son of international music legend Bob Marley and along with brothers, Ziggy, Stephen and Damian he has continued his fathers legacy with quality music and energetic live shows which has seen the message of reggae being pushed to the four corners of the world.

Punch CEO Ammo Talwar MBE says “Julian Marley has many modern musical influences, but has in his heart the authentic roots reggae sound that his father made world famous. This will be an unmissable tour for fans of conscious reggae and those wanting to see real reggae royalty live on stage.

Music: Andrew Tosh extends the Mystic

"I've been singing away my heart since basic school," recalls
Andrew Tosh, the tall, slender third son of reggae legend Peter
Tosh.

Born on June 19, 1967 in Kingston, Jamaica, Andrew seemed
preordained for a life in music. Among his earliest memories are
trips to the countryside of Westmoreland on the rural western end
of the island. There, along the lush banks of a swiftly running
river, he and his father would sing songs together - not just
Peter's militant compositions, but also pop classics by the likes
of Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Kenny Rogers. Andrew notes that
"Peter always knew I would do something in the music business, so
he encouraged me to study piano, 'cause he knew I loved it. From
the start it was inside me to sing and play instruments." The first
song he learned was Peter's composition "You Can't Blame the
Youth," and from that point forward, he says, "I knew that my
heartbeat was music and one day it would just be music out of my
mouth, and writing and singing my own songs."

Throughout his elementary and high school days in Duhaney Park
on the outskirts of Kingston, Andrew was constantly pulled to the
forefront of the class and made to sing lead. At 14, in emulation
of his father, Andrew began to ride a unicycle too. Although Peter
was often on the road, performing tours that remain to this day
reggae's most lengthy and successful ones, Andrew spent much of his
childhood living in Peter's house, especially between the critical
ages of 12 and 15.

His first recording came in 1985, when he cut a song he wrote
called "Vanity Lover" for Neville Lee's Gorgon label. A keen
observer of the vibrant music scene in Kingston, Andrew was
checking out some of the new talent at that city's famous Skateland
dancehall on the evening his father was murdered - Friday,
September 11, 1987. "I felt my father's spirit come right there at
Skateland where I was," he says, "and the spirit said leave that
place right now." The impact of the elder Tosh's passing made an
immediate and life-changing impression. "I tell myself that Peter
Tosh is gone and it's my need to carry on. Not for want, and not
for the lust of fame and the glamor and want to be rich. No, for
the love of my art and the love of my people, because love carry no
color. Love is love and that's what Jah say, make a joyful noise
unto Me."

Ironically, the first glimpse the public got of Andrew's
nascent talent came when he sang at his father's funeral in the
National Arena in Kingston. His version of Peter's "Jah Guide"
stunned the mourners. "I was astonished myself on stage," he
recalls. "The other song I did was 'Equal Rights,' because everyone
is crying out for peace but none is crying out for justice. When I
came down off the stage, I couldn't stop crying."

Late the following year, he tested the international waters
with a pair of memorable performances in Southern California,
including a show-stopping turn on the stage of Burbank's Starlight
Amphitheater, the site of the final appearance together of Bob
Marley and Peter Tosh. Was he nervous? "I felt elevension," he
laughs, engaging in some of the crafty wordplay for which his
father was notorious. "It was way beyond tension."

From that point, Andrew began working under the guidance of
keyboardist Keith Sterling and his bandmates, Fully Fullwood and
Santa Davis, the bass and drum team from Peter's most ferocious
backing group, Word Sound and Power. Andrew began to tour, wowing
audiences in Europe as well as North and South America. He has been
especially successful in Brazil, where he has appeared several
times in Sao Paulo, Rio, and Curitiba. His first album, Original
Man, was a mixture of his tracks and those of his father. The
follow-up, Make Place for the Youth, indicated a new maturity to
his song-writing, and was well received, earning him a Grammy
nomination.

Currently, he has some new tracks as he seeks to fully assert his own identity and legacy, even while preserving the indelible mark left by his illustrious Dad.

Music: Long "Awake" Julian Marley comes forth with new album, single

Its been almost 10 years since he released his debut album, Lion in the Morning, in 1996. His second

album, A Time and Place, came out in 2003. His previous album, Awake (released in 2009), was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Reggae Album category.

Now Marley scion Julian Marley arrives with his fourth disc, yetto be titled, but already with a single out - "Lemme Go". The album is a product of the Ghetto Youths International imprint that Julian co-owns with his famous siblings, Stephen and Damian (aka Jr Gong).

Live Music: Reggae Sumfest "gets Common"

Organizers of the Reggae Sumfest Music Festival recently announced Oscar and Grammy-winner, rapper/actor Common has been added to perform at its 20th staging at the summer music festival taking place from July 12-18 in Montego Bay.

"We are elated to have a performer of the magnitude of Common on the Reggae Sumfest stage. He is a versatile artiste, and undoubtedly he will add something very special that our audience will be able to appreciate. He has a unique and vibrant style that will excite patrons," explained executive director of Summerfest Productions, Johnny Gourzong.

The artiste comes as the first announced international act billed to take the stage at its Catherine Hall home on International Night 1 (July 17).

Common recently received an Academy Award win for the song Glory, a collaboration with singer John Legend which was featured in the film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay and starring David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey.

In addition to "Selma" his screen credits include "Smokin' Aces" "American Gangster" "Just Wright" and "happy Feet Two"

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